UCF Guards Dior Johnson and Arturo Dean Reflect on Overtime Win Over FGCU

All right, guys, just kind of what are your initial impressions with an overtime game, obviously, and Dior, you went off tonight. What are the lessons learned in a game like this? Lessons learned in a game like this is everybody gonna come to play. Every possession matters. Every game is going to be a good game. It's college basketball, college hoops. I'm proud of this team. I'm proud of our coaches for taking care of them. Dior, like in the second half, you were able to hit another level and completely take over the game, score the third most points in UCF B1 history. Just talk about your performance. I really just was trying to get the win. Credit to my teammates and my coaches for believing in me, putting me in a position to be successful. Hunter, what do you think about how Dior performed? He performed amazingly. We couldn't ask for a better Dior out there. He played with confidence. We need to continue to have him playing that way. A guy was going back and forth with him during the game, and he had the perfect rebuttal. And I like that, what he said. I don't want to say it right here, but he played amazing. Dior, the last time that a UCF player did a couple of things you did from the amount of field goals you made and the amount of points you scored was actually during the college basketball crown when you were last here. When you look at the players you saw out there with Juice and Darius, what do you learn from that as you now are back with the Knights now? I think my time here as a sophomore during that time with those older guys here was great for me. I didn't play much, but I was able to sit back and learn so much from those guys day in and day out. Practice, games, and I'm appreciative for sitting behind those guys and learning. I kind of just tried to take all the knowledge I could, and here I am older now with the knowledge that they passed on to me. What's it like for you to now replicate that kind of performance here yourself? It's cool. I'm really just trying to get the win. Well, I'll just... I'll get that win, our score will be higher than their score. And it's kind of like whatever I gotta do to figure that out. How did overtime against Kentucky prepare you for an overtime? It just gave us some answers to the test that we needed. We were fortunate and blessed enough to have another opportunity to be in the exact same situation and respond from it, respond from the same situation that was just at Kentucky and overcome it and come out with a dub. Or do you think about that overtime and all of this will begin as soon as you jump out early? Say that again, I'm sorry. Do you think about previous overtime and then apply it to this where you jump out early and get over it really quickly? Honestly, I leave the past in the past, whether it be life, basketball, games, kind of leave the past in the past, take game by game. I kind of wanted to just handle this game for this game, and as I sat down going into overtime, I feel like that's when the Kentucky remembrance popped in my mind, and I didn't want the same outcome to happen. Well, Jero, your brother had been named one during the first half, and I saw you were celebrating, and you guys hit me with handshake after that. Just kind of running through that moment, How good was it to be able to play alongside your brother? Again, I don't know how many times I've said it, but it's truly a blessing. I mean, Coach Dawkins giving me and my brother an opportunity to play for this organization. Thank you, sir. Seeing my brother score his bucket, seeing the ball go through the hoop, just embracing the moment of celebrating my brother. I mean, proud of him. Just truly blessed to be able to play with him when it's love. and it's just preparing for the game Looking at yourself as well being relaxed Some competitors, some dogs, some guys that's gonna leave it all on the court and play the whole 40 minutes. You are obviously been known as a prolific scorer. You were here two seasons ago. What does it mean to come back? And obviously Coach Dawkins has faith in you to be one of the key players that had this kind of performance in your first game back. What does that mean? That means a lot for me. It's emotional just to be back here. Not the game is emotional, but just to be back here. To not really play, to leave, to come back. I feel like this is all God. It's just a blessing from God. I appreciate the Golden Dolphins. I love playing for Golden Dolphins. Even when I didn't play and I was here, I still love Golden Dolphins. When did you feel like you were on tonight? Was that after the first few shots go down? Or do you always kind of feel the same way in every game? I try to keep my mental the same. I feel like I just got more aggressive, but my mental is always going to be the same. What was kind of like going through your mind as that ball was in the air? And what about the fight back and the quarterback post that's the night we're on? It seems like every time you get a regular stretch and you get a run together, then you pay right back the counterpunch. Yeah, I know. I mean, it was – I was kind of nervous once I seen it because I was like right in half court line with the basket and I seen that it was on target. I don't know if you can hear the difference. And that kind of scared me. Let me butt up. Just, I'm sorry, what was the question again? The fight that the Florida Golden Dolphins had where to They were able to kind of put a bunch of runs together. Oh, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, just, you know, the way this game reward the underdogs and how this game played, like, We knew coming in this game, whether it was conference play or Florida Gulf Coast, these guys are not gonna just lay down and just let us beat them. So we kind of knew and expected them to come out and play. It was just on us to embrace it and come out with a dub. For both of you, the missed free throws added up a bit tonight there, especially with a couple late. When you reflect on your performances at the foul line, what can you guys do going forward and just how you reflect on that? This work, I mean, all these things, it's just, I know D.O. is going to hold me accountable for the free throws. I'm going to hold him accountable for free throw later on when we talk about it. But, you know, this work, I mean, don't shy away from it. These things could be fixed. You know, just get in the gym, practice your free throw, try to be better at it. I'm sure you guys are happy you got the win, D.O. I'm sure you're happy you had a great scoring amount, but I can imagine you guys don't want to play with that high stress in overtime all the time. What are the kind of steps you want to take to try to finish a game out of regulation? Just once we get the lead, just finding a way to keep extending, you know, sustaining the lead, not trying to have these type of games. Again, today we was literally one shot away from it being us having a completely different feeling right now. We don't want to be in those type of situations throughout the year. We wanna make these games a little more prettier. But again, some games are going to be ugly, so as long as we come out with a dub, whether it's ugly or pretty, it doesn't matter. What does it say about you guys having that same exact situation, but being able to fight back and pull out the victory this time? What does it say about you guys to have that exact same situation, but being able to fight back and pull out the victory? It's really about character, how they're willing to respond and just embrace whatever we went through, Kentucky game, and just respond. Following the game plan, being attentive to details, going to practice, I prep. You're up. Again, the only thing that matters is the win, so being able to respond and come out with a dub, that's good for the guys. You talk about your relationship with your son. How would you describe your relationship? Personal relationship, bigger than basketball, really life-driven. Yeah, it's just my relationship means more than basketball. It ain't just like being recruited. It's a real connection. FGCU won the battle at the offensive glass today. When you reflect on what you saw there, what can you learn from that going forward? What did you say? FGCU won the battle at the offensive glass there. Got the advantage there on second chance points. When you reflect on what you saw there, what can you take from that going forward? I'm glad we pulled out the win. It took heart and it took us a big beat. When it comes to the glass and winning on the glass, we just need to be tougher in our next few games, moving forward, making sure to transition the detail and putting our body on guys.