Tre Carroll said FAU was able to feed off the energy that the fans provided Sunday afternoon at Eleanor R Baldwin arena against USF and whether it was the fans, or the players themselves, everyone did their job during the Owls wire to wire victory. It was domination from the opening tip, as FAU attempted an alley-oop to Tre Carroll on the first play of the game and that aggressive play style permeated throughout the Owls 94-72 victory.
It was the second straight game for FAU where they never trailed on their way to a 20 point victory and things seemed to be clicking on both ends of the court for the Owls. In today’s victory, FAU shot better than 50% from the field and 40% while deep and on the other end of the court they held USF’s top 2 leading scorers, Jayden Reid and Jamille Reynolds, to a combined 5 of 28 from the field.
After spending the majority of their early season matchups in tightly contested battles, FAU has won their past two games in convincing fashion, which in AAC play is hard to do. Although it is tough to pinpoint what can result in a team becoming consistent, FAU Coach John Jakus believes that this team will be defined by their habits and winning like they did in their past two games can result in them developing some pretty healthy habits.
“Yeah, I got a friend, Alvin Brooks. We coached at Baylor together, and he’s got a little saying called same old, boring habits. And I think that we’re winning these games in this fashion, not only because we’re making shots, but because our habits are getting better. And failure will affect you, but success can affect you more. So kids will start losing their mind when they get good for a little bit. So what we can’t do is believe that momentum is a thing that’s going to help us. Our habits will be what help us. And I’m proud of the habits, 11 turnovers or less, we held them to 32% defensive field goal percentage, out rebounded then by plus four today, like the game is found in those margins and then when you make shots. So I really believe we’re finally getting to the point where maybe our habits have grown and not just our momentum,” Jakus said.
This was the first meeting between FAU and USF since the Owls lost a close battle in Tampa a season ago and the Owls avenged their loss in a big way in front of a raucous student section that filled the overflow section for the first time this season. The energy was there right from the get-go, as the students roared when the Owls took the court to the tune of a band led fight song and their energy was infectious throughout, powering FAU through multiple attempted USF comebacks.
Although the fans energy may have added a boost, FAU still had to execute on the court and after USF was able to cut their deficit to 9 with 11:50 to play in the second half, the Owls came out of a Jakus timeout with an immediate basket from Tre Carroll down low, which snapped an 11-0 USF run and FAU never looked back from there. Outside of that brief lapse, the Owls maintained a double figure lead for a majority of the final 22 minutes of this game and did it in a variety of ways with 43% 3-point shooting and 46 points in the paint on offense, while on defense they only allowed 30% shooting from USF and forced 9 turnovers which they turned into 13 points.
The past 2 games, FAU has been able to put the foot on the gas from the very get go and it’s a trait that they lacked early in the season, but now look to be capitalizing on. Tre Carroll was a part of the Owls heartbreaking loss against USF a season ago and although that may have been on his mind, the team’s collective effort to come out hot came from wanting to out pace USF alongside their defensive intensity.
“You can say that (that Carroll was thinking about last season’s loss), you know, obviously, just playing them once at their place, they had tons of energy, it was, I think it was a sold out arena at their place, and obviously, I think we lost by like three or so points. But, you know, just coming in with the mindset, you know, it’s a rivalry game, obviously, you know, USF versus FAU, Battle of the West Coast versus the East Coast, and we just had to come up with a lot of energy and not come out slow, because if we came out slow, then they were going to get on fire, and then, you know, just hit shots. And you know, we were able to limit their best player to, like, zero points in the first first half, and we just kept the energy rolling the whole game,” Carroll said.
The offense has been clicking over the past 2 games for FAU, as they have shot better than 40% from 3 in both games while assisting on over 40% of their made field goals. Alongside the success from beyond the arc, the fluid ball movement has allowed FAU to get back to getting scoring from across the board as they had 5 scorers in double figures against UTSA and 7 players with 8 or more against USF.
FAU has been a sleeping giant of sorts at points this season, as across this roster there are experienced scorers and it has just been a matter of getting the shots to fall. When FAU is moving the ball like they have over the past 2 games, it allows for everyone to gain confidence and according to Jakus that is exactly what has been developing over the past 2 games.
“Yeah, you know, when you make a shot, you believe that if you give it you might get it back. When you’re not making shots, you hug that thing like, it’s just like a baby, like you don’t want to get get rid of it, like your little blanket when you’re a kid, our kids are making shots, and so you can see that they’re willing to give it up to get it back. And I wish I could control that more. We certainly teach it, man do we stare at it in film sessions, but they bought in. And then I just just think it’s become contagious, and the great thing is Baba with 11 last game, and Tre had five today. So it’s not just our guards, it’s that the big kids can make plays also,” Jakus said.
FAU had a similar stretch to the one they had upcoming a week ago, as prior to their matchup with North Texas last Sunday, they had 6 off days and now they will have 5 days off ahead of their next matchup Saturday 2/8 against Tulsa. It’s unfortunate that the Owls will have to endure 5 days off in the midst of their strong play, however it will also afford them more time on the practice court, something they could use to continue improving.
Against North Texas, FAU looked to have capitalized on their rest, coming out with a dominating first half, before faltering in the second and heading into a potential trap game on the road at Tulsa, they need to be able to put together a complete performance coming off the mini bye week. According to Tre Carroll, there isn’t much the Owls will change in terms of their preparation for Tulsa with the added time off, however they can’t overlook an AAC opponent which means they will need to keep their head on a swivel heading back on the road.
“We have to handle business, obviously, you know, these next two days, we have to fully recover. And Tuesday, we got to, get treatment, get in the lab with our coaches. And then Wednesday, it’s go time. We can’t take any days off of practice. We have great practices from here on out to prepare for Tulsa. You know, every game you have to respect your opponent you can’t be like, it’s just just that (team). You gotta respect every opponent. You gotta treat every game like it’s game seven of the NBA Finals. So I think if we go with that mindset, we’re gonna be pretty good,” Carroll said.
We shall see what mindset the Owls head into Tulsa with, but if it is similar to one they displayed over the past 2 games, they should be in a good position as Carroll eluded too.