Johnny Dawkins set for emotional return as UCF to face Duke in Cameron Indoor exhibition
UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins is heading back to where his basketball journey began.
The Knights will travel to Durham, N.C., this fall for an exhibition game at Duke’s famed Cameron Indoor Stadium, set for Tuesday, Oct. 21. It will serve as a homecoming for Dawkins, a two-time All-American and Duke Hall of Famer, who will lead UCF into a matchup against his alma mater.
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, also a Blue Devils alum, heads into his fourth season after taking over for Mike Krzyzewski. Dawkins was Duke’s associate head coach during Scheyer’s first two seasons as a player, 2006-08.
“It’s always special going back to Duke,” Dawkins said in a UCF press release. “It’s a place that shaped so much of who I am, both as a player and a person. To have the opportunity to bring our UCF team there, to compete in that environment and be part of something meaningful, is an honor. It’s not just about basketball — it’s about giving back to the game and continuing the relationships that helped build my foundation.”
The matchup is part of Duke’s “Brotherhood Run,” an annual tradition that brings former Blue Devils back to Cameron as opposing head coaches. Last season, Duke hosted Arizona State and Bobby Hurley, who won back-to-back National Championships as a player in the early 1990s.
Dawkins, who starred for Krzyzewski from 1982 to 1986, is widely credited with helping launch Duke into national prominence. He scored 2,556 career points, which was a school record until JJ Redick eclipsed it in 2006, and led the Blue Devils to the national championship game as a senior. His No. 24 jersey was retired in 1996, and he was inducted into the Duke Hall of Fame the same year.
The exhibition will mark Dawkins’ first coaching appearance at Cameron since 2008, when he served as Coach K’s associate head coach before departing for his first head coaching opportunity at Stanford.
Dawkins and Scheyer are part of a long lineage of Duke captains-turned-coaches. The two last met on opposing sidelines during the memorable 2019 NCAA Tournament second-round clash, when top-seeded Duke edged UCF, 77-76, in Columbia, S.C.
Now entering his ninth season at UCF, Dawkins continues to be the only active Division I head coach recognized in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame strictly for his playing career, an honor he received in 2023.
The Oct. 21 exhibition will not count toward either team’s official win-loss record.
