BOCA RATON – History was made Wednesday night (March 19) as FAU hosted a men’s NIT Tournament game for the first time.
In only the program’s second NIT appearance, the Owls started off strong against the Dayton Flyers by taking a five-point lead twice in the first half. But toward the very end of the first half and throughout the second half, FAU could not keep up with Dayton and saw its season officially come to a close in a 86-79 home loss.
The Owls (18-16 final record) allowed the Flyers (23-10) to shoot 53.6 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from the three-point line, as the game’s leading scorer was guard Javon Bennett, who scored a season-high 30 points (10-of-16 in field goals; 8-of-12 in three-pointers). They allowed two other Flyers to score in double figures:
•Forward Nate Santos – 15 points
•Guard Enoch Cheeks – 12 points
On another front, FAU committed 13 turnovers, while Dayton committed just 10 of its own.
When a team loses the turnover battle, they usually lose the game. Such is the case here with FAU.
Regardless of the final outcome, FAU has a lot to be proud of.
“Our expectations were higher than this,” FAU first-year men’s basketball head coach John Jakus said of the program’s NIT appearance. “But in Year 1, nobody has ever won 18 games. If you look at the history of the school, we did it with the second hardest schedule. There’s only five teams in the history of FAU that won 18 games. We’re number six. It took the other teams 4-5 years to get to 18, 19 wins. We got there in Year 1.”
FAU was making a play for its 19th win of the season with a late rally, as it clawed back from a deficit as large as 19 points. Dayton was up 68-49 with 10:49 left in the second half. With timely shots made by forward Kaleb Glenn (team-high 18 points), forward Tre Carroll (17 points), and forward Baba Miller (16 points, game-high seven rebounds), FAU was able to eventually cut Dayton’s lead to five points with 34 seconds left at 84-79. But it would get no closer than that as Dayton held on all the way to the final buzzer.
“The takeaway is that these guys have learned to be productive offensively,” Jakus said. “We’re gonna have to learn to win some close games in big moments on defense. That’s the main thing.”
FAU shot 50.9 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from the three-point line. Under normal circumstances, this would be enough for a win. But Dayton’s offensive marks were slightly better in both categories – a 2.7 percent difference from the field and a 2.4 percent difference from the three-point line.
This game – and the entire 2024-2025 season – will go down as essentially a learning experience for the Owls, which had just two seniors on its roster:
•Guard Ken Evans Jr. – Redshirt senior
•Guard KyKy Tandy – Graduate senior
FAU will look to bring back the vast majority of its 15-man roster for the 2025-2026 season, which could be led by current freshman center and AAC Freshman of the Year Matas Vokietatis (14 points against Dayton). More than half of this year’s team consisted of freshmen and sophomores, which could serve as a great sign for the future in Paradise.
“Our Year 2 is gonna be someone else’s Year 4-5,” Jakus said. “And that’s our expectation. We know this isn’t up to the standard. But I’m thankful for the 11 new guys coming and giving us something to build on. For that, I’m thankful.”