FAU Coach John Jakus met with the media on Wednesday afternoon and took a look at the week ahead, while also touching on the success they had over the past 2 games. A big part of the Owls success on Sunday against USF, outside of their play on the court, was the impact of the fans who created one of the loudest atmospheres of the season in Paradise.
The atmosphere of Eleanor R Baldwin arena has been proven over the past 2 years to be one that can play a serious impact on the game and Sunday against USF was as loud as it has been all season and it played a major role. What helped create the raucous student section was the organized student tailgate, which made a comeback for the first time since the end of football season.
After the game on Sunday, Jakus mentioned that he wanted there to be more student tailgates and less than 24 hours later the school obliged, scheduling one for the Owls matchup against Charlotte on Monday February 10th. Although Jakus doesn’t believe he himself is the reason it got scheduled, he noted that the school noticed the Student body enjoyed themselves on Sunday and with ESPN coming to town for a primetime 9 pm game, why not display that enjoyment on national television.
“Yeah. I mean, I don’t know that I have that kind of power yet, (in terms of the game being scheduled because erof him) some things need to be earned. But I do think that they’ve got a sense that their student body loved it, and I think some of the students on campus asking for it may have had more power than me, but some of the combination and us playing well, there’s a number of factors kind of moving in that direction. But you know, if you’re going to play nine o’clock on ESPN big Monday. What a privilege to get a big Monday game. Why not go all out on campus and celebrate it? So I’m incredibly thankful for our president, our athletic director, and the people involved that made it happen again, and I think it’s gonna provide a good home environment,” Jakus said.
The environment may have played a role on Sunday afternoon, however the team has been playing at an extremely high level over the past 2 games and have seemed to find their groove with back to back 20 point victories. There has been production on both ends of the court for the Owls, as they have improved their perimeter defense, while also finding consistency from beyond the arc on offense and if both continue to improve this Owls team could be a problem for opponents, especially in the AAC tournament.
Jakus mentioned that assistant coach Todd Abernethy mentioned this could potentially be the beginning of an avalanche, as the Owls put together 2 of their best performances of the season in conference play, something that is very difficult to do. Although FAU is showing major strides of improvement, Jakus believes there is still more work to be done and they will look to continue to improve on the road against Tulsa.
“I don’t think that we’re there yet. I think winning home games is something you should do, and it took us a while to figure that part out. So I think just the habit of that is a good thing for us. There is some momentum in the fact that I think we have seven guys in double figures last week, so the momentum of believing that everyone wants to share and is on the same page is pretty special. So I would say for sure that’s a benefit. But as far as total of figuring everything out, I think we’re just going to take each opponent, each Scout, separate, and just compliment the assistants. I thought the game plans for the last two games were spot on, and execution by the players is improving, so we haven’t figured it all out yet, but certainly would rather have a week like that instead of the opposite,” Jakus said.
Against USF, Nico Moretti shined off the bench with 17 points and 3 of 5 shooting from beyond the arc and it marked his first double figure scoring effort since January 8th against Charlotte and his highest point total since he scored 19 in the season opener against Indiana State. Although a game like that may boost confidence for some players, Jakus knows that for Moretti his confidence isn’t outcome based and notes that the scoring will continue to improve for Moretti.
“I think he goes into progression. The scoring is good. We’ll take the buckets anytime we can get them. When he makes threes. You can recall the Charlotte game, Indiana State game this past game. There’s certainly moments where it makes an impact. I’m happy for him when the ball goes in, but I believe he’s number one in our league in assisted turnover ratio. Last week, he had nine assists or one turnover. I think his overall just controlling the game is just slowly improving. And we talked about this before two years ago, an injury last year, not playing much at Illinois. In some regards, there should be an uptick, because he’s played basketball for two or three months in a row, and he hadn’t got to do that for two years. So we’re incredibly thrilled for him, and we expect it actually to get better over the next couple of weeks, just as he settles in more and more,” Jakus said.
Next up for FAU will be Tulsa, as the Owls will head to Oklahoma for a Saturday afternoon matchup with the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa will head into this matchup at 9-14 and riding a 3 game losing streak, however outside of a recent double-figure loss to Memphis, they have played most of their opponents competitively and coming off a blowout loss to the Tigers, they could be looking to bounce back against FAU.
Any AAC game could work itself out to be a battle, but with the success FAU has had as of late, this is an opportunity to continue that against a team which has been in the midst of an up-and-down stretch. According to Jakus however, he wouldn’t call their inconsistencies up-and-down, rather that is just life in the AAC and that he needs to make sure his team is prepared for this matchup.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s up and down. I would say that’s February in college basketball, winning and losing happens to almost everybody. One of them was an overtime loss. Another one was a three point loss, their last game, they’ve been in all the last five games that they played with a win at Wichita State. So we’ll watch the Memphis game tonight. But what we were able to find last week was some margin, and we’ve learned the hard way in our in our two possession games, it can go either way. And I actually think Tulsa’s guard plays really good. They’ve got this little wrinkle with the Garcia kid coming back, or maybe he was going to take the year off, but with the JUCO ruling, he’s playing basketball again, and he averages 11-12 points a game. So that gives them a face up four man along with the four guards who can really go. So I think they’re slowly getting better, and we’re taking this game incredibly seriously, specifically on the road, you can’t ever expect an easy game,” Jakus said.
The Owls will head into this matchup in the midst of a 5 day off stretch, their second stretch of 5 off-days or more over the past 2 weeks, the last leading into a tough road loss at North Texas. Although that stretch resulted in a loss, Jakus says the Owls won’t be changing much of their itinerary and that the team earned 2 off days following the USF game.
“Not differently. I think our guys were really mature last time. And because of it, we had the week that we had, we gave them two days off. One’s kind of a full day off, and then the second one is to get with our trainer, Joel, get with their assistance and get some extra shots, but really, like, almost take care of your body day, and then shout out to the Capitol grill. Our guys had a dinner last night, and was a wonderful meal, and they got a little room in the back. And just, I think we’re trying to continue to bond. In February, people can get on their phone and start looking at the portal and thinking ahead, and we’re just trying to stay present. So we’re using two days off to rest, but we’re also using it to bond and to stay together. So I’m thrilled with how much the guys love each other and how they enjoy spending time together,” Jakus said.
The Owls used some of their time off to continue to bond despite being in the middle of a gauntlet that is the AAC schedule and since day one, this has been a unified bunch even though a majority of the team wasn’t here a year ago. According to Jakus, the team has grown immensely through 20 games together and although the portal is always unpredictable, his belief is that his team wants to be here for the long haul.
“I think the Growth Factor is that for over 20 games we have experience together now, and it’s almost as though when we hit that 20 ish game, we were able to really settle in with who we are. We’re improving. I’m really proud of the improvement on the floor. You know, I don’t have Twitter, and I don’t necessarily read comments. It’s our SID Genesis’s job to protect us, tell me what’s going on, but I don’t really listen to what others say. But if they were to say that we don’t like each other because we’ve lost some close games, that would be the farthest thing from the truth. Our guys have never stopped hanging out together. So I don’t think our kids want to leave paradise. They’re already talking about their summer plans, and I think they’re really happy here. We know that great college basketball happens with retention. There’s some exceptions, but you look like a team like Auburn this year, so much of what they’re having, besides the freshman point guard, is retention. We were great at Baylor and Gonzaga. We had three years of retention. So we want to do as well as we can this year, but we know retention is at the heart of it, and our guys getting along is a huge part of that,” Jakus said