The Florida Atlantic Owls (15-12, 8-6 AAC) faced the North Texas Mean Green (20-6, 11-3 AAC) for the second time this season, but this time the Owls played at home in the Elly. On Feb. 27, the losing streak continued for the Owls, increasing to three after a 71-61 defeat. 

“I want to compliment North Texas,” head coach John Jakus said. “Ross [Hodge] is a friend, and last year they took seventh place (in the conference) and the growth in the second year is something that should be complimented. They have a real identity and the toughness reign true today.” 

This is the second matchup against the Mean Green. In the first matchup, the Owls lost 77-64 and former FAU forward Brenen Lorient led his new team with 17 points with an efficient seven of 11 from the field.  Lorient did it again tonight, scoring 16 points while being perfect from the field hitting every shot and free throw attempt he had. 

“I think at the end of the day, he was better in one-on-one scenarios than we were at one-on-one defense,” Jakus said. “I thought he handled the double team better than we did. He’s continued to become a better player, but his ability to go one-on-one specifically against our five-man was a big deal tonight.”

Owls forward Tre Carroll showed off his new hairstyle prior to the game. He braided his hair into cornrows, a stark difference from his half-up, half-down look. 

Carroll was also the first to score points in this game hitting a corner three a minute into the game. The Mean Green answered right back with an emphatic alley-oop dunk from Mean Green forward Grant Newell. His teammate, guard Jasper Floyd, made the assist. 

A tug-and-war match ensued after the first points of the game. After the Owls scored, the Mean Green followed suit. The game went on like this until the first media timeout at 11:50 with the Mean Green leading 16-14. 

Offensive play went missing for the Owls after the media timeout. The Owls missed five straight shot attempts in four minutes. While the Mean Green tacked on six more points to make the score 22-14 with 7:45 remaining in the half. Jakus called the first timeout for the Owls after Lorient made the turnaround jumper to push the Mean Green to eight. 

Carroll and forward Baba Miller were finally able to take the Owls out of their offensive funk by scoring seven points combined in a little over a minute. The Mean Green continued to answer back after every Owls score though. 

The Mean Green pushed their lead into double digits with five minutes remaining. Then, Leland Walker unleashed his barrage of threes onto the court. He made three straight threes to pull the lead within four points. 

Cheers started to fill the stadium from the crowd. Every basket seemingly increased the amount of decibels that came from the crowd. After Owls forward Kaleb Glenn made a contested layup, the only thing you could hear for a mile was the sound of the crowd.

This sound and a lockdown defense caused the Mean Green to turnover the ball on a shot clock violation. The Owls had another chance to cut the lead and Miller delivered a last second layup right before halftime. 

At halftime the Owls were trailing 37-34, a one possession game. Walker led the Owls in scoring and assists with 11 points, backed by his three 3-points shots, and three assists. Miller wasn’t too far behind with eight points.

Although the Owls and Mean Green made a similar amount of shots, the Owls missed three more shots and had zero free throw attempts. 

The Owls weren’t able to capitalize on their almost-comeback at the start of the second half. The Mean Green scored 17 points in eight minutes while the Owls only scored seven. This stretch was highlighted by Lorient’s fastbreak windmill dunk to push the Mean Green lead back to double digits. They led 54-41 with 12:22 remaining in the game.

“I think we got to do a better job of coming in the games with more energy,” Miller said, “Especially at half sometimes we just dip and then give them a little run right there where it hurts a lot. So I just think we got to come in locked in, have a better warm up and be ready to play.”

The game became a disaster for the Owls as the Mean Green continued to pour on points, while the Owls defense let them. Despite a little run by the Owls near the end of the game, the Mean Green came out victorious 71-61. 

A decrease in efficiency led to the offensive fizzling out in the second half. The Owls shot about 52% from the field and 54.5% from three in the first half. In the second half, 28.6% from the field and 10% from the three. 

The only offense that helped the Owls semi-remain in the game was the 14 made free throws in the second half. But besides that, the Owls didn’t make a field goal in over 12 minutes during the second half.

“I thought our closeouts were absolutely atrocious, And I thought their closeouts were excellent,” Jakus said. “And you can see that in three-point shooting alone. But 7-21 (from three) is not awful, 14-16 from the line. I would say at the end of the day the defense is what really struggled tonight.” 

FAU’s next opponent is away against the South Florida Bulls on April 2 at noon on ESPN 2. 

Morgan Larkins is a Staff Writer for the University Press. Email him at mlarkins2023@fau.edu or DM him on Instagram or Twitter @mj_larkins for more information regarding this or other stories.