FAU Men’s Basketball entered their Sunday evening home matchup with UAB on the heels of back to back closely contested victories, but this time the Owls found themselves on the bad end of a close battle with the Blazers, losing 81-76. It was a back and forth battle for most of the game, as although UAB built a 12 point lead in the second half, the Owls battled back, falling just short in the end.
It was an up and down performance for the Owls, as in the first half they shot 50% from beyond the arc, while shooting only 20% in the second half and although they found their offense in different ways at times in the second half they went scoreless over the final 4 minutes which allowed UAB to shut the door. The offense seemed out of sorts at times as aside from the lack of execution late, FAU turned it over 11 times on the day which UAB was able to turn into 14 points.
There was a lot that FAU did right tonight, however the late struggles offensively spoiled a ferocious second half comeback and now it will be back to the drawing board as FAU prepares for Tulane on Wednesday. For FAU Coach John Jakus, he points to poor shot selection as what led to the Owls being unable to pull this one out in the late stages compared to ECU and Charlotte where they were able to finish the job.
“To be frank, I would say that for us, it was our shot selection. Our shots were the first pass in their transition, and then those mistakes led to other things, now that they got a couple little ISO situations, and they were able to handle some things down the stretch that we clearly weren’t maybe the free throw disparity. There’s only plus four at the end. I would point to our shot selection and then say it flowed from there,” Jakus said.
UAB hasn’t been the best 3 point shooting team themselves this season, however in 8 out of their 10 wins this season they have shot 30% or better from 3 and tonight they shot 36% while also scoring 46 points in the paint, showcasing a diverse offense which was able to hurt FAU in a variety of ways at times. The Blazers offense was better tonight than it has been at times this season, however their biggest strength all year has been rebounding, but not against FAU as they lost the overall rebound battle to the Owls 46-40 and offensive rebound battle 21-16.
Although UAB found success at times offensively, they weren’t dominating on that end of the court and as Jakus mentioned, the Owls inconsistent offense opened the door for struggles which ended up plaguing them on both ends of the court. The inconsistencies hurt FAU, however they were still able to get their offensive diversity, as they were led by Tre Carroll who finished with 20 points and 7 rebounds and he was atop the 4 double figure scorers, alongside KyKy Tandy (photo top via Angeline Labelle) who finished with 14, Kaleb Glenn who added 13 and Baba Miller who chipped in 10.
It was a tough night for Leland Walker, who was challenged at the rim all night by UAB, finishing 2 of 14 from the field, with 13 of those attempts coming from inside the perimeter. It was an uncharacteristic performance from Walker who has found quite a bit of success recently and according to Jakus the team needed to make a better effort at passing out of drives when the Blazers were defending the rim with a big man.
“I think it’s a simple read, if the five man is at the rim, you’ve got to dribble it out or kick out, and if the guard is at the rim, then you can attack. And that read is taught daily. We spent the whole week on it. We’ve had an issue with that since CJ Walker, and when our guys realize that, to me, Yaxel acts as a high major big, let’s be honest, when they have high major bigs at the rim, and you challenge them, and they go vertical. The refs are not bailing you out, especially at this level in an ESPN game. So we’ll continue to work on that until the guards get it. That’s my fault. But moving forward if the fives down, we’re kicking out, if there’s nobody there or somebody else, and then we can make a choice,” Jakus said.
It was a bit of a step back for an FAU team which looked to be playing some of their best basketball of the season against ECU and Charlotte, but despite the loss the Owls still have a few things they can hang their hat on. On the defensive side of things, after a lack of rebounding almost cost them the game against ECU, the Owls won the offensive rebound battle against a UAB team which came into the game ranked 14th in the country in offensive rebound percentage, while on the offensive side of things FAU assisted on 16 of 29 made field goals, showing a solid ability to move the ball despite a lack of execution at times.
The key for FAU in this one will be not letting UAB beat them twice and they were able to enact that mindset after losing to Memphis, going on the road and winning 2 straight and they will look to do the same heading to Tulane on Wednesday. The issue for FAU this season has come when responding to that first loss, as although they bounced back after Memphis, that was the second of back to back losses and so far this season FAU has not been able lose only 1 game in a row, having a 3 game losing streak and a pair of 2 game losing streaks on the resume so far this season.
The Owls will have to learn from both the good and bad that occurred in this one, finding a way to continue to rebound and assist at a high level, while working on a way to gain consistency on both ends of the court. This was a tough loss to swallow for FAU, as they fought back from down double figures in the second half to just fall short in the end and according to Jakus he was firm with his team after the game because he saw their ability to win, but they were unable to execute in the end.
“We’ll find out how they respond tomorrow and Wednesday I was a little firmer today, because I thought when we took the lead and had the free throws we’re up 2 with free throws, I thought in that moment, a couple shot selections and a couple rebounds, we could have won a game at home. It hurt, and I want it to hurt a little bit, the washing happens tomorrow, and then we’ll move on to the next one, and judge how we respond when we go to Tulane. But they’ll sleep on it. They’re good kids. We’ll clean up things, as a coach, I’ll do my job better, and then we’ll let them respond,” Jakus said.
FAU will be back in action on Wednesday, as they head to New Orleans for a 7:30 PM battle with Tulane which will be aired on ESPN+.