No. 21/24 Florida Atlantic Thrashes Middle Tennessee, Improves to 20-1

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The sensational ride that is the 2022-23 season for the No. 21/24 Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team continued on Thursday night. The Owls played their first home game as a ranked team in school history, and did not let a sellout, school record Florida Atlantic crowd of 3,082 down. The Owls pulled away from Middle Tennessee with a big second half and took an 85-67 ballgame for their 19th consecutive victory.

FAU now stands at 20-1 and 10-0 in Conference USA action for sole possession of first place. The Owls remain one of only three one-loss teams in all of NCAA Division I basketball (Purdue & Charleston being the others) and now stand just one game behind Charleston for the longest winning streak in the nation. The Owls still have not lost since going to Ole Miss on Nov. 11, the second game of the season.

POSTGAME QUOTES FROM COACH MAY

“Like the other 20 games this year, it was a complete team effort,” Owls’ head coach Dusty May said. “There were so many contributions from different people against a great program in Middle Tennessee. This place was electric. We thank the fans, we thank the media, we thank everyone that’s coming out to watch these guys and reward them for the old school approach they play with-where it’s a complete team effort, and unselfish basketball with a lot of heart and intensity. I’m very proud to be a member of these guys’ team.”

STATS & NOTES

The Owls are one win shy of tying the single-season school record of 21, set in the 2010-11 season. That is the only other 20-win FAU season in the school’s Division I history outside of this year
Johnell Davis led the Owls in scoring once again with 25 points. Tonight marks the sixth time in the last eight games, which have all been C-USA games, that Davis has led the Owls in scoring. He also played active defense with a career-high five steals
After FAU held only a 53-49 lead with 11:21 left in the game, the Owls blew the doors open with one of their patented runs. A quick 15-4 stretch pushed FAU ahead 68-53 by the 8:05 mark
Bryan Greenlee connected with Alijah Martin on a beautiful backdoor pass, and Martin threw down the jam to make it 59-51
After Greenlee knocked down a jumper, back-to-back trifectas from Nick Boyd & Martin stretched the advantage to 15
Boyd came up big in the second half, scoring all of his 13 points in the second, while shooting 5-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-6 from 3-point range
Four Owls finished in double figures tonight in Davis (25) Martin (13) Boyd (13) and Greenlee (11)
Martin filled up the stat sheet, shooting 5-of-9 from the floor, grabbing seven rebounds, three steals, and dishing out three assists
Vladislav Goldin led FAU with nine boards, while adding nine points on 3-of-3 shooting
Giancarlo Rosado tallied eight points on 3-of-3 shooting with four boards and three blocks
The Owls were over the 50% shooting mark as a team (53.4%, 31-of-58)
The No. 1 scoring bench in the nation struck again, outscoring Middle Tennessee’s bench by a 52-22 margin
FAU is 12-0 at home this season and has won its last 13 games in Paradise dating back to last year