Florida Atlantic Owls’ men’s basketball team (2-1) battled the University of Central Florida Knights (3-0) three dominating guards in their 100-94 loss. 

The Owls jumped out of the gate with a fast 10-1 lead in 3:03 by playing tough defense and limiting the Knights ability to find each other. FAU maintained their lead for nearly 12 minutes but the momentum shifted in UCF’s favor and gave them their first lead of the game with 6:35 left. 

“We’re good in our spirts and tonight the expertability you can see in public, the consistency…When we guarded, we were okay and we did that to open the first half and the second half. So they responded and it was addressed, but we got to respond better,” said head coach John Jakus.

Entering halftime, the Knights led 46-36 and shot 53.1% in field goals, 42.1% beyond the arc and had nine fouls. The Owls shot 36.4% in FG’s, 37.5% beyond the arc and had eight turnovers. 

Guard defense proved to be FAU’s main struggle on the night allowing Knight’s guards Jordan Ivy-Curry, Darius Johnson and Keyshawn Hall to score over 20 points each. 

“The thing is the 3-point line. 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,” said Jakus. “They did a great job. They had won games at the free throw line in the past two and I actually thought they wanted the 3-point line today.” 

Another struggle for FAU was turnovers; they had 20 compared to UCF’s 16. By the end of the game, the Owls averaged 45.3% FG and 41.2% beyond the arc. UCF outshot them with 54.2% from the field and 46.4% beyond the arc. 

Five FAU players scored in double-digits once again, guard Leland Walker leading the team with 20 points and five rebounds. 

“Just my coaches hyping my game up and just telling me to shoot the ball when I’m open. That’s really what I seen, just shoot the ball when I was open,” said Walker.

Florida Atlantic remains on the road to head to the Field of 68 tip-off  in Charleston, S.C. Their first game will be against Charleston University on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. 

“We got six on the road. We’ll fight on the road to get better. We would love to go home and play at the Elly as much as we could but right now we have to go through what we got to go through,” said Jakus. 

Recap

The Owls won the tipoff and guard Kyky Tandy gathered their first points by making a quick three, 3-0. Center Matas Vokietaitis then followed it up by going down the court and slamming down a dunk. 

FAU continued their early offensive domination by forward Baba Miller dribbling down court acting as a guard. He ran into traffic but found Vokietaitis under the net who put down his second dunk, 10-1. UCF called a timeout with just under 18 minutes left.   

The Knights came out of the timeout and found Ivy-Curry who gathered his first three. FAU’s Tandy went down the court followed up with a three of his own, 13-4. Then the Owls missed back-to-back threes, giving room for UCF to chip away at the lead. 

Owls forward Tre Carroll was in trouble under the net but he found guard Niccolo Moretti beyond the arc who didn’t hesitate to shoot the three, 19-8. UCF’s Hall fought through three FAU defenders to find guard Nils Machowski, for the three. 

The Knights went on a 6-0 run in 56 seconds and continued to pound away at the 3-point line, making the score 25-22, 10:10 left in the first. FAU’s forward Kaleb Glenn intercepted a pass in the paint and Miller found guard Ken Evans Jr. who got another three.

UCF fought for the rebound and Johnson was left open beyond the arc. His three led to the first tie of the game 28-28 with 8:09 left. They began to up their defense and made it difficult for FAU to find each other.

The Knights took their first lead of the game with Ivy-Curry making a layup and forward Benny Williams put down one of his own, 34-30. The Owls have been on a 3:58 scoring drought while the Knights offense has litten up. 

Self-made errors from FAU began to occur, forward Devin Vanterpool stole the ball and passed to Evans Jr. who stepped out of bounds. The Owls were shooting 36.7% in field goals compared to UCF’s 51.9%. 

Glenn went out on a 2-on-1 fast break, drawing the foul. He made the first but missed the second and Miller snagged the rebound only for FAU to turn the ball over again. During the play, a fan in the student section began to get rowdy and threw what looked like a hamburger on the court. It was unclear if it was an FAU or UCF fan, but refs said it couldn’t happen again or they would call a technical foul on UCF.

Evans Jr. stole the ball and passed it out to Glenn who made the three, 40-36. UCF’s Ivy-Curry had another three to end the first half 46-46. It marked his 18th point of the game. 

Entering the second half, FAU got the ball and missed the shot, giving Hall the opportunity to make two free throws. Vokietaitis got a layup to give the Owls the first score of the half 48-38. Miller followed up with a three off a pass from out of bounds. 

Evans Jr. had a no-look pass to Tandy who downed the corner left shot, 48-44. They extended their run to 12-0 and Miller made a free throw to tie the game back up.

Vokietaitis blocked Hall’s shot and was called on a technical foul for yelling in Hall’s face after the play. Following the foul, Hill came out unphased and put away a 3-pointer. Hall then made an impressive spin move to push himself past two of the Owls defenders and found the net, 60-56. 

“There were times when I thought, really we won the game when the big tall Matas was in the game…No more technicals and when our big lineups work, our big guys got to stay out of foul trouble and that’s part of their insurance. He’s a young kid from overseas and we’ll learn from it. He did a lot of great things tonight,” said Jakus.

Vokietaitis attempted a layup but it was thrown away by the Knights’ Williams, but Walker was able to attain his own 2-point jumper off the rebound. Moretti put at the line out of the media timeout, he made two which made their deficit by two points. Walker tried to drive in for a layup but missed. Glenn was right there to tap it back in 62-62, 11:11. 

Miller got a two pointer which gave the Owls their first lead since the first half but Hall quickly snapped it back with a three, 70-68. The Knights were back on a 8-0 run over the last 1:38. 

Following fast ball movement around the court, Evans Jr. was handed the ball and he gained his second three of the night, 80-75. FAU began to make more reckless turnovers, like throwing the ball out of bounds and traveling. 

The Knights’ Johnson had a three which pushed them to another 8-0 run and a score of 88-77. FAU began to force fast shots which were unsuccessful. Walker ended their scoring drought by making a free throw. With 3:12 left, UCF’s Hall followed up with a statement dunk, 90-78.

Florida Atlantic hadn’t scored a field goal in about 4 minutes; their two points came from free throws. Jakus called a timeout and after it, Evans Jr. got a 2-pointer 90-81, 1:38. Miller was fouled out after drawing his fifth.

Walker easily put away a deep three, 94-86 but UCF remained strong and didn’t allow the comeback. Glenn made another three with four seconds to go and finalized the 100-94 loss. 

Megan Bruinsma is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories email her at mbruinsma2022@fau.edu or DM her on Instagram @megan_bruinsma or Twitter (X) @MeganBruinsma.