Florida Atlantic Men’s basketball had their season come to a close Friday afternoon, as despite a valiant comeback effort, the Owls came up just short against Tulane, losing 83-76. It was a back and forth battle during the second half of this one, but the Owls scored only 4 points over the final 3 minutes and the Green Wave capitalized on their scoring drought.
The Owls gave it everything they had in this one, even getting a career night from Devin Vanterpool who scored 12 points, however in the end FAU was unable to overcome multiple points in the game where the offense went quiet. The Owls struggled from beyond the arc at times throughout both games in Fort Worth, but they found an answer in Matas Vokietaitis dominating in the paint, however tonight he fouled out in a tie game with 2:19 to play and down the stretch FAU could have used his length.
Tulane found the answers they needed down the stretch, similar to what they did when they faced FAU on their home court back in early January. After the game, Jakus mentioned that his team’s late struggles have happened before and that Tulane deserves credit for their defense, however the Owls were plagued by their own mistakes.
“They get 50% of the credit, but we were up in the first half. In the last meeting, the first half, we had eight possessions, only two of them had paint touches and we had no assists. And I thought Leland hit this guy on a couple rolls, and 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. I think that’s a self-inflicted wound. We begged down the stretch to continue to share. And I just think there was this point in these big moments where people want to make big plays. The big play probably was to share the basketball. Obviously, we couldn’t keep them off the free throw line and guard one on one, so that’s part of it. But I thought the lack of passing had something to do with it,” Jakus said.
On the day, FAU was led by Matas Vokietaitis once again, as the AAC freshman of the year finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds, and he was joined in double figures by Devin Vanterpool who scored 12, a career high for the freshman. The Owls assisted on 16 out of their 25 field goals and had 7 Owls finish with 7 or more points, however as Jakus mentioned the scoring and ball movement fell off late.
The offensive inconsistencies for FAU will be the story of the season, as they finished under 30% from 3 amidst their slumps in this one and the overall talent of this Owls squad was hidden at times due to their streakiness. On the defensive side of things, Tulane found a way to hurt the Owls in their main weak spot, as they finished 46% from beyond the arc, however in the true spirit of this FAU squad, they never stopped fighting, holding North Texas to 1 of 6 from 3 in the second half.
The Owls threw the kitchen sink tonight at Tulane in an attempt to overcome their mistakes, however in doing so both of FAU’s freshmen who receive minutes, Vokietaitis and Vanterpool shined, something Jakus hopes fans will be able to see more of next season.
“Matas, when he doesn’t foul, is part of our game plan all the time. And the truth is, is that if he stays on the floor, he’s a plus 11 tonight, and him on the floor minus the five fouls, I think we’re probably in a different situation right now. I don’t know that for sure, because they do a good job. I would like to roll my dice and see what would happen. And then Dev made this happen, and Dev has made this happen for the last three weeks. We went through a little spell there where people were struggling to guard the basketball one on one, and what I would call just getting everything they have at all times. And Dev never seems to have that issue, and he gives everything he has at all times, and he separated himself in the last week or so, and we’re incredibly proud of that. So next year, we’re going to try to keep him (Matas) on the floor for 30 minutes, and we’re trying to keep Dev in the program and watch the league Dev makes. And so please have both these guys with us, especially Devin,” Jakus said.
Jakus mentioned earlier in the week that the financial ramifications of a tournament like the CBI may be something the FAU athletic department will have to consider in terms of whether or not they play in a postseason tournament. That means the season may officially be over for FAU and if so that means retaining talent and attacking the transfer portal will be priority number one for this program.
Prior to departing one last time, according to Jakus the message he left to his team was that he wants everyone back and he believes his program has proven it can develop talent, so he will sell that to this current group as well as newcomers.
“We took 22 year old seniors in Ken and KyKy and everybody else, we purposely recruited with the intention that they would come back. And some people think we’re crazy for doing that, something that’s impossible in today’s college basketball culture, but we rolled the dice, and I think we’ve separated ourselves with some player development. Tre didn’t play last year, he was the most improved player in the league, the work that’s done in the last six weeks. You look at Baba’s growth from his transfer. Nico didn’t play any minutes in Illinois at all. Look at his growth. So we felt all along the one thing we do as well as anybody in the country is player development, and we’re going to spend the next two weeks selling that as much as we can to keep these guys now, obviously, NIL is going to be part of that. I’m not crazy, but I think they know how much we love them, and I think they want to be here. I asked for 48 hours, so I can go see my wife, because we spent six months apart in order to build this thing. But after that, 48 hours, I’m going to sell the heck out of FAU to these guys, because if they stay, we’re going to be just fine,” Jakus said.