FAU crushed Tulsa by 32-point gap for seventh consecutive victory
The Owls won comfortably against Tulsa 102-70 in front of their home.
Photo by: Gasner Delvarin Jr. | The FAU men’s basketball junior guard Johnell Davis (white jersey #1).
Gasner Delvarin Jr, Writer
February 4, 2024
BOCA RATON, Fla. – The AP No.20, Florida Atlantic University Owls (18-4, AAC 8-1) won comfortably against Tulsa Golden Hurricane (12-9, AAC 3-6) on Saturday night in front of their home crowd at the Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena. The Owls crushed Tulsa by a 32-point gap 102-70 for their seventh straight victory.
The Owls dominated on both ends, leading to five players scoring double figures. Junior guard Johnell Davis led the offense with 24 points on eight for 12 shots in 26 minutes, followed by junior guard Alijah Martin and center Vladislav Goldin with 18 points each. Redshirt sophomore Nick Boyd scored 13, while senior guard Bryan Greenlee scored 11.
FAU head coach Dusty May praised his team for playing with the right intention.
"I thought our guys played with a lot of purpose tonight," May said. “That's how we have to be. We have to take what the game gives us. They are putting two and three on Nelly [Davis] 'the first 10 minutes, and he got off the ball,'” he added, on players drawing attention and generating offense off the ball to open dunks.
After a back-and-forth at the start of the first half, FAU started creating separation against Tulsa when Brandon Weatherspoon drove the baseline for a left-handed dunk with 9:18 left before halftime.
The Owls went on a 19-1 run in less than 5 minutes and closed the first half against the Golden Hurricane, leading 40-27.
“It's hard to reel it back in on them because they're a rhythm team,” said Tulsa coach Eric Konkol on how quickly FAU strikes. "It's almost like they get going faster and faster."
Starting the second half, FAU went on a scoring spree and drilled nine of their first ten shots as Martin caught on fire, scoring 15 of his 18-point and finishing with a game-high nine rebounds.
The Owls made another 11-0 run, which Greenlee started on back-to-back three-pointers that would help FAU close the second half with 62 points to crush Tulsa 102-70.
After this convincing victory, FAU may climb the new AP poll again on Monday when released, especially after No. 13 Creighton, No. 15 Texas Tech, No. 17 Utah State, and No. 19 New Mexico suffered a loss this week.
Florida Atlantic will go on a two-game trip, making their first stop matchup against UAB on Thursday, Feb. 8, at 9 p.m. on ESPN2.
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