BOCA RATON (FAUSports.com) — The Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team will look to send its seniors out in style Saturday afternoon, hosting the back-end of a home and home series with FIU to close out the regular season. Tipoff from The Burrow is slated for 2 p.m. and FAU fans are ecouraged to wear red.
Bitumba Baruti, Brant Ulmer and Everett Winchester will all be honored before their final home contest in an FAU uniform.
The Owls have set a new program-best for wins in Conference USA. FAU is now 10-7 in C-USA, besting 2018-19’s win total of eight. Thursday’s win over FIU also clinched a fourth-consecutive winning season for FAU, 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. The Owls need to defeat FIU and get help from Marshall, who is at Western Kentucky.
While FIU leads the overall series 28-22, FAU has won three straight and seven of the last 12 after coming off a season sweep of the Panthers last season. Alijah Martin (13), Michael Forrest (12) and Bryan Greenlee (10) all scored in double figures Thursday night at FIU.
The FAU-FIU tilt will be heard in the South Florida area on Fox Sports 640 AM and will be streamed on ESPN+.
An FAU Win Would…
Secure a second straight season sweep over FIU
Result in a school-record 11th Conference USA victory
Send the seniors out right
Be WAY better than a loss
History Made
FAU has clinched its fourth consecutive winning season, making Dusty May the first Owls’ head coach ever to lead a team to four straight winning seasons. 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.
Thursday’s victory at FIU assured that fourth consecutive winning season, which is the first time in school history the Owls have accomplished that feat.
Home Sweet Home
In the Dusty May era, FAU has been very successful on Abessinio Court. When playing at The Burrow, the Owls have won more than 77 percent of their contests under May (43-14, .754). FAU has been even better on its home floor since May’s first season. Since 2019, FAU is 34-8 at FAU Arena for an .810 winning percentage.
A-Mart Making A Mark
After averaging 4.2 points in his first season, Alijah Martin is now scoring 13.5 ppg, ranking No. 2 on the team. He has reached 10+ points in 23 of 30 games this year. He tallied 10+ points just 4 times in 2020-21. He leads the team shooting .403 from 3-point range, which ranks No. 2 in C-USA and No. 35 in the nation.
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 Threes
Michael Forrest is one of the most prolific 3-point shooters in Conference USA. He is currently No. 6 in the league and No. 74 in the nation in 3-pointers per game (2.6) and, No. 2 in CUSA in 3-pointers attempted (218). His .358 percentage. from beyond the arc was No. 7 in C-USA and No. 87 in the nation.
At 244 career 3-point field goals, he sits third all-time in FAU history.
Forrest has hit at least one 3-pointer in 104 of 118 career games and has made at least one in 80 of 85 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 71, FIU 51
The Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team secured a fourth-straight winning season with a 71-51 victory over FIU Thursday night at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center. It’s the first time in FAU history that the Owls have put together four straight seasons above .500.
Thursday’s win clinched a winning season in Conference USA action as well, which is also a first for the FAU program.
On the court, FAU heated up in the second half to pull away for the 20-point victory. The Owls struggled offensively in a first half that included 12 turnovers. Despite the offensive woes, FAU managed to take a 22-21 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
The second half was a much different story. The Owls hit seven of their 10 3-point field goals in the second half, including four from Michael Forrest. With FAU leading 29-26 early in the second half, Giancarlo Rosado scored a second-chance bucket, sparking a 12-0 run that included 3-pointers from Forrest and Brandon Weatherspoon. That spurt left the Owls with a 15-point lead and FIU never got closer than 12 for the remainder of the contest.
“It was a tale of two halves,” May said. “I thought our defense was really solid. Credit to our guys in the second half, we got some more ball reversals and paint touches that led to kickouts. Overall, we just got really solid contributions from all our guys on the offensive end in the second half.”
The Owls pushed the lead to 20 with seven minutes remaining on a Bitumba Baruti basket and the Owls cruised from there.
Alijah Martin scored 13 points to tie for game-high scoring honors with FIU’s Clevon Brown. Forrest added 12 on his four second-half 3-pointers and Bryan Greenlee added 10. Vlad Goldin pulled down a game-high nine rebounds to help FAU to a 41-26 advantage in rebounding. The Owls held a 12-7 edge on the offensive glass that led to a 13-4 edge in second-chance points for the Owls.
FAU held a 28-18 advantage in points in the paint and the Owls’ bench outscored the Panthers’ reserves 26-13.
