Florida Atlantic learns from Bryant loss, dominates Virginia Tech in ESPN tournament final | D'Angelo
LAKE BUENA VISTA — Vladislav Goldin was walking off the court wearing Mickey Mouse ears inscribed with "champion" on the back.
Florida Atlantic's emerging star center was asked if he'd cherish those ears like a trophy.
"Ahhh, not quite," he said. "But I'll still save them."
That trophy, for winning the ESPN Events Invitational Sunday and taking another step on this remarkable journey that has thrusted the Owls from a completely irrelevant basketball program to one now on the national conscious, will go on a shelf in Boca Raton. It'll be somewhere near the other two won the last nine months as champions of the Conference USA tournament and the NCAA East Regional.
Though not as significant, walking away from the Magic Kingdom Sunday as the Happiest Team on Earth — at least among the eight who played in this tournament — showed coach Dusty May just how much this veteran team continues to learn and grow.
FAU's 84-50 domination of Virginia Tech gives the Owls convincing wins over the ACC and SEC in the final two games of this tournament.
On Friday, No. 19 FAU led No. 12 Texas A&M by as many as 18 in a 96-89 victory. Sunday's final included as good a stretch of basketball FAU has played, maybe even including last year. The Owls turned a 19-0 run at the end of the first half and the start of the second half into a complete domination.
Alijah Martin earns tournament MVP honors
Tournament MVP Alijah Martin's 17 points and eight rebounds, and Goldin's 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting, and a defense that forced Virginia Tech into missing its first 15 3-point attempts (and finish 2 of 17) were the most significant determining factors in FAU's win.
But the start of the impressive three-game stretch at Disney came five days before FAU opened play on Thanksgiving with a win over Butler.
After two convincing performances to start the season, FAU entered a home game against Bryant as a 24-point favorite and was embarrassed in a 61-52 loss.
This sent May and his staff searching, for answers to questions they had not faced in nearly two years.
In the end, May determined for the first time in a long time his team "looked afraid to fail" and "got away from doing it together." The intentions he said, were good, but this was not what led to the 35-4 storybook season a year ago.
"We were mad at ourselves because that wasn't us," Martin said. "We know what we look like when we're playing our best ball and that wasn't it."
Dusty May on loss to Bryant: 'glad it happened'
May was reluctant to say it, but he finally decided to let it out when asked if the loss was a good thing.
"I'm going to plead the fifth because of social media," he said, before deciding who cares what everyone thinks. "But as a staff we did ask ourselves (after Sunday's win) if we didn't lose that game would we (have) come here and performed with the same edge that we did for three games? You never know.
"But immediately after the game our response was … good, I'm glad it happened. We can't go back and change it so we're going to learn and grow. We're glad it happened. Wish it didn't but we're glad it did. It's part of us."
Who knows what would have happened if FAU came here as a rising top 10 team feeling fat and happy. But that loss dropped the Owls nine spots and out of the top 10 and probably had some uttering the phrase, "one and done."
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Who knows if we would have seen that Sunday run that lasted 8:30 and helped FAU built a 44-24 lead. Or were treated to a defensive performance that forced the Hokies to miss 12 straight shots while FAU took control. Or if the Owls would have shot 65 percent in the second half.
"Extremely impressed," gushed May about his team. "Simply guys playing off each other. And that's what we have with our continuity."
Martin epitomized that resiliency we have seen from a team in which all but one player from last season's rotation returned.
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Martin's start to the season was anything but worthy of being named co-preseason AAC player of the year along with teammate Johnell Davis. Martin scored 20 points and was shooting 19.2 percent after the Bryant game (5 of 26). This from a man who averaged 13.4 points on 43.8 shooting last season.
"My teammates have faith in me," he said. "I was in a slump early. It feels good just going into the next couple of games with my mojo back."
The same can be said about the entire team.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU Owls dominate Virginia Tech Hokies in ESPN Events Invitational final
