Those same boring habits that FAU has begun to develop over the past few games may be here to stay. The Owls went into Tulsa on Sunday afternoon and after falling behind 6-0 following the first 3 possessions of the game they went on a 13-0 run, never looking back on their way to a 79-55 victory.
It was the third consecutive victory by 20 points or more for the Owls and during these victories FAU has shown significant improvement on both ends of the court and today was a culmination of those improvements or as FAU Coach John Jakus would say, “habits.” The Owls shot 50% from the field and 42% from 3, also assisting on 21 of their 30 made field goals, while defensively they held Tulsa to 31% from the field and 14% from 3, also forcing 10 turnovers which they turned into 18 points.
FAU dominated this one outside of the first 3 possessions and although the Owls outclassed the Golden Hurricane in this one, that is not what they expected to do coming into it. According to FAU Coach John Jakus, what led the Owls to success in this one was their respect that they had for Tulsa knowing how many close games they have been involved in, noting that once the Owls had the lead they prevented Tulsa from controlling momentum.
“I think we sold the heck out of the fact that they’ve been in a lot of close games, they had a win in the last five and an overtime game in the last five, I thought, they only lost by three at Tulane. We struggled at Tulane. This league is defined so much by close possession games. So they probably got sick of me saying how good Tulsa can be. And then I thought, because of the tempo, we had to be really efficient. And I think that’s where the assist thing came from. We passed on good and we went good, better, best. There were moments where we took the first shot, it just wasn’t the right thing. And when we got out of that, we were pretty good. And then we had to run when we could run, because if they can play with the lead, then that tempo thing really hurts you. So, you know, playing with the lead, I thought, was an advantage for us, especially on the road,” Jakus said.
Playing with the lead was definitely an advantage, as once the Owls went on their 13-0 run early, their suffocating defense made it impossible for Tulsa to cut into the deficit, let alone come back. After suffering from offensive dry spells early in the season, FAU flipped it around on Tulsa in this one, forcing the Golden Hurricane into multiple minute long scoring droughts which the Owls used to pad their lead.
Jakus couldn’t remember the last time FAU limited a team to only 3 triples on the season and it was a stark improvement for an Owls defense which has spent a majority of conference play in the bottom 4 of the country in allowed 3-point percentage. This team has been able to work out their inefficiencies game by game, improving their rebounding, offensive inconsistencies and now they have had back to back games with solid perimeter defense.
Kaleb Glenn was someone who Jakus mentioned as the spirit of the team’s rebound improvement and although his aggressiveness down low sparked a change amongst the team in the rebounding department, according to Jakus the defensive improvement we saw against Tulsa was a collective effort.
“No, I think that’s collective. I believe these guys have bought in. I think our switching is better. We change our ball screen coverage. We’ve changed the way we close out. I would say we change our gap pipe and then how high we’re willing to switch, and the way we cover each other’s back after that. So we’ve been tinkering with this thing for a while, but defense is mostly fixed through effort and energy. And I think our guys have just turned the corner, and we’ve had 20 something games under our belt now, and they’ve decided that they’re going to get better, and they’re taking it personal. And the last two weeks, I thought, in practice, I’m so thankful, because it feels like for a while we were a coach led team, and now we’re a player led team, and you don’t ever know when that’s going to happen, but at least for this two weeks, it’s happened. I’m thankful for that,” Jakus said.
On the offensive side of things, FAU was led by Baba Miller who finished with 17 points 10 rebounds and 5 assists, while Ken Evans, Matas Vokietaitis and Kaleb Glenn all finished in double figures. The ball movement has been crisp during the Owls during this 3 game win streak and tonight was no different and it led to 6 players scoring 8 or more for FAU.
The defensive improvement was collective and the same could be said about the team’s play overall during the past 3 games, as it seems like there is a sense of cohesiveness that has been permeating throughout the whole team. The togetherness of this team was displayed offensively for FAU tonight, as Jakus mentioned that they didn’t settle for good shots, they found better and the best possible shots.
A big part of FAU’s success against Tulsa and over the past 3 games has been their improved communication and that is something Jakus says now reflects how the team acts off the court.
“The crazy thing is, these guys love each other, like you send them out to dinner and they don’t shut up. They talk the whole time, and then you put them on the basketball court, and then all of a sudden silence comes. And I think that’s changed in the last couple weeks. We always say you can hear coach AD on defense in the first half because they play in front of us, but will we hear you in the second half when we don’t? You don’t play in front of us, and we can’t call the scout out, and today we heard them on the other end. So it’s not perfect, but I said it earlier. Really good teams are player led, and the last three games, we’ve been player led, and this guy (Baba) is a big part of that, but I would say a bunch are. So we’re looking to grow from there, and we’ll see how it goes on Monday,” Jakus said.
Although it was a dominating win and one a team may want to hang their hat on, Jakus has a different approach on how to handle a win like this and heading into a matchup against Charlotte that will be on national television and feature a student tailgate, the focus has to be shifted to the 49ers.
Fran Fraschilla says that there’s three games a year, nobody’s going to beat you, three games a year you’re not going to beat anybody. And then there’s who you are, and this is probably one of those three. And we probably won’t over analyze it. We need to watch this game and move on to Charlotte and stay on the top of our game,” Jakus said.
The Owls will focus on Charlotte as much as possible over the next 2 days, before taking the court in front of what is expected to be a raucous atmosphere at Eleanor R Baldwin Monday night against the 49ers.