BOCA RATON (FAUSports.com) — The Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team begins its final week of the regular season Thursday in Miami, taking on nearby rival FIU. The Owls and Panthers will meet twice this week. Following Thursday’s 7 p.m. ET tipoff, FIU will make the return trip to Boca Raton for a Saturday afternoon tilt.
The Owls have set a new program-best for wins in Conference USA, following last week’s 74-69 win at Charlotte. FAU is now 9-7 in C-USA, besting 2018-19’s win total of eight. A win Thursday or Saturday would clinch a fourth-consecutive winning season for FAU, which would be a first in program history.
The Owls are still in contention for the C-USA East Division No. 2 seed in the C-USA Championship Tournament. FAU would likely need to sweep FIU this week and watch the scoreboard of other league games to secure the bye into the tournament quarterfinals.
While FIU leads the overall series 28-21, FAU has won six of the last 11 and is coming off a season sweep of the Panthers last season. The Owls won 81-79 in Miami and then rolled to a 107-63 blowout at The Burrow.
The FAU-FIU tilt will be heard in the South Florida area on Fox Sports 640 AM and will be streamed on ESPN+. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET.
An FAU Win Would …
Clinch a fourth straight winning season (see note below)
Clinch a first-ever +.500 record in C-USA
Be a third straight win against FIU
Be WAY better than a loss
Trending Upward
FAU posted its third consecutive winning season in 2020-21, making Dusty May the first Owls’ head coach to lead a team to three straight winning seasons in the school’s NCAA Division I history. Back in 1992, Tim Loomis coached the Owls to three straight seasons with a winning percentage above .500 while the team was a member of NCAA Division II.
One more victory in 2021-22 would assure a winning season and make May the first to coach FAU to four straight seasons above .500.
A-Mart Making His Mark
Alijah Martin has stepped up during his second year as an Owl. After averaging 4.2 points in his first season, the second-year freshman is putting up 13.5 ppg, ranking No. 2 on the team. He has reached 10+ points in 22 of 29 games this year. He tallied 10+ points just 4 times in 2020-21. He leads the team shooting .400 from 3-point range.
As a 6-foot 2-inch guard, Martin’s 5.3 rebounds per game leads the team. He’s also leading the team in steals with 1.6 per game.
Seeing the Forrest for the Three’s
Michael Forrest is one of the most prolific 3-point shooters in Conference USA. He is currently No. 6 in the league and No. 84 in the nation in 3-pointers per game (2.55) and, No. 2 in CUSA in 3-pointers attempted (209). His .354 percentage. from beyond the arc was No. 6 in C-USA and No. 87 in the nation.
At 240 career 3-point field goals, he sits third all-time in FAU history.
Forrest has hit at least one 3-pointer in 103 of 117 career games and has made at least one in 79 of 84 games over the past three seasons. Forrest scored 27 points, including 6 3-point field goals, against Marshall in the C-USA opener. It was the 15th time he has scored 20+ points in his FAU career and the 6th time has has made 5 or more triples.
Last Time Out – FAU 74, Charlotte 69
The Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team gutted out a hard-fought 74-69 victory over Charlotte at Halton Arena Saturday afternoon. With the victory, FAU (16-13, 9-7 C-USA) set a new mark for victories in Conference USA action with nine.
The victory also puts the Owls in sole possession of third place in the C-USA East Division, pending the outcome of the Western Kentucky-Middle Tennessee State game, slated for later Saturday evening.
It was a come=from-behind victory for FAU. An 11-0 Charlotte run that spanned the last minute of the first half and the first three minutes of the second half gave the 49ers a 41-32 lead with 17 minutes to play. The Owls scored 16 of the next 20 points of the ballgame to take a 48-45 advantage. That outburst was keyed by a Michael Forrest traditional three-point play and was capped by an Alijah Martin 3-point field goal with 11:46 to go.
Over the next seven minutes, neither team led by more than four. But the Owls hit the offensive glass to change that. Giancarlo Rosado and Johnell Davis scored second-chance points on back-to-back possessions, pushing the Owls’ edge to six, 65-69. Forrest hit what could have been the biggest shot of the game with 2:48 remaining. With FAU leading 65-61, Martin stripped Charlotte’s Jahmir Young, drove the ball into the front court and found a wide open Forrest for a right-corner triple to push the lead to seven, 72-65.
Bryan Greenlee, Forrest and Martin each hit a pair of free throws over the final two minutes to ice the victory.
“It’s very rewarding that we were able to grind one out and find our rhythm when we weren’t shooting well from deep,” FAU head coach Dusty May said. “Our bench was awesome. We got stops when we needed them. It came down to a couple really, really big possessions and our guys came up with loose balls and offensive rebounds. Very, very rewarding to not play really well offensively and still find a way to win.”
Martin scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds to lead the Owls. Forrest added 14 points. FAU featured balanced scoring in the five-point victory, with six student-athletes scoring seven points or more. Charlotte’s Young led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field.
The Owls owned a 13-4 advantage on the offensive glass, leading to a 19-4 edge in second-chance points. The FAU bench outscored Charlotte’s reserves 28-17.
