[4] That year he averaged 18.8 points and 7.0 rebounds and was on the 2013 All-San Jose Mercury News boys basketball first team along with Aaron Gordon.

[1] His grades were not sufficient to pursue a scholarship at Stanford and despite his relationship with Chris Collins, Northwestern was not interested in Dawkins given their commitments from wings Vic Law and Scottie Lindsey.

Before Michigan stepped in, it appeared that he would have committed to Dayton,[7] although he was also considering Utah State, Pepperdine as well as Montana,[8] and Rhode Island was showing a strong interest.

[1] In fact, during the 2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Dawkins attended the Sweet 16 round to watch his father's Stanford Cardinal play Dayton in the South Regional on March 27.

[13][14] The 2014–15 team won its Big Ten Conference home opener against Illinois in overtime on December 30, 2014, on the day it announced Jim Harbaugh would become the new Michigan Wolverines football head coach.

Aubrey Dawkins, who had a career total of 15 points entering the game, scored a game-high 20-points, including a 5-for-5 three-point field goal effort.

[23][24] On March 7, Michigan won its Big Ten Conference finale against Rutgers with a career-high scoring effort by Dawkins (31).

The 31 points was the most by a Michigan freshman since Trey Burke posted 32 against Minnesota on March 9, 2012, in the 2012 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament.

The 31-point effort included eight three-point field goals (on 11 attempts), the second most ever by a Wolverine, the most by a Wolverine since Glen Rice posted 8 on March 23, 1989, vs. North Carolina in the 1989 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and the most by a Big Ten player during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, earning Dawkins the final Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor for the 2014–15 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season.

[25][26][27][28] At the time of the honor, Michigan head coach John Beilein noted that over the course of the season, he and his staff had worked with Dawkins to reconstruct the delivery of his jump shot: "He came in with an extremely high arch and a slow release...He's really done a great job of speeding up his delivery, lowering his arch..."[29] On March 12, Dawkins continued his hot streak with a team-high 18 points against Illinois in the second round of the 2015 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament to help Michigan extend its streak of opening round wins in the tournament to 9.

[33] For conference play of the 2014–15 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season, Dawkins led the league in both Effective field goal percentage and True shooting percentage,[34] but that season did not show strengths in other aspects of the game such as assists, rebounding, defense and drawing fouls.

[41][42] On April 6, 2016, he transferred to play for the UCF Knights,[43] where his father had been named head coach two weeks prior.

[50][51] On March 2, Dawkins contributed 11 points as UCF defeated (#8 AP Poll/#6 Coaches Poll) Houston at Fertitta Center stopping the nation's longest home winning streak at 33.

[56][57] Following Central Florida's loss in the 2019 NCAA men's basketball tournament, Dawkins announced his intention to forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility and declare for the 2019 NBA draft, where he was projected to be a second round selection.