College Basketball: Florida Atlantic downs Memphis to close regular season with a flourish
BOCA RATON — With a victory in their season finale and the regular season in the rearview, Florida Atlantic now have its sights set on another conference tournament title and a second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
The Owls (24-7, 14-4 AAC) took out the Memphis Tigers 92-84 in their final game of the regular season Saturday afternoon at Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena, locking up the second seed and first- and second-round byes in the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
“There were several things that concerned us going in,” FAU coach Dusty May said. “How our guys would perform on CBS for a home game against the Memphis Tigers wasn’t one of them.”
Relying on strong performances by Vladislav Goldin and Bryan Greenlee, who each finished with team-high 21 points, FAU closed out the victory over Memphis (22-10, 11-7) while leading the entire second half. After taking the lead with 6½ minutes left in the first half, the Owls never trailed again.
“Really just wanted to have a positive mindset,” Greenlee said of his season-high 21-point performance on senior day. “I’ve been going through a little bit of a slump and I just wanted to be there for my guys and be as supportive as I could.”
Greenlee rained down a barrage of 3-pointers on the Memphis defense, sinking five of the Owls’ seven from deep.
While Greenlee punished the Tigers from 3-point range, Goldin kept control of the paint. Goldin, the 7-foot center, collected nearly all of his 21 points from inside while grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds to go with a pair of blocks.
“Big Vlad is amazing,” said Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway. “He has a humongous presence on both sides of the ball, very high IQ, and is playing championship basketball. He’s a big part of what they do and he’s emerged from last year. Last year he played well; this year he’s been great.”
Owls have second-highest number of wins heading into postseason
The victory over Memphis marks FAU’s 24th of the season, the second-highest number of wins in program history behind only last year’s 35-win run to the Final Four. The win also represents the Owls’ second victory in the three meetings with Memphis in the past year.
Their buzzer-beating win over Memphis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year set off their run to the Final Four, but the Owls fell apart in the rematch in late February. Despite the brewing rivalry between the programs, FAU approached the latest meeting like any other game.
“I think for all of us, we have a next-game-up kind of mindset,” said senior guard Jalen Gaffney. “We came in here thinking, this is just the next big game.”
FAU snatched the lead from Memphis midway through the first with a 22-13 scoring run, and would never give it back, going into halftime leading 41-35. With Greenlee and Goldin leading the scoring charge, the Owls extended their lead to 14 before closing out the win in the final minutes.
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“Our message in the first half was ‘We’re down a couple points but we’re playing really, really well. If we can clean up these 50-50 basketballs and be quicker to the ball than they are then we’ll be fine,’ '' May said. “And I thought Memphis played really well tonight. They made shots, they made plays and are a tough cover across the board.”
With a win in one of their most anticipated games of the season and the regular season behind them, the Owls’ attention turns to the AAC Tournament and possibly another March Madness bid. The conference tournament tips off Wednesday at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, but with their win on Saturday the Owls locked up the No. 2 seed, booking them a ticket directly to the quarterfinals on Friday.
“It’s extremely important,” May said of earning the AAC Tournament’s second seed. “Playing less games in less days is beneficial if you’re trying to compete for a championship and get that automatic bid.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU basketball ends regular season beating Memphis
