Melvin Council owns up to ‘dumb mistake’ after KU basketball falls to UCF
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Melvin Council erupted for 20 second-half points but fouled Kugel in final seconds.
- KU rallied from nine down but missed defensive switches and fouled on late layup.
- UCF hit timely 3s and Kugel converted free throw to seal 81-75 win.
Melvin Council Jr.’s 20-point second half helped Kansas men’s basketball rally from a nine-point deficit and stay within reach of UCF on Saturday afternoon at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida.
However, the 6-foot-4 senior guard, who picked up two early fouls and did not score in 10 minutes the initial half, also committed a pivotal mistake during crunch time that helped the Knights hold off the Jayhawks 81-75.
KU installed a full-court press down 76-75 with 16.2 seconds to play. KU guards Kohl Rosario and Elmarko Jackson trapped UCF guard Chris Johnson in the backcourt. He escaped pressure in time to flip a pass to Riley Kugel, who raced downcourt on a breakaway.
Council, who was trailing the play, fouled Kugel instead of letting him have the bucket with nine ticks remaining. Instead, Kugel hit the easy basket and ensuing free throw. The KU deficit was four points, not an attainable 3 with precious little time left.
“Dumb mistake by me. If I wanted to foul him, I should have fouled him a little bit harder or try to block the shot or something like that,” Council told reporters after the game.
Council finished with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He had one rebound and one assist with two turnovers in 30 minutes (10 the first half because of foul woes; all 20 the second).
Another pivotal play which did not involve Council came with 41 seconds left when UCF guard Jordan Burks hit a 3 from the corner over Tre White to bust a 72-72 tie. White finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
“Obviously, we’ve got to tighten a lot of things up and we’re a long ways to go away from being where we need to be. There’s still potential to get there. But the last two possessions defensively, we missed an easy switch, and then that forced rotation and they made the 3,” coach Bill Self said.
“And then at the end, down one, gosh dang, if you make a layup, you make a layup. You still maybe have a chance to get a shot to tie it, but we didn’t do that and gave him an and-one, and that was basically ballgame.”
Self said the Jayhawks knew UCF could score going in. He was critical of KU’s defense in the postgame news conference.
UCF hit 7 of 23 3s to KU’s 8 of 23. Kugel, who at one point was committed to attend KU, finished with 19 points. He was 2-of-7 from 3. Another player once committed to KU, Chris Johnson had seven points in 13 minutes. He had the key assist on the breakaway by Kugel.
“It was a bad day. Bad day. We didn’t do many things well today,” Self stated. “... Everything that seemed like (it) could go wrong did go wrong, and we didn’t take advantage of the few opportunities we had today.”
The Jayhawks’ inside game was lacking. Flory Bidunga had eight points and nine rebounds in 29 minutes. He took just five shots, hitting three. Bryson Tiller scored two points from the line. He was 0-for-5 from the field with four rebounds in 27 minutes.
“I wouldn’t even say it was more about UCF’s defense. I feel like it was more self-inflicted wounds. Not taking any advantages of the gaps they did give us,” White said postgame. “They switch a lot, so they do give a lot of gaps. I feel like we kind of got a little lackadaisical, but it wasn’t on them. It was on us for sure tonight.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2026 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Melvin Council owns up to ‘dumb mistake’ after KU basketball falls to UCF."
