“Our expectations are higher than this,” was one of the points FAU coach John Jakus made in his post game press conference following FAU’s 86-79 loss to Dayton in the first round of the NIT Wednesday evening and although the Owls fought back to make it close in the end, last nights result was one Jakus and company will look to move on from.
FAU came out of the gates with great energy, shooting nearly 60% from the field for most of the first half, the only problem was that Dayton was also around 60% and when the Owls offense went cold over the final four minutes it allowed Dayton to take a 36-33 lead into the half, a lead they never relinquished. The second half didn’t go as planned for FAU, as Javon Bennett scored 24 of his 30 points in the final frame, connecting on 6 of 8 triples and even though FAU connected on better than 45% of their shots from the field and from 3 in the second half, it wasn’t enough to combat Bennett’s heroic effort.
In the Owls last 2 losses to Tulane and Dayton, the offense hasn’t been the issue as they’ve put up points at a fairly high level and according to Jakus, his biggest takeaway from the loss is that his team can procure offensively and the goal next year is to match that with defense that can win them close games.
“I think I told the guys maybe five times in my career, maybe more, I’m just frustrated by it, the last two games, we’ve had over a 1.2 offense, so 120 points per 100 possessions. That would be a top 10 offense most years in the country, and we lost both games, which is incredibly difficult to do. We shot 51%, 41% and almost 70% and lost. So the takeaway is that these guys have learned to be productive offensively. We’re going to have to learn to win some close games and some big moments with our defense. And that’s that’s the main thing I took away,” Jakus said.
The Owls finished with 4 players in double figures, led by Kaleb Glenn who finished with 18 points and 5 rebounds and he was joined by Tre Carroll who finished with 17, Baba Miller with 16 and Matas Vokietaitis with 14. The offense found different ways to attack Dayton, dominating the paint with Vokietaitis, Carroll and Glenn early on and shifting to a more 3-point centric offense in an attempt to force a comeback in the second half and despite FAU getting an offensive barrage that would typically lead to a win, last night they fell short.
In a game where the Owls could have easily given up once they fell behind 20 in the second half, they kept fighting and almost forced a comeback, showing the grittiness that they have nearly all season long. Although that grittiness trait is a good one to have, next season this squad will have to turn that grittiness into wins, something that leaders like Kaleb Glenn will look to do.
Glenn showed every bit of his top 50 recruit potential this season for FAU and following the game last night, for now his mind is set on returning and building on the family culture they established this season.
“We want to be a family, and hopefully we can return everybody and make a run next year,” Glenn said.
A player mentioning retention and building a family is somewhat rare in today’s NCAA climate, however Glenn’s comments speak to a culture that had been established in year one by Jakus and Co and if they can do what he said, “return everyone,” then this team will have a chance to do something special in year 2. Alongside building a family that evidently players want to return too, Jakus proved that players can truly develop their skills at FAU, with Carroll, Glenn, Moretti and Baba Miller all taking big jumps in their respective games and that’s just to name a few of the players that develop this season for the Owls.
The culture built and players developed led to a pretty successful first season overall for Jakus, as he acheived the most wins ever for a first year head coach at FAU, the 5th coach in school history to win 18 games and he did that with the second hardest strength of schedule in school history. The foundation has been built, however with only one win against an NACA tournament team this season, the success overall will need to take a step up in year two, something Jakus is aware of.
The next few weeks will be pivotal for Jakus and his staff as they look to re-tool this squad and put them in a position to make a return to the NCAA tournament next season. By next week, Jakus expects to have a finalized plan for the transfer portal, a much sooner timeline with more to build off of than last season, however at the end of the day recruiting will come down to two things, NIL and the players that are already here doing some recruiting as well.
“I think our relationships are strong internationally. In America, people trust us from our past and our success. I think there’s two things that recruit players right now. One is NIL money, and two is other players, and they’ll come if their friends are here or they have a good reference, and money is here, and people want to be in paradise. I think we had 15 guys come on campus, and 11 said yes. So it’s not like we swung and miss. You get off the plane and you’re international kid, you land in Miami, or you’re an American and you land in Fort Lauderdale. I mean 10 feet, 10 feet out the door. We already have an advantage, and we are thankful for the last group. They took FAU and they made it a brand that’s identifiable. And I don’t think between the ESPN deal this year and recent history that that’s going to go away, but kids will commit when their friends tell them that it’s a good idea and the NIL is close enough for them to make a wise decision,” Jakus said.
