The first test of the season for FAU occurred on Tuesday night as the Owls squared off with UCF and although they ultimately fell short, losing 100-94, a lot was learned about this FAU squad.
It was another diverse showing offensively, with 7 players finishing with 8 or more points on the day and it helped the Owls jump out to an early lead and come back when they were trailing by 10 at the half. It wasn’t enough however, as on the other end UCF put on an offensive clinic, finishing 54% from the field and 46% from 3, also capitalizing on hustle points, finishing with 16 second chance and 13 points off FAU turnovers.
FAU jumped out to a 10-1 lead in this one, putting the slow start that plagued them in their first 2 matchups behind them, however the offensive spurts that helped them in those 2 games weren’t consistent enough against UCF. The Owls started this game with a big run and opened the second half with one as well, however UCF responded every time and that is something FAU Coach John Jakus says this squad has to work on.
“I think we’ve shown in the early games, but UCF on the road is a little bit different caliber, we’re good in our spurts. And tonight, the spurtability you could see in public, but the consistency you couldn’t and so until we get consistent on the defensive end, the beauty of the spurts on offense doesn’t really matter. But when we guarded, we were okay, and we did that to open the first half and the second half. So they responded when it was addressed, but we got to respond more,” Jakus said.
Despite the Owls offensive success at times in this one, UCF was able to match that and exceed them offensively as in similar fashion to how FAU put away Coastal Georgia and Indiana State, after falling behind 10-1, UCF closed the final 17 minutes of the half on a 45-26 run, taking all the momentum into the half. The Owls flipped that to start the second half, going on a 32-19 run in less than 10 minutes to take a 68-67 lead with 9:42 to play, however UCF followed that up with a 23-11 run to take a 90-79 lead, their largest of the game with 2:21 to play and effectively slam the door on the Owls.
Jordan Ivy-Curry finished with 22, Darius Johnson finished with 21 and Keyshawn Hall finished with a game high 26 and combined they were 10/18 from downtown, seemingly one of them hitting a key basket whenever the Knights needed it. FAU didn’t have many answers defensively tonight for the Knights trio and Jakus believes that is in part credit to UCF for overcoming their shooting struggles in previous games, however FAU made that a key in their game plan but were unable to slow them down.
“I would say today, the thing is, the three point line, like they were two and 20 last game, when they’re making 13 threes at home, and we don’t get out and take that away, that’s going to be an issue for us. So they did a great job. They had won games at the free throw line in the past two and I actually thought they won at the three point line today. They deserve a lot of credit after two first games and the Texas AM game was really low scoring for them to respond and make jump shots at home, you can see how they’re getting more comfortable. So they’ve done a good job of growing in their confidence, and the three point line was certainly one of the keys for us,” Jakus said.
As mentioned, despite the defensive struggles there were positives tonight for FAU, specifically on the offensive end of things. Leland Walker finished with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, while Kaleb Glenn was a spark off the bench once again finishing with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals.
It wasn’t just Walker and Glenn getting the job done for FAU, as the Owls got key buckets from a lot of players, including timely triples from Miller, Ken Evans Jr and Tandy that kept FAU in the game when UCF went on a run of their own. Even though a lot of good occurred for FAU tonight, for Jakus it is hard to remain positive with the defensive lapses that occurred tonight and they will continue to trust their offense, however they will go right to work on fixing their defensive issues.
“It’s hard to be encouraged right now after playing defense like that, I will say I believe in the kids we recruited. I believe that we have depth. I believe that when we share and run, we’re hard to guard, and for stretches, you saw that tonight. So we’re going to double down on our belief in the kids on the offensive end, and then we’re going to clean some things up defensively,” Jakus said.
The Owls were able to stay in the game due to their depth and ability to match UCF’s size when needed, as Matas Vokietaits finished with 10 points and 4 rebounds and they finished +12 with him on the floor, while Baba Miller finished with 14 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Both of them got into a bit of foul trouble, finishing with 4 and 5 fouls respectively, as Vokietaitis also had a technical foul in the second half that led to a 5 point UCF run and when the Owls went small ball, UCF was able to capitalize.
Small ball has worked at times for FAU this season, with Tre Carroll having huge games in the first 2 matchups of the year, however today he was subdued and between foul trouble and new lineups the Owls were behind the 8 ball. Jakus saw the success the Owls were having at times, however foul trouble, both personal and technical, prevented FAU from capitalizing on their advantage and that is something he knows they have to work on.
“I think we’re just going to have to find our pockets. There’s times where the two point guards is great. I thought Leland had beautiful moments tonight. There’s times where a small ball is good for us. And then there’s times I thought, really, we won the game when the big fella Matas was in the game. We were plus 12, and I thought that was a real mismatch for us. We’re gonna have to clean up that technical. You know, there’s some immaturity there, and that’s a five point swing after we fixed some things. And now we’re getting into random lineups that we didn’t expect to be in. So no more technicals. We’re gonna have to be ourselves. And when the big lineups work, then our big guys have to stay out of foul trouble, and that’s part of them maturing. So he’s a young kid from overseas. We’ll learn from it. He did a lot of great things tonight, but that certainly was a key moment this evening,” Jakus said.
Now sitting at 2-1, FAU will have 2 off-days before matching up with Charleston on Friday and Liberty on Saturday in the Field of 68 Tournament and they will stay in Charleston until the following Sunday, as they follow up the Field of 68 tourney with the Charleston Classic, tipping off with Oklahoma State on Thursday. It is an early season test for FAU both mentally and on the court as the Owls will be on the road for 14 days, however a road trip like this could gel this FAU squad more than they already are.
John Jakus has never experienced a road trip like this one before, however it is similar to an NBA road trip and with multiple staff members with NBA experience the Owls will treat it as exactly that. The most important part for Jakus is making sure that throughout this road trip his guys maintain their health and remain as well rested as possible.
“We’re just calling it an NBA road trip. To be honest, I can’t tell you what the hardest part about it is because we haven’t done it before. I’ve never been on the road for 14 days straight, these guys have been mature. The way they handle themselves, to sleep, to eat, nutrition, all that kind of stuff, will matter. And then as we travel, we’ve got to be careful with their legs. And so I mean, offensively, I thought we were fresh. Defensively, I wouldn’t blame our legs today. So the next three days, as we travel and get to the next spot, I think it’s just about taking care of them and then making sure they’re fresh so we can actually play on that end,” Jakus said.
Although the outcome didn’t go as expected for FAU, the Owls battled hard and learned a lot about themselves in this one. FAU maintains an array of depth offensively that can cause teams problems in different ways, however defensively they struggled, allowing a litany of open looks which UCF capitalized on and other teams will as well. With only 2 days to prepare for Charleston and Liberty, FAU will have to move quickly as they will be tested by 2 hungry mid-major opponents, but John Jakus didn’t seem to take a morale victory in the Owls struggles tonight and expect a rejuvenated Owls squad on Friday night.
In-Game Recap
FAU started out the game with a burst of energy, as KyKy Tandy hit the first 3 pointer of the day on the first possession of the day and it got them going early. Matas Vokietatis followed him up on the next 2 possessions, getting back to back baskets down low and Baba Miller stretched the defense out, converting from 3 to give the Owls a 10-1 lead just 2 minutes into the game.
UCF wasn’t going to back down in front of a raucous home atmosphere, as Jordan Ivy-Curry hit his first triple of the day on the ensuing possession and their offense got going from there. The Owls kept the lead at multiple possessions in the early part of the first half, as Tandy followed Ivy-Curry with his second triple of the day on the next possession, and the Owls carried a 13-6 lead into the first media timeout of the day with 15:51 to play.
The Owls went on a mini 6-2 run following that break and following a Nico Moretti 3 pointer fresh off of the bench, FAU led 19-8 with 13:17 to play. Now trailing by double figures, UCF went to work in a big way, JJ Taylor came off the bench and converted an and-1 with 13:04 to play and that sparked a quick 10-4 run, and following back to back triples from Taylor and Machowski, UCF was within 3, trailing 23-20 with 10:56 to play.
The lead hovered between 1-2 possessions for a few minutes, however following a Kaleb Glenn second chance bucket gave the Owls a 30-28 lead with 7:42 remaining, their offense went ice-cold. UCF went on a 10-0 run, shutting down the Owls offense and slowing the game down. Jordan Ivy-Curry scored 6 of those 10 points, taking strong drives to the rim and heading into the U4 timeout with a 38-30 lead.
The Owls were giving up offensive boards at a high rate during that tough stretch, so they opted to bring in Baba Miller for Tre Carroll and it helped snap the run. Kaleb Glenn scored 6 straight for FAU out of the u4 timeout, and his triple with 1:45 to go brought it within 4, 40-36. The Owls went cold over the final few minutes, and Ivy-Curry 2 triples to jolt the lead back to 10, 46-36 which was the score at half.
After the Owls were shooting above 50% from the field and from 3 through the first 10 minutes they collapsed, finishing 36% from the field and 38% from 3 and it allowed UCF to crawl back into the game. Jordan Ivy-Curry was getting whatever he wanted in the first half as well, as he finished 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 6 from 3 and he was giving FAU serious troubles early on.
Trailing by 10 at the break, FAU had to make adjustments in the locker room and figure out why UCF was limiting their offense and how Ivy-Curry found success.
2nd Half
The Owls needed to respond in a big way trailing by 10 at the break and they came out with energy. 3 Straight triples from Baba Miller, KyKy Tandy and Leland Walker brought the lead from 10, down to 1, 48-47 in favor of UCF and forced the Knights into a timeout with 17:24 to play. The Owls evened it at 48 on a Miller split pair of free throws, however UCF went on a 5-0 run sparked by a Vokietaitis technical foul and UCF took a 53-48 lead into the U16 media timeout.
Now back down by 5, the Owls were in need of a spark plug and they got one in the form of Leland Walker. Walker came out of the U16 timeout with a triple, and hit another with 13:28 to play and on the ensuing possession he hit a second chance bucket at the rim and all 3 of his buckets kept it a one possession game, the 3rd making it 60-58 with with 12:18 to play.
The Owls battled for the next few minutes, keeping it within one score as each team traded baskets. Back to back buckets from Baba Miller gave the Owls their first lead since the first half, 67-66, with 10:16 to play.
After that, UCF took over, going on an 11-1 run over the next 2 minutes and change, getting 4 straight buckets from Benny Williams and Keyshawn Hall, and following a pair of Dallan Coleman free throws, the Knights took a 78-69 lead with 7:13 to play. The Owls responded with an 8-2 run of their Own, as Tre Carroll converted an and-1, Ken Evans cashed in a triple, and KyKy Tandy hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead back down to 80-77 with 5:56 to play.
The Knights were not backing down in front of a raucous home crowd, as Darius Johnson went on a 9-0 run in less than 2 minutes and all of a sudden the FAU deficit was as large as it had been all game, now trailing 88-77 with 4:31 to play. That would be about it for FAU, as they chipped away at the deficit which grew to double figures, finishing the game on a 17-10 run, but ultimately falling short to UCF 100-94, never having a defensive response for UCF’s offensive explosions.
