| BOCA RATON, Fla. – The stage is officially set for the Florida Atlantic University’s men’s basketball team in their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2002. After clinching an automatic bid with a Conference USA Championship on Saturday night, the Owls learned their official seed and location for the opening Round of 64, set to occur on Friday, Mar. 17. FAU, the No. 9 seed in the East Region, will face the No. 8 seed Memphis Tigers (26-8) at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The Owls and Tigers will clash at 9:20 p.m. The Owls are March Madness-bound, for only the second time in school history. A 31-3 record culminated in their first-ever Conference USA Tournament Championship with a 78-56 dominating win over UAB. Sophomore guard Alijah Martin showed out in the final with a 30-point, 11 rebound performance to win Tournament MVP. FAU celebrated their historic bid on Selection Sunday in front of their home crowd at the Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena. It was the only fitting location, with FAU earning their place as one of the nation’s best teams in part due to their 17-0 record in Boca Raton in a season with the top seven highest-attended home games in school history. For head coach Dusty May and company, the Owls will now lace up their dancing shoes and work towards making history once more, this time on college basketball’s biggest stage. Quotable Vice President and Director of Athletics Brian White “We could not be prouder of our men’s basketball program for this tremendous accomplishment. The leadership of Coach May and his staff as well as the competitiveness and relentlessness of our players is second to none. This has been a historical season in so many ways for FAU men’s basketball, and we can’t wait to see the rest of this run.” Head Coach Dusty May On the moment the team officially learned their seeding and opponent “The suspense was gone because we knew we were in, but we were excited to see who we were going to play, where we were going to play and when. Obviously, Memphis is a great opponent, a storied program, well-coached. We’re excited to see how we stack up with our future AAC opponent.” On the team’s mindset this week “It’s going to be very similar to a typical practice week. We’ll go a little bit lighter tomorrow and then jump back into on Tuesday and figure out a way to get our game plan in and play our best basketball on Friday.” Sophomore guard Alijah Martin On the feeling of qualifying for the NCAA tournament “It felt amazing. Last year, we planned on being here, where we’re at right now. Just to see it unfold, you can’t really put words to it.” On what makes this team special “Our depth scares a lot of teams because we have a good, solid team, a nine/ten-man rotation. Anybody can go off, not even just me; Nelly (Johnell Davis), Nick (Boyd), Mike (Michael Forrest), B.J. (Bryan Greenlee), Vlad (Goldin), ‘G’ (Giancarlo Rosado), it’s just deep.” Ticketing Information The FAU ticket office is reaching out to those who requested tickets this past week. If you did not request tickets through FAU, there are still tickets available for the first and second rounds here: https://www.ncaatickets.com/championship/march-madness. |
