Florida Atlantic's week layoff leads to sloppy win against Tulane in AAC basketball
BOCA RATON — A week's layoff meant a rusty performance for Florida Atlantic on Saturday.
But the Owls (22-7, 12-4 AAC) defeated Tulane 79-73 despite almost blowing a 20-point lead in the second half.
A heavy whistle, combined with uncharacteristically bad turnovers and shots by the Owls, allowed the Green Wave (13-15, 4-12) to creep back into the contest.
Center Vlad Goldin posted his sixth double-double of the season and fifth 20-point outing in his last six games with a game-high 21 points and 12 rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting with three blocks and one steal.
Alijah Martin added 13 points and 11 rebounds with three steals, while Jalen Gaffney went 3-for-6 from behind the arc on the way to 13 points. While Nick Boyd tacked on 10 points and seven rebounds, it was another quiet day for Johnell Davis, who finished with eight points, five assists and four turnovers on 2-of-7 shooting.
“We’re excited to escape with this win after a very choppy and interrupted game,” FAU head coach Dusty May said. “We’re excited to be where we are at this point of the season. There’s a lot of basketball still to play and try to regain our rhythm on both sides of the ball.”
Here are three takeaways from the Owls' 11th straight home win.
FAU needed to shake the rust off
FAU looked like a team that hadn’t seen live action in awhile after having six days off. It took nearly 15 minutes for the offense to find its footing. Once it did, Tulane struggled to keep up.
The Owls started the game by trying to get to the paint but used using one-on-one drives to make it happen, which is not a typical play call from May. The Green Wave took advantage of the miscues and jumped out to a 24-19 lead midway through the first half after a shooting stretch that saw Tulane bury 6-of-8 shots.
But Goldin came back to the floor and scored five points in a row, helping open other options for the Owls. In turn, FAU outscored Tulane 11-4 to close out the half, with back-to-back triples from Gaffney. After being down or tied for the majority of the first half, FAU entered the locker room holding a 36-29 lead.
It was more of the same through the start of the second half, as the Owls went the first eight minutes shooting 8-of-15 from the floor with a pair of triples and no turnovers.
Good defense spurred runs for the Owls
In the same way as the offense took time to find its rhythm, FAU’s defense also needed time to wake back up. After Tulane spent most of the first half hovering around 50% shooting from the floor, the Owls held the visitors to two made field goals through the last eight minutes of the first half.
FAU also out-rebounded Tulane 22-16 through the first 20 minutes, mostly behind an impressive effort from Martin, who corralled 10 rebounds in his 15 first-half minutes.
Goldin took over the rebounding battle in the second half and finished with five of his 12 rebounds coming on the offensive glass. His defense in the paint kept a lid on Tulane for large chunks of his minutes, and he tallied three blocks and one steal while influencing countless other drives into the paint.
“To be honest, I did like what I’ve done the last five games,” Goldin said. “On defense, I just tried to trust that my teammates are going to get a rebound, and I’m trying to block shots.”
Tulane finished 3-of-19 from behind the arc and turned the ball over 12 times with seven assists. All while being outrebounded 42-32.
Owls stayed composed through heavily whistled second half
The last 10 minutes of the second half took 45 real minutes to complete. It all fell apart after Davis got tied up with Tulane’s Jaylen Forbes on a rebound attempt, and both benches nearly cleared in the minor dust-up. Both players received technicals after an official review.
More: FAU men's basketball NCAA Tournament projections: Where do bracketology experts have Owls?
The second half saw both teams combine for 27 fouls, with the Owls tallying 11 personal fouls through the final 10 minutes. FAU finished 20-of-28 from the free-throw line.
The Green Wave finished 14-of-24 from the line, with 20 of those attempts coming in the second half. For those keeping track at home, that's one free throw per minute.
The frequent misses all came late in possessions, and well after a Green Wave shot had come off the rim. It stymied FAU’s rhythm on both sides of the floor.
“Our behaviors are contagious,” May said. “And we all have to keep our composure, stay poised, and find a way to rally around the right things instead of getting caught up in the skirmishes when the play is dead.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Atlantic Owls get sloppy win against Tulane in AAC basketball
