BOCA RATON – The FAU Owls overcame a slow start to outlast the Memphis Tigers in a 92-84 triumph on their Senior Day (March 9).
FAU (24-7; 14-4 American Athletic Conference) got meaningful contributions from its three seniors in the 2023-2024 home finale:
•Jalen Gaffney (guard) – 6 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds
•Bryan Greenlee (guard) – 21 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists
•Brandon Weatherspoon – 9 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist
FAU converted 11 out of 28 3-point attempts in the regular season finale. Of those 11 made, Greenlee made 4, including an electrifying one that connected to the basket with 5 seconds left in the first half, sending the Owls to a 41-35 halftime lead.
Amazingly, Greenlee (75 percent shooting today) made 7 straight points toward the end of the game for FAU. He hit his last 3-pointer with 1:36 left for FAU’s 86-77 lead and made four straight free throws to make the FAU lead at 90-82 with 28 seconds left.
While Gaffney and Weatherspoon did not reach double figures in scoring for this game, they each connected on a dunk at different points in this one.
The FAU seniors spoke with media members not long after the final buzzer sounded.
“Bittersweet moment but super appreciative of where we’ve taken this program,” Greenlee said in the players’ opening statement. “The fans, the atmosphere from FAU over the past two, three, four years that I’ve been here have been nothing short of amazing. I want to shout out the fans too for showing up every single night with the crazy energy and packing the place out, making it one of the best environments in the country. Thank you guys for real, from all three of us.”
Greenlee spoke on his impactful individual performance from today.
“I’ll remember it forever, my last game here at The Burrow,” Greenlee said. “My guys, my brothers, my family were here to watch me. And obviously, I had a great performance. Thanks to both of these guys [Gaffney and Weatherspoon] for finding me. I appreciate my teammates.”
As a senior, Greenlee does not want the FAU men’s basketball season and experience to end anytime soon, considering the fact that the AAC Tournament is next week (March 13-17; Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Tx.).
“It will give us a lot of extra push,” Greenlee said. “We’re just expecting to continue playing. We know this is not the last game of the season, so we’re just as motivated as ever. We were just talking about it in the locker room. This is like Part Three. You have the pre-conference, the regular conference, and the postseason. We’re entering a new chapter. We just want to go into it with some momentum.”
FAU is currently on a 3-game winning streak, as its last loss was to Memphis (22-9; 11-7 AAC) on Feb. 25 (78-74 road loss). As a matter of fact, the Owls are one of only two AAC teams with at least a 3-game winning streak at this time – UTSA (11-19; 5-12 AAC) is the other one.
Going back to Greenlee, this turned out to be an encouraging performance for him, considering the fact that he came out of a shooting slump (9 points over a 6-game stretch prior to this one).
“I woke up this morning and just wanted to have a positive mindset,” Greenlee said. “I just wanted to be there for my guys and be as supportive as I could. Before the half, that first one I hit off the screen definitely gave me confidence to keep shooting, look for my shoot, and don’t hesitate.”
FAU finished its home schedule with a 13-1 record for the 2023-2024 season. The crowd has been a huge part of the team’s success at The Burrow.
“It’s definitely because of the City of Boca [Raton], the fans,” Weatherspoon said. “We feed off that a lot. It’s tough to come in here without fans and not play as hard. With the stands filled up every game, our energy is through the roof. It’s just the icing on the cake.”
Greenlee spoke on how his team cut back on mistakes made against Memphis in this outing vs. the last one on the road.
“We learned a lot from the last Memphis game,” Greenlee said. “Just taking care of the ball was the biggest thing. Also in our advantages, we fed Vlad [Goldin] (21 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks) a lot. We were able to play off him. And then we attacked certain guys to find the best matchups. We definitely applied a lot of what we learned from that game.”
With the win, FAU has secured the No. 2 seed in the AAC Tournament. It is one of four teams with a double-bye, meaning that the next game for the Owls will be in the AAC Quarterfinals on Friday, March 15 (7 p.m. tip-off EST, 6 p.m. tip-off EST; ESPNU).
“For all of us, we have a next game mindset,” Gaffney said.
FAU head coach Dusty May spoke with media members as well. He was grateful to have his team be part of a nationally televised game that aired today on CBS.
“I would like to give a show of gratitude to the American Conference for this platform with CBS here,” May said. “It’s a great opportunity for our university, our athletic department, to be put on the stage and this platform. Fortunately, we have really, really great players who play at a high level. It was a great basketball game between two really, really good teams with great players.”
GAME NOTES
FAU’s other key contributors today were Alijah Martin (16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) and Johnell Davis (14 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists).
The recorded attendance today was 3,161. It was the 21st straight sellout at The Burrow, including all 14 home games for this season.