| HOUSTON – The Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team put on an offensive clinic in a blowout 101-73 victory over Rice on Thursday night. With the win, the Owls capture the outright Conference USA Regular Season Championship, after already clinching at least a share of the title at home on Saturday. This blowout win seals the deal as an outright title, and FAU (27-3, 17-2 C-USA) will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming C-USA Tournament, taking place in Frisco Texas next week. The Owls’ offense exploded, knocking down a season-high 17 3-pointers on 36 attempts (47.2%). FAU also shot over 50% from the field as a team, going 39-of-73 (53.4%) from the floor. The Owls wasted no time in grabbing command of this game, grabbing a 26-10 lead in the first eight minutes of the game. Quotes From Coach May “We were determined not to share a conference championship and take care of business on the road,” head coach Dusty May said. “It’s nice to see our guys play with great joy and energy this late in the season. Throughout the season, we felt like the 3-point shooting was the only thing that we weren’t doing as well as we could. I credit our passing, driving, kicking, relocation and movement for being able to knock down so many shots.” Stats & Notes The Owls crossed the century mark for the third time this season, and the 103 points are the second-highest, trailing only last Thursday’s win over UTSA (106) FAU’s 17 3-pointers are the most in a single game since Dec. 3, 2020, when the Owls knocked down 24 trifectas Tonight, 12 Owls scored, led by Nick Boyd’s career-high 21 point effort. Boyd went 7-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-8 from 3-point range to go with four rebounds Bryan Greenlee was another locked in Owl, shooting 6-of-9 from the field and 5-of-8 from 3-point land to finish with 19 points Johnell Davis shot a red-hot 7-of-9 from the floor, with one of his two misses being a last-second shot-clock heave. Davis tallied 17 points to go along with five boards Vladislav Goldin tallied 10 points and a team-high six boards on 4-of-5 shooting Jalen Gaffney chipped in with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting along with three steals The Owls raced to a 57-28 lead by halftime FAU had a big edge in rebounding by a 39-25 margin, which also led to a 24-4 lead in second-chance points FAU outmuscled Rice down low, leading to a 36-16 lead in points in the paint Next Up Only one more regular season game is on the docket for FAU, as the Owls will travel to Ruston to take on Louisiana Tech on Saturday, March 4 at 7 p.m. eastern. The Conference USA Championship Tournament takes place in Frisco from March 9-11. Follow FAU on Social Media To stay up to date on all things FAU men’s basketball, follow the Owls on social media @FAUMBB. |
