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LSU Basketball Defeats UCF In Exhibition, 85-81
2
LSU Sports Photgraphy
BATON ROUGE – LSU scored four points in the final eight seconds of the game to score an 85-81 win over UCF Wednesday night in an exhibition men’s basketball contest at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers have won both exhibition games and will play one more on Oct. 24 at Florida State before the regular season starts on Nov. 3 against LSU New Orleans.
UCF, playing its first exhibition game, had just tied the game at 81-81 on a layup by Dior Johnson. Johnson was also fouled on the play and went to the line for one shot with 34 seconds to go in the contest. Johnson missed and Michael Ruzic rebounded the ball.
LSU played for the final shot and that came with eight seconds left when Donovan Dent drove the paint and scored to give LSU an 83-81 lead. On the inbounds, LSU’s Mo Dioubate knocked the ball away and was able to get another bucket for the 85-81 triumph.
The crazy finish was the topper to an entertaining game of twists and turns that saw 13 lead changes and 11 ties with LSU leading for 18:17 and UCF 17:29.
Again, LSU had limited court numbers with the five starters for the second straight game of Dioubate, Ruzic, Abdi Bashir Jr., Dent and Divine Ugochukwu. Jordan Bender off the bench played 10 minutes.
Dent came one rebound away from an exhibition game triple double, scoring 21 points with 11 assists and nine rebounds. He drew 13 fouls in playing 38 minutes. He also had three steals and three blocks.
Bashir came up big for the Tigers, making 10-of-17 from the floor and 6-of-12 from distance in scoring 26 points. Dioubate had 15 points as did Ruzic, who for the second straight exhibition game had a double double with 13 rebounds to do with four blocks.
Johnson had 18 points to lead UCF, while Lewis Walker and Jason Asemota had 13 points each.
Both teams hit double figure three pointers with UCF canning 11 and LSU 10. The Tigers were 10-of-26 (38.5 percent).
LSU had a 12-0 scoring run in the first eight minutes of the game to grab their biggest lead of the night at nine points, but UCF stayed close and would take a 47-45 advantage to the dressing room at halftime. The Knights would score the first six points out of the halftime break to push the lead to 53-45 but the Tigers would close the margin and swap leads with UCF until the final sequence.
UCF out rebounded LSU, 45-38 and had an 18-7 advantage in second chance points. The game was virtually even in the paint with LSU scoring 36 points and UCF 34.
For the game, LSU shot 49.2 percent (30-of-81), including 17-of-29 in the opening half. The Tigers struggled at the line in the second half making 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) and finished 15-of-27 for the game. UCF finished at 42.1 percent (32-of-76) and 6-of-9 at the line.
Tickets for non-conference games and season tickets remain on sale for the 2026-27 basketball season. Also mini-plans that includes SEC contests are available at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at LSUTix.net.
--
Post-game Quotes
LSU Head Coach Will Wade
Opening Statement
“It was a good win. I’m proud of our guys. We could’ve shot it better from the free-throw line, and we didn’t rebound how we needed to. We basically played five guys the whole game, so I’m proud of those guys. We’ll build from here and learn from this and get better. Central Florida is a good team. Dior Johnson made some big shots down the stretch. They did a great job and were really hot from three in the first half. We did a better job cutting down on turnovers. We had seven in the first half and four in the second half. Overall, it was a solid job and a good win short-handed.”
On Dent’s game …
“He’s a great player. I thought he was really engaged tonight. He drew 13 fouls; he basically fouled two guys out himself. We switched the matchup at the end and put him on Dior Johnson. We had to do something different, and I thought he did a great job.”
On the game preparing the team for tough competition…
“It’s a step up. Central Florida is a great team. They threw a lot of bodies at us tonight. They played nine or ten guys double-digit minutes. I thought it was good to play guys that are long and athletic. It was a good test for us, and that’s what we want to do. We want to test ourselves so we’re ready come November 3.
--
Senior Guard Donovan Dent
On first game in Baton Rouge…
“I mean we had a good showing out for exhibition. Great first game for us and great environment. That was a great game for them to come watch and a lot of fun.”
Going from a game where you aren’t performing what goes into making sure you get back on track…
“Really just staying within your routine. We are good players; we are here for a reason. Not everyone is going to have a great game and keeping that mindset that you know you are a good player and staying in a routine, staying consistent with what you are doing and coming out and performing.”
--
Senior Guard Abdi Bashir Jr. - LSU
On improvements after first game…
“I just got back in my routine, the McNeese game was my first game back since like January so, I kind of had to get my feet back into things and my teammates instilled a lot of confidence in me and kept telling me, ‘the next shot is gonna fall’, and Donny (Donovan Dent) found me in the right spots and I made my shots tonight”
On coming to LSU…
“There’s nothing like Baton Rouge, the fanbase is amazing, the school is amazing, everybody on the staff, everything from top to bottom is all great and has all been welcoming and I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else”
On playing extensive minutes…
“We just went out there and did what we had to do. He (Will Wade) told us just don’t foul, that’s what he said.”
--
UCF Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
On getting guys minutes…
“I wanted to take a look at what we can do. I wanted to play a lot of players, wanted to play our entire team that was available. I don’t think anybody played over 23, 24 minutes and that was the goal. We wanted to make sure we kind of balanced it out just to see. Give everybody a good look and kind of find out what we had, and I thought our guys did that.”
On things to clean up…
“Defensively. I was a little surprised at some of the things we gave up defensively based on personnel and how we want to defend. There will be some good film, some things we can learn from how we were defending that I think we will benefit from as we start the season.”
(Release via LSU Athletics)
Box Score
The Tigers have won both exhibition games and will play one more on Oct. 24 at Florida State before the regular season starts on Nov. 3 against LSU New Orleans.
UCF, playing its first exhibition game, had just tied the game at 81-81 on a layup by Dior Johnson. Johnson was also fouled on the play and went to the line for one shot with 34 seconds to go in the contest. Johnson missed and Michael Ruzic rebounded the ball.
LSU played for the final shot and that came with eight seconds left when Donovan Dent drove the paint and scored to give LSU an 83-81 lead. On the inbounds, LSU’s Mo Dioubate knocked the ball away and was able to get another bucket for the 85-81 triumph.
The crazy finish was the topper to an entertaining game of twists and turns that saw 13 lead changes and 11 ties with LSU leading for 18:17 and UCF 17:29.
Again, LSU had limited court numbers with the five starters for the second straight game of Dioubate, Ruzic, Abdi Bashir Jr., Dent and Divine Ugochukwu. Jordan Bender off the bench played 10 minutes.
Dent came one rebound away from an exhibition game triple double, scoring 21 points with 11 assists and nine rebounds. He drew 13 fouls in playing 38 minutes. He also had three steals and three blocks.
Bashir came up big for the Tigers, making 10-of-17 from the floor and 6-of-12 from distance in scoring 26 points. Dioubate had 15 points as did Ruzic, who for the second straight exhibition game had a double double with 13 rebounds to do with four blocks.
Johnson had 18 points to lead UCF, while Lewis Walker and Jason Asemota had 13 points each.
Both teams hit double figure three pointers with UCF canning 11 and LSU 10. The Tigers were 10-of-26 (38.5 percent).
LSU had a 12-0 scoring run in the first eight minutes of the game to grab their biggest lead of the night at nine points, but UCF stayed close and would take a 47-45 advantage to the dressing room at halftime. The Knights would score the first six points out of the halftime break to push the lead to 53-45 but the Tigers would close the margin and swap leads with UCF until the final sequence.
UCF out rebounded LSU, 45-38 and had an 18-7 advantage in second chance points. The game was virtually even in the paint with LSU scoring 36 points and UCF 34.
For the game, LSU shot 49.2 percent (30-of-81), including 17-of-29 in the opening half. The Tigers struggled at the line in the second half making 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) and finished 15-of-27 for the game. UCF finished at 42.1 percent (32-of-76) and 6-of-9 at the line.
Tickets for non-conference games and season tickets remain on sale for the 2026-27 basketball season. Also mini-plans that includes SEC contests are available at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at LSUTix.net.
--
Post-game Quotes
LSU Head Coach Will Wade
Opening Statement
“It was a good win. I’m proud of our guys. We could’ve shot it better from the free-throw line, and we didn’t rebound how we needed to. We basically played five guys the whole game, so I’m proud of those guys. We’ll build from here and learn from this and get better. Central Florida is a good team. Dior Johnson made some big shots down the stretch. They did a great job and were really hot from three in the first half. We did a better job cutting down on turnovers. We had seven in the first half and four in the second half. Overall, it was a solid job and a good win short-handed.”
On Dent’s game …
“He’s a great player. I thought he was really engaged tonight. He drew 13 fouls; he basically fouled two guys out himself. We switched the matchup at the end and put him on Dior Johnson. We had to do something different, and I thought he did a great job.”
On the game preparing the team for tough competition…
“It’s a step up. Central Florida is a great team. They threw a lot of bodies at us tonight. They played nine or ten guys double-digit minutes. I thought it was good to play guys that are long and athletic. It was a good test for us, and that’s what we want to do. We want to test ourselves so we’re ready come November 3.
--
Senior Guard Donovan Dent
On first game in Baton Rouge…
“I mean we had a good showing out for exhibition. Great first game for us and great environment. That was a great game for them to come watch and a lot of fun.”
Going from a game where you aren’t performing what goes into making sure you get back on track…
“Really just staying within your routine. We are good players; we are here for a reason. Not everyone is going to have a great game and keeping that mindset that you know you are a good player and staying in a routine, staying consistent with what you are doing and coming out and performing.”
--
Senior Guard Abdi Bashir Jr. - LSU
On improvements after first game…
“I just got back in my routine, the McNeese game was my first game back since like January so, I kind of had to get my feet back into things and my teammates instilled a lot of confidence in me and kept telling me, ‘the next shot is gonna fall’, and Donny (Donovan Dent) found me in the right spots and I made my shots tonight”
On coming to LSU…
“There’s nothing like Baton Rouge, the fanbase is amazing, the school is amazing, everybody on the staff, everything from top to bottom is all great and has all been welcoming and I wouldn’t want to be nowhere else”
On playing extensive minutes…
“We just went out there and did what we had to do. He (Will Wade) told us just don’t foul, that’s what he said.”
--
UCF Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
On getting guys minutes…
“I wanted to take a look at what we can do. I wanted to play a lot of players, wanted to play our entire team that was available. I don’t think anybody played over 23, 24 minutes and that was the goal. We wanted to make sure we kind of balanced it out just to see. Give everybody a good look and kind of find out what we had, and I thought our guys did that.”
On things to clean up…
“Defensively. I was a little surprised at some of the things we gave up defensively based on personnel and how we want to defend. There will be some good film, some things we can learn from how we were defending that I think we will benefit from as we start the season.”
(Release via LSU Athletics)
Box Score
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