USF hosted No. 24 FAU Sunday afternoon in a high scoring Sunshine State battle that featured an impressive display of talent on both sides. In a game that will go down as one for the ages, USF managed to escape with a close win that solidifies their spot as one of the hottest teams in all of college basketball.
FAU began the scoring with an impressive breakaway dunk from guard Alijah Martin. Despite the fast start for the Owls, USF responded quickly and that would be the only lead FAU would hold for the remainder of the game.
USF guards Chris Youngblood and Kobe Knox were two unstoppable forces to begin the game. Each of them sunk shots from beyond the arc to get the Bulls out to an early 13-4 lead five minutes in.
The Bulls continued to score, with Youngblood accounting for 13 of USF’s 22 points in the first 10 minutes. However, FAU managed to keep pace, as the team’s scoring was led by Alijah Martin and kept the deficit steady at a score of 22-14.
Right as the first half clock ran down to five minutes remaining, USF guard Selton Miguel converted on back-to-back three point shots to widen the Bulls’ lead to 36-23.
As the half neared its end, Miguel continued his dominating run for the Bulls. Alijah Martin was seemingly the only person that could keep up with him on the FAU side of the ball.
The half ended with a 46-31 USF lead. Miguel and Youngblood were dominant, scoring 16 and 15 points respectively. Martin lead the first half scoring for the Owls with 13 points of his own.
In the second half, USF came out of the locker room hot, with Youngblood shooting five-for-five on free throws less than 15 seconds into the half after a FAU flagrant and shooting foul. The Bulls managed to put up 15 points within the first five minutes of the half.
For FAU, center Vladislav Goldin emerged alongside Martin to dominate the scoring for the Owls. It was seemingly not enough for FAU though, as the USF offense consistently outscored them and held a 61-41 lead a quarter of the way through the second half.
As the game headed towards only ten minutes remaining, scoring entered a stalemate with the Bulls leading 66-41 as they were able to slightly increase their winning margin.
Suddenly, a dormant FAU team found life again. A 15-0 scoring run, led by Goldin, brought the Owls’ deficit from 25 all the way down to 10 as the game clock ran under five minutes remaining.
USF guard Jayden Reid did well to keep the Bulls in the game by consistently converting on free throw shots to bring the score to 77-66.
With FAU heating up, the Bulls did their best to run as much clock on each possession as possible. USF managed a steady scoring pace to keep the Owls behind them by 6-10 points consistently up until the final two minutes.
FAU went on another scoring run and with USF unable to convert on the free throws intentionally given to them by the Owls, they were able to draw within a single point with 23 seconds remaining at a score of 87-86.
Finally, at a moment when the team needed him the most, USF’s leading scorer Chris Youngblood stepped up and shot 3 of 4 on free throws to secure yet another top 25 win for USF by a final score of 90-86.
“We’ve said from day one that we can lose with this group,” said FAU head coach Dusty May. “We’re not always going to play well… but we showed great fight, great resolve.”
When asked about their first half dominance, USF head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said, “We couldn’t have asked for a better start but I thought defensively is where we set the tone.”
Vladislav Goldin lead the Owls in scoring by going 8 of 11 on field goals and a perfect 7 of 7 on free throws to amass 23 points.
Selton Miguel and Chris Youngblood were a two-man wrecking crew for the Bulls as they scored 25 and 23 points respectively.
FAU will look to bounce back next week against a strong SMU team in an important conference game. The Owls will need to play well in their final few games if they want a chance to gain back ground in the American conference, in which they now sit at third in the standings behind USF and Charlotte.
For USF, they have now won 11 straight games as well as 17 of their last 18. With a strong hold on the American conference, they will begin to prepare for the tournament in March that they aim to get an invitation to.