BOCA RATON, Fla. – History was made in Boca Raton on Saturday by the Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team. The Owls clinched at least a share of the Conference USA Regular Season Championship and the No. 1 seed in the conference tourney with a 75-49 victory over UTEP.
Florida Atlantic captures its first C-USA regular season title ever, and the program’s first regular season conference championship since the A-SUN title in the 2010-11 season. The Owls’ magical run in the 2022-23 season continues, as FAU stands at 26-3 and 16-2 in conference action. Florida Atlantic additionally capped off a perfect 17-0 season at home, which is also a first in school history.
The Owls add to a historic season, which includes the highest ranking in school history, most wins, most C-USA wins, longest winning streak and most home wins. One more FAU win, or one more North Texas loss will make the Owls the outright regular season C-USA champs.
Quotes From Coach May
“We’re very proud of our approach in a game that’s not easy to focus on the possession-by-possession, frame-by-frame mentality that we have, but our guys battled and competed against a hungry and determined UTEP team,” head coach Dusty May said. “Just like most of the year, we got great contributions from a lot of different people on both sides of the ball and found a way to at least clinch a partial championship on our home court with our fans in attendance. It’s surreal…it’s so hard to win even a game, and its extremely difficult to win a championship, especially in a 20-game conference season. We have strength in numbers and a group that really cares about each other.”
Stats & Notes
- The Owls came out of the gate hot, opening up to a 30-10 run to start the game
- UTEP battled back and shrank the lead to as few as nine with 1:13 left in the first half
- Johnell Davis beat the buzzer with a key bucket in the end of the first half. With 6.9 seconds on the clock, Davis took the inbounds pass from under the hoop and went coast-to-coast, beating four UTEP defenders for the lay-in
- Alijah Martin continued his dominant streak with a game high 21 points on 7-12 shooting from the field and 4-7 from downtown. When UTEP cut the lead to nine early on the second half, Martin put the team on his back with 12 straight points, helping to extend the lead to 15 and ultimately putting the game out of reach
- UTEP’s 49 points were the second-lowest allowed to a Conference USA foe this season by FAU
- Michael Forrest finished up his final home game as an Owl making his first start of the season. He scored 10 points and added another triple to his lead in the all-time FAU 3-pointers made list. He now stands at 298 career trifectas
- Davis contributed 12 points on 4-7 shooting
- Brandon Weatherspoon was the top scorer for FAU off of the bench with 10 points. It was another quality effort from the No. 1 bench in the nation outscoring UTEP’s second unit 26-7
- Vladislav Goldin led the way for the Owls in rebounding with nine. He has now been the team’s leading rebounder in 17 games
- FAU took care of the assist battle, winning 12-4
Next Up
The Owls still have more work to do, as Florida Atlantic hits the road next week to face Rice on March 2 and LA Tech on March 4. The Conference USA Championship Tournament is the following week in Frisco, Texas from March 8-11.
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