After an 11 day break following the 86-69 loss at No. 18 Michigan State University (11-2), the Florida Atlantic Owls (7-7, 0-1 AAC) finally started conference play with a matchup against the No. 21 ranked Memphis Tigers (11-3, 1-0 AAC) on Jan. 2.
In 2023, when the Owls made it to March Madness, they overtook the Tigers 65-64 by a last second layup by former guard Nick Boyd. The win sparked their run to the Final Four and since then, the teams have been 1-1.
During Thursday’s matchup, the Tigers controlled the game from the start dismantling the Owls 90-62. They started with a 14-2 run and finished with the foot on the gas.
“At the end of the day, I thought we had more coming into this game than we showed,” head coach John Jakus said. “We had three great practices and that obviously didn’t happen. I’ll say this, I’m thankful for the fans. I thought they stuck with us through the whole game.”
Although this loss was disappointing, Jakus pointed out the positive aspects of this blowout loss.
“I thought we did a good job in our margins,” Jakus said. “We were really concerned about offensive rebounding and we were plus six. We were concerned about the turnover battle because they [Memphis Tigers] press so much, we were plus six there.”
One of the substantial reasons for this loss was their shooting. The Owls shot 32.4% from the field, 16.1% in 3-points and 62% from the free throw line.
“A lot of pain is found in the way we shot the basketball,” Jakus said. “Of our 31 threes [attempted], 18 of them were wide open. We missed 14 of the 18 wide open threes.”
Florida Atlantic heads back on the road for their next game on Jan. 5 at 1 p.m. against the East Carolina University Pirates (8-6, 0-1 AAC).
Recap
Memphis won the tip-off and guard Tyrese Hunter charged to the basket for a quick layup to score the first points of the game. The Tigers continued to have their way against the Owls by scoring nine straight points in the first three minutes of the game.
Forward Baba Miller finally ended the scoring drought for the Owls with a floater to make the score 9-2 with 17:01 remaining in the first period.
The Owls made some defensive plays within the first five minutes with a steal and a block, however, they did not capitalize on those opportunities. The Tigers outrebounded the Owls 11-1, with seven being offensive rebounds. This contributed to the 14-2 score four minutes into the game.
The next eight minutes turned into a back-and-forth battle. Guard Ken Evans Jr helped the Owls keep up with the Tigers during this stretch producing seven points, two steals and an assist to keep the game within reach.
Evans Jr started a 6-2 run for the Owls when he stole the ball from Tigers guard PJ Haggerty and passed it to his wide open teammate, guard KyKy Tandy, for the wing three. After the run, the Owls trailed 32-26 with 5:42 remaining in the first half.
The Tigers recovered quickly and extended the lead to ten with a Haggerty layup and a steal from guard Dante Harris, who then passed it to guard Colby Rogers for the assist. After some more back-and-forth buckets, the Owls headed into halftime trailing 42-32.
“I thought when we let it get above double digits pretty early on…it was bad,”Jakus said. “We won the first half 30-28, I think after the first media [timeout] and it was because we were able to convert some of those turnovers.”
Haggerty started the second period finishing through contact at the basket to make the bucket plus the foul. Every time the Owls were able to score, the Tigers answered right back, which made it hard for the Owls to close the score gap.
FAU’s center Matas Vokietaitis tried to alter the momentum with back-to-back layups with a foul However, the Tigers answered with a two-handed slam from center Moussa Cisse and a three point jumper from guard PJ Carter to make the score 52-40.
The Tigers had a 10-0 run starting with Carter’s three to make it 59-40 with 12:19 remaining. The Owls missed five straight shots and three free throws during this run by the Tigers. Although FAU tried to come back closing the 19 point gap to 15, they just could not stop the Tigers. They were too big, efficient and disciplined for the Owls.
The rest of the game was Tigers domination. They had a 15-2 run in the middle of the second period to make 79-51 with five minutes remaining, almost a 30 point difference. The Tigers ended up winning 90-62, completely controlling the game from start to finish.
Morgan Larkins is a Staff Writer for the University Press. Email him at [email protected] or DM him on Instagram or Twitter @mj_larkins for more information regarding this or other stories.
