Duke Basketball Legend Feels 51-Point Loss to Kansas

Duke basketball great Johnny Dawkins saw his UCF program suffer a blowout defeat at home after pulling off the massive upset last year.

Former Duke basketball guard Johnny Dawkins / Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Johnny Dawkins, a legendary Duke basketball guard and longtime assistant under Mike Krzyzewski, had one historically rough outing via his UCF Knights' 99-48 home loss to the No. 7-ranked Kansas Jayhawks on Sunday. They were outrebound, 63-32.

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It marked the most lopsided home loss in program history and matched the Knights' all-time worst defeat anywhere, as UCF fell by the same margin at Florida in 1984.

And it came roughly a year after the Knights knocked off the then-No. 3 Jayhawks, 65-60, in Orlando, marking UCF's all-time most monumental upset.

"We have to get back in the gym," the 61-year-old Dawkins noted to the media following the loss, "and we have to start working toward what we have to do to be successful in this conference."

UCF finished 7-11 against conference foes in its first Big 12 campaign last go-round. As for this season, up until Sunday, the 2024-25 team had been trending in the right direction.

Dawkins, boasting a 158-106 overall record at the school and in his ninth season at the helm, orchestrated a six-game winning streak, capped off by an 87-83 road victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the squad's Big 12 opener on Tuesday.

Now, the Duke basketball treasure and his Knights sit 10-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play. They will look to shake off the ugly outcome when they host the Colorado Buffaloes (9-4, 0-2 Big 12) at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday.

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