The road ends.
In the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament, No. 5 Florida Atlantic University’s men’s basketball team (18-15, 10-8 AAC) met up with No. 4 Tulane University (19-13, 12-6 AAC) for the second time this season. Similar to their previous matchup on Jan. 15, the Owls fell 83-76 to the Green Wave.
“Incredibly disappointing because this means our run together is done. I couldn’t be more thankful to the President, my athletic director Brian White and FAU in general, for the first year he’s given me, incredibly great brand and the sport coming off the Final Four run and to participate in that brand means a lot to me,” said first year head coach John Jakus.
FAU won the tipoff but Tulane stole the ball and tallied in the first two points of the game. Instantly after, Owls center Matas Vokietaitis went down and tipped in a two. Guard Leland Walker found Vokietaitis two minutes later, who easily put away the alley-oop to take back a two-point lead, 9-7.
In the first five minutes, Vokietaitis started out hot, racking up eight points. He did the same in FAU’s previous game in the AAC tournament against Charlotte, where he made eight points in a row.
The freshman from Lithuania, Vokietaitis, ended the game as the Owls leading scorer with 21 points and led with 12 rebounds. Since the beginning of the season, he’s shown vast improvements in his playing ability as he’s adapted to a collegiate style of basketball compared to the overseas style he’s grown up with.
“I think I grew in a lot of things when I came here. Coaches helped me. My teammates helped me. First part of the season maybe was harder. My second part, that was better. I think next year will be much, much better,” said Vokietaitis.
For the first 10 minutes of the half, gameplay was fairly equal as the teams traded off taking a two-point lead. But, the second 10 minutes of the second half had a completely different tone.
Tulane’s forward Gregg Glenn III pushed forward through the Owls traffic to get the layup and extend their lead to 23-17. With 8:48 left in the first, this marked Tulane’s largest lead of the game. The ball was placed back in Vokietaitis’ hands and he finished a layup to end their three minute scoring drought.
As FAU ended their scoreless period, Tulane entered a 4:18 field-goal drought, their only two points coming from free throws. FAU entered a 15-2 run over the last 4:22, giving them a seven point lead.
The Owls began their second scoring drought as Tulane pounded away at the net, going on a 12-0 run to close out the first half.
At halftime, Tulane led 37-32 and shot 71% beyond the arc, compared to FAU’s 29%. Both teams had an equal 20 rebounds. Vokietaitis led the Owls in scoring, 11 points, and rebounds with six.
Once again, Vokietaitis started out the Owls offense by a two-point tip shot. Tulane continued to maintain their lead and a quick three pointer by forward Kaleb Banks pushed it to nine, 47-38. Right after, FAU’s forward Tre Carroll came back with a rare three of his own.
The Owls guard Devin Vanterpool made his second three, followed by a layup to get them within four, 55-51 with 12:35 to go. He scored eight of the Owls last 10 points, far surpassing his season average of 1.6 points per game.
Vanterpool ended the night with a career-high game of 12 points after playing 16 minutes. The redshirt freshman was the Owls second leading scorer during the game.
“I like to make winning plays. Whatever plays I can make to win is mostly my focus. Just glad I was able to have a career night. We just weren’t able to come out with the win,” said Vanterpool.
Aggression picked up on both sides as FAU entered the bonus plus with around 12 minutes left and a foul called on Vokietaitis pushed Tulane into the bonus.
FAU ended the game with 22 fouls and Tulane had 20, combining for a jarring 42 total fouls for the night.
Walker found his footing behind the arc and sailed in the three pointer, giving FAU their first lead in the second half. A few plays later, Walker set up a dime to Vokietaitis, who dunked it, 66-65 with 6:48 left.
The game picked up the same trend as it kicked off with, both Tulane and FAU exchanging leads. With 2:45 left, it was tied 74-74 and there had been 11 lead changes and seven ties.
Vokietaitis and Tulane’s guard Mari Jordan stretched for a rebound, both falling down with the ball. But, Vokietaitis reached with one hand and fell on top of Jordan, causing him to get called on a foul and fouled him out of the game with 2:19 remaining.
Jordan’s two free throws gave Tulane a 76-74 lead and guard Asher Woods made a two-point jumper to give them a four-point lead with 1:21 left. The Owls missed three shots beyond the arc in a row, while Tulane continued to get put at the free throw line.
“We took the lead by passing the basketball and then from that point on we stopped and I don’t believe you can give Tulane all the credit for that…There was this point in these big moments where people want to make big plays, but the big play probably was to share the basketball,” said Jakus.
With six seconds left and a deficit of nine, FAU’s road in the AAC tournament and their season ended by falling to Tulane, 83-76.
Megan Bruinsma is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories email her at mbruinsma2022@fau.edu or DM her on Instagram @megan_bruinsma or Twitter (X) @MeganBruinsma.
