FAU men's basketball looks to leave last year in the rearview mirror as postseason approaches

BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic men's basketball team insists it has flushed last year's amazing run to the Final Four.

Too bad. The Owls may need to recapture some of that magic if they want to repeat their magical March of 2023.

FAU came home for a much needed week of rest after falling to Memphis 78-74 last Sunday at FedEx Forum. The bye week couldn’t have been timed any better, as the Owls (21-7, 11-4) have dropped three of their last six games, a unique position for a team that was one possession away from making last year’s championship game. They host Tulane on Saturday.

For FAU, last year was just that - last year. A historic run to the Final Four obviously set new expectations for a team that returned 12 players, but the Owls are focused on what they need to do now in order to repeat that success, not linger on it.

“If we’ve talked about last year, it's more of a standard,” junior guard Alijah Martin said. “It’s not praise about this, praise about that. It’s about what we did last year to be successful, let’s refer back to that. But we’ve flushed last year, we’re focused on making the best of this year.”

This season, there is an entirely different perception of the program, and it’s showing in how opponents get up for their matchups against FAU.

This year’s team knows it enters every game with a target on its back. The Owls aren’t sneaking up on anyone anymore. They often go on road trips to capacity crowds in hostile territory, a good reason why six of their seven losses have come away from home.

What's encouraging is that the Owls have not been blown out. Of their seven losses, none have been by more than nine points. Their average margin of defeat is five points, although some came at the hands of unproven programs such as Florida Gulf Coast (13-17, 7-8), Alabama-Birmingham (18-10, 10-5), and Bryant (17-11, 9-4). All told, 16 of FAU's 28 games have been decided by 10 points or less.

“Just from day one, we’ve been a big game on the schedule,” said FAU head coach Dusty May. “When you see Power-5 schools doing the water shower in the locker room, you realize the magnitude of it … when you’re ranked at our level you’re going into environments and the emotional energy it takes to match or surpass those teams every single night has been a challenge.”

Junior center Vlad Goldin said the losses have been a reality check.

“When you lose, you’re not going to take that for granted just because you did something before or you’re supposed to be better," Goldin said.

Injuries have played a part in the Owls' up and down season

A large part of those slips have been simply battling to stay healthy. Guard Nick Boyd suffered a leg injury in December, forward Giancarlo Rosado injured his knee in January that he's still recovering from and Goldin was banged up for a solid chunk in the middle of the year.

But Goldin is now back to 100 percent and has found his stride. He’s posted at least 20 points in four of the Owls’ last five games. He also has brought back the dominant rim protection May relies on.

In addition to Goldin’s improved play, Martin has taken on a lion’s share of the offensive burden alongside fellow guard Johnell Davis. He’s shooting 53 percent from the floor on double-digit attempts in his last four games while averaging a tick under seven rebounds in that stretch.

With a Mid-Season Wooden Award finalist in Davis on the floor, having other options has been the Owls’ calling card all year long. At this point of the season, other players besides Davis stepping up is more crucial than ever.

“It shows you can’t key in on one player,” Davis said. “We’ve got multiple players that can do this. And out of everybody [that’s in the rotation] we know they’re in the gym. They’re ready for their moment.”

May said some teams have built a wall around Davis, "so we’ve got to use that to create offense for other guys and trust them to come back around."It doesn’t matter to us as a group,” May said. “Ideally, we have a different leading scorer or group of leading scorers each game because that tells us we’re adapting to how we’re being defended.”

This distribution of the offensive load is so critical for FAU because the Owls are a team that uses great offense to build into great defense. When they can’t get into their sets or are forced to take bad shots, it shows on the other end of the floor.

“We can’t take any days off, any moments off,” Martin said. “We know what to expect going into a game, we’ve got to be prepared. We’ve been doing this all year. We know how teams play when they play us, so we’ve got to surpass that.”

Owls' woes on offense lead to more woes on defense

That theme has been evident in all of their losses this year - when everyone isn’t involved on offense, it’s harder to get engaged on defense. In their wins, everyone is touching the ball, which spurs activity in the gaps and on the boards defensively.

“In basketball, everything is a chain reaction where if you don’t do things as well as you normally do it leads to this, this, and this,” May said. “We haven’t moved the ball as the season’s gone on like we have at our best. And then when you’re not moving the ball guys don’t feel quite as involved, and then that leads to not being quite as engaged defensively.”

All of these things have affected the Owls’ record, but none of it has dampened expectations. While some losses may be tougher to swallow than others, May and company know all of the pieces are there to find more success in March.

More: FAU men's basketball NCAA Tournament projections: Where do bracketology experts have Owls?

FAU has been in a position that no other school in the American Athletic Conference has ever been in before, and enters the conference tournament on March with the same players who helped make it all happen.

“I feel like it’s going to help us because everytime we play against somebody, they want to beat us so bad,” Goldin said. “So when the playoffs start, everyone wants to get it so bad. But we’ve been in that position before and I feel like it gives us great experience.”

But for now, all the Owls can do is finish the food on their plate before thinking about dessert. After hosting Tulane, FAU travels to North Texas on Wednesday before a final home test in a rematch with Memphis on March 9.

"We really just want to win the next three games," Davis said. "We want to win the next game, that's our biggest game. So we aren't really trying to focus on the postseason. Let's just eliminate the game that we've got right now. We can't be looking ahead like that."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Atlantic Owls hope to repeat historic run as postseason nears