Florida Atlantic Coach John Jakus met with the media Monday afternoon, just 12 hours apart from their last matchup with UNT which resulted in a loss after a second half that didn’t pan out how they expected. Next up will be UTSA, a game in which the Owls could potentially spark a win streak with, as Ken Pom has them favored in all 5 of their next games.
Primo Spears, a 6’3 transfer G from Florida State has led the way this season averaging 21.1 points per game and he along with 6’6 transfer forward from JMU Raekwon Horton look to be threats for the Road Runners. According to FAU Coach John Jakus, both of those players look to provide serious scoring for UTSA, with Spears being one of the premier guards in the AAC.
“Yeah, one’s averaging 22 Horton’s averaging 15 in league, both those, lender and then Maisano. But big, big points, all four guys can give you double digits at different times. Primos, the head of the snake. In that sense, he can pass. He will pass. You got to make him pass. But when he’s cooking, it’s pretty special. And his shot creation, I would say, is probably top five in the league, for sure, as far as being able to create your own shot off the dribble and the bounce. So I put him in that class, as far as the top tier guard in the league. You know, we’re hoping that we can run him off the three point line and get back in time to shore him up, and then make them run their offense for longer than 10 seconds. I don’t think they like running offense for longer than 10 or so, but I do know at the end of the shot clock, if you can get back and keep him (Spears) out of transition, the ball is going to end up back in his hands. He’s in the habit of making great plays recently,” Jakus said.
Spears played with FAU forward Baba Miller last season at FSU and both have been huge factors in their new homes this season, which could potentially lead to some battles between the two on Wednesday. According to Jakus however, it is going to be business as usual for Miller, as the transfer portal has normalized moves like this.
“I think that’d be business as usual. You know, nowadays, between social media, AAU, FIBA, basketball, the world’s shrinking. When it comes to the ability to communicate, these guys transfer and they remain friends. There’s almost no bitterness when, when guys believe there’s a comfort ability, they understand why they might go for more playing time, for more nil, different dynamics. So I don’t think things are as contentious as people might think for this generation, but they will compete for sure, and then we’ll probably move on,” Jakus said.
Looking back at the loss to North Texas, the Owls struggled with turnovers and inconsistent shooting in the second half, which was in large part what led to the Mean Green’s ability to outscore FAU by 20 in the final stanza. Inconsistencies have plagued FAU all throughout this season, however now deep in the grind of conference play it is something that they will need to get to the bottom of sooner than later.
The missed shots are ones that FAU Coach John Jakus hopes will eventually fall and although the turnovers in the second half were surprising, he notes that it comes down to being able to withstand pressure when teams bring it and that is something they will continue to work on.
“The turnovers were a little surprising, because I thought we took care of it in the first half. They ramped up their pressure a little bit, but for me, some of those were just straight on forced. So it comes down to film, understanding where the extra guy is coming from, the mishandling of the trap, both in the press and then in the ball screen on both ends. You know, we can clearly do better in both areas, the freedom ones when we’re in transition with numbers, and we just make these random mistakes. That comes down to belief, and we’re going to keep preaching belief. I thought Tre in transition, we’re going to take that five man in transition with a mismatch all the time, and I think six of the eight last games, he’s been remarkable. So we’re not going to over focus on those kinds of transition turnovers from our bigs. We want them pushing the basketball. We want them to believe they can make plays for others. Then on the defensive end, it’ll come down to guarding the three. We let their guy get going in the second half yesterday. And when you watch us play UTSA, that game will be defined by how we guard the three point line. It was the same with rice, and in the first half, we gave up a bunch of threes, last 5-10, minutes of the game, we shrunk the three point line away. So defensively, we’re going to have to take the three way against UTSA. And then I don’t know that you can go deeper than that with North Texas. And the reality is, we’re on to UTSA, and we don’t have much time,” Jakus said.
A big part of the Owls success they had at times against UNT was Kaleb Glenn, who finished with 20 points which was his 3rd 20 point performance of the season and Glenn has been a driving factor all over the court for the Owls this season. The 6’6 F has the ability to play inside and out offensively and his physical presence defensively has given the Owls a boost in more ways than one.
The Owls have won the rebound battle in all but one of their games since losing the rebound battle by double figures against ECU and it has been a stark turnaround on the glass from when FAU was struggling earlier in the season. If you ask Jakus, the spirit behind the Owls’ improvement on the glass has been Glenn, who has taken on a leadership role in that department both on and off of the court.
“He’s been the spirit of that. I think there was a time in the middle of practice last week where I actually stopped it and said, is anyone surprised that Kaleb’s minutes are going up and that our rebounding numbers have spiked because you can’t keep him off the glass in practice. And learn a little saying from Scott Drew, every battle was won before it was fought. And the truth is, is that Kaleb is winning the rebounding battle every day in practice. It’s glaring some days, and he’s almost become addicted to it, and I think that’s going to be really good for us, but really good for his future. And it’s great to see the 20 points, but for us, its really cool to just get to the place where our guys are starting to hover around 10 rebounds, both him and Baba at times, and Tre other times. You know, 95% of the time you don’t play basketball with the ball in your hands, you’re gonna have to impact the game in other ways. And Kaleb has really bought it into that, and we’re proud of him for that,” Jakus said.
Kaleb has provided a much needed spark for FAU off the bench this season and early on in the year it was him and Tre Carroll who gave them a boost, however since Carroll moved into the starting lineup Matas Vokietaitis has stepped into the spark plug role swimmingly. Although not stuffing the score column every game, Vokietiaits has embraced his role off the bench and has given FAU valuable minutes when called upon.
Getting a 7 ‘0 freshman who’s not only talented, but also able to swap roles without issue is a major asset for this FAU team and not only that, his free throw shooting has taken a major jump as of recently which disvalues a lot of opponents strategies. It has been a major boost for Coach Jakus’s squad to have Vokietaitis and the improved free throw shooting is only a sign of what’s to come for the young 7-footer according to the Owls lead man.
“Yeah, I think the scouting reporting in the league is to hack him as hard as he can. And there’s times where we don’t get the foul until the third, the third slap. And initially, I think he was shooting low 50s, and then in the last couple games it has gone through the roof, much improved. I think he gets credit for that coach Fee, and Isaiah gets credit for that. They spent a bunch of extra time at the free throw line. You can see us if you come to one of our shoot-arounds, everybody else is shooting, and Matas is at the free throw line. So he’s going to shoot as many left handed post moves, and he’s going to roll into plays for others, but when he gets to the free throw line, the increase there has been a real pleasure. And then I think it’s such a big thing for a freshman to go from starting to not starting, and then being able to handle it and get better in the middle of it, and then to do it as far away from home as he is. I’m just so proud of him as a person. Forget the basketball piece as a person. I just think he’s done a great job emotionally maturing as he walks through such a difficult thing,” Jakus said.
While Vokietaitis and Glenn have amped up recently during league play, Leland Walker has cooled off a tad, as after recording 7 games in double figures during non-conference play he has only scored in double figures once so far during AAC play. That is not concerning for Jakus however, as he believes the scoring will come with time, noting that Leland’s effort has been great and the shots have been there.
“I think the scoring will come with time. I mean, UAB, I think he shot 14 shots. I think that’s enough shots to get to double figures. You know, there are some games, like last night, where he didn’t get as many, but I would say overall, he’s getting enough to get there. I don’t know this for sure, but I think at Rice, that was enough for him to get there also. So you go through ups and downs. I was proud of Leland yesterday. I thought it was one of his better leadership moments, as far as him not giving up, and then his overall attitude. And I know you can’t measure that on TV, and I know we live in this day and age where it’s really easy to get Twitter fingers and comment on our kids when they don’t win, but in the middle of that, we’re actually with them every day in the present, and Leland has grown in the last two weeks. And I think just like with Matas, the way he’s responded with some role shift, I think Leland has responded with some role shift. And I’m hoping, with all my heart for their sake, both of them and the team as a whole, that the next four or five games, we can switch this thing on, because what they’re doing when no one’s looking is really remarkable. They’ve been as professional and mature as I’ve been around. And so I’m proud of Leland. He’ll make shots. I’m not worried about that. His shot, his shot count, will be just fine. I mean, to be honest, he’s got 181 shots on a season Trey’s got 186 so I would say it’s just one of those things. With two weeks, if you’re second on a team in shots, five behind our leading scorer, there’s more than enough shots, and he’ll make them, moving forward,” Jakus said.
After the Owls face off against UTSA their next matchup will be at home on Sunday, as in-state rival USF heads to town for the first time since defeating the Owls in Tampa a season ago. Jakus remains locked in on UTSA ahead of their upcoming game, however in regards to USF he notes without watching much film the most impressive thing about them remains their ability to perform despite the passing of Amir Abdur-Rahim before the season.
“We’ll maybe touch on this later in the week, but I still think that Amir is one of the finest guys in our sport, and what happened to him is incredibly sad. And, you know, I can’t imagine what that group has gone through this year. And you know, the stability that he provided, and then for them to recover to where they’re at, I think their staff should be incredibly proud. We still do this to make a difference in 18 to 22 year old men, and until I watch more of the film, I think I’m going to stick with the fact that the most impressive thing about USF is how they’ve handled such a tragedy,” Jakus said.