Themus Fulks’ two free throws broke a 71-all tie with 3.7 seconds left, and UCF held on to win their first-ever visit to Utah by beating the Utes 73-71 on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
The point guard, who netted a game-high 24 points and had four assists, lifted the Knights (19-7, 8-6 Big 12) to their second straight victory to start a two-game road trip. Fulks had been fouled by Seydou Traore after Utah’s Don McHenry had tied the game on three free throws on 13 seconds remaining.
Terrence Brown, who scored a team-best 21 points, missed a two-point jumper off the back iron at the buzzer as the Utes (10-17, 2-12) dropped to 1-8 in their last nine contests.
Jordan Burks added 14 points, four rebounds and four steals as the Knights improved to 4-0 against the host school all time.
UCF’s leading scorer Riley Kugel (14.0 ppg) did not play and was replaced by Chris Johnson, who posted eight points, five assists and one block.
McHenry scored 19 points and made 4 of 9 treys for Utah, and Keanu Dawes totaled 15 points, 12 boards and three assists.
The Knights led 8-7 with balanced scoring after four minutes in the back-and-forth matchup, but Dawes scored five points for the home side, while Brown heated up and had eight points less than seven minutes in.
Devan Cambridge’s left-handed layup put the Knights ahead 21-20 at the midpoint as both clubs shot over 50% from the floor. Josh Hayes’ layup and Kendyl Sanders’ tip-in put the Utes up 24-21 with 8:45 remaining in the half.
Burks canned a 3-pointer at 4:31 to cap a 12-2 run, putting UCF ahead 33-26 as Utah failed struggled to find the bottom of the hoop.
The Knights led by as many as nine late, but James Okonkwo, McHenry and Traore hit baskets as the Utes trailed 41-36 at halftime.
In just over two minutes of second-half play, McHenry and Brown banged home treys to trim it to 44-42 as Utah finally found some holes in UCF’s 1-3-1 zone defense.
McHenry tallied 11 points, making three long balls, in less than seven minutes as the Utes got it to 53-52 at 11:47.
Dawes’ 18-footer at 7:04 made it a 10-0 run for a 62-59 Utah advantage, but Carmelo Pacheco’s trey put UCF back up 63-62.
