The season finale matchup between FAU (24-7 14-4 AAC) and Memphis (22-9 11-7 AAC) was built up with immense anticipation since it was placed on the docket, and it lived up to every ounce of the hype.
Behind an electrified home fan base on Senior Day and one of the loudest atmospheres the Elly has seen all year, which once again featured the swim team and flamingoes… FAU defeated Memphis 92-84 and closed out the season on a high note. That raucous fanbase and the Home Crowd was what made a key difference in this game if you ask Tigers star Jayden Hardaway.
“I’m just going to give credit to their crowd. It was hard for us to get organized today because our coaches were seeing adjustments we could make, and we couldn’t hear our coaches on the sideline today. They were just feeding off that energy,” Hardaway said.
It was senior day in paradise and the Owls honored Bryan Greenlee, Brandon Weatherspoon, and Jalen Gaffney. Those 3 players exhibit unselfish basketball day in and day out and the spirit of their effort was in the game for FAU during this one.
FAU was able to right their wrongs from the previous loss just a couple weeks ago and displayed a balanced attack offensively that outpaced David Jones and Nae’Qwan Tomlin for Memphis. Vlad Goldin dominated the paint for the Owls once again, putting up 21 points and 9 rebounds, but Bryan Greenlee stepped up- also chipping in 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. Alijah Martin added 16, Johnell Davis scored 14, while Brandon Weatherspoon had 9 and Jalen Gaffney chipped in 6 on their senior nights, in what really turned out to be a diverse attack offensively for FAU.
Defensively, although Nae’Qwan Tomlin thrived once again for the Tigers scoring 27 on 11/15 shooting, the Owls were able to limit David Jones-holding him to 16 points on 5/17 shooting. He went off in the last game, leading the Tigers to victory down the stretch, but today FAU was more aware than in the last matchup, according to Coach May.
“I thought we had great awareness, he’s so proficient at drawing fouls, I thought we showed our hands and got underneath him a little bit and we’re able to beat him to his spots. We kept him off the glass better than we did in game 1 and we didn’t give him any easy ones in transition,” Coach May said after the game.
The afternoon started with senior day ceremonies 15 minutes before tip and after the game, Jalen Gaffney spoke for all 3 seniors, mentioning how proud they are of how far the program has come in their time there.
“From all 3 of us, we’re super appreciative of where we have taken this program. The fans and atmosphere from FAU over the past years I’ve been here has been nothing short of amazing to watch the growth that we’ve had on and off the court. I want to shout out the fans too… for showing up every night with just crazy energy. Packing the place out and making it one of the best environments in the country. Thank you, guys, for real, from all 3 of us,” Gaffney said.
As expected between these 2 teams, the battle started right away as they traded buckets right out of the gate. David Jones and Nae’Qwan Tomlin got their day going early as they scored the first 2 buckets for Memphis, and it was off from there, as Vlad Goldin started his big day with back-to-back buckets- one in transition, and the Owls were getting in their flow early.
Memphis grabbed a hold of momentum with a 6-0 run capped off by a Jayden Hardaway triple, and they took a 17-11 lead with 12:24 to play. That left the Owls reeling and looking to right the ship early, as an early deficit would be killer against this Tigers team. Bryan Greenlee got his day going- and kept the Owls afloat on the next possession as he responded with his first of 5 triples on the day to keep the Owls in a back-and-forth battle.
The back-and-forth battle ensued, but Vlad Goldin was giving Jordan Brown the business and hit back-to-back buckets and with 7:04 to play in the first half FAU took their first lead, 25-24 and never looked back from there.
Vlad continued his paint domination throughout the remainder of the first half and combined that with timely buckets from Owl’s shooters, as they maintained a close lead throughout the remainder of the first half.
FAU was able to maintain their composure and prevent Memphis from flipping the switch when they jumped out to a 6-point lead, and after the game Coach May said the team wasn’t concerned when they went down.
“As a staff we look at it a little bit differently, we thought we had 3 or 4 great possessions that the result wasn’t what we wanted, they shot a 3 and we got a great contest and it hit the top of the backboard and dropped in. There were 2 times where we knocked the ball loose and because they are really really good and athletic and skilled, they were able to still get it in and they made a couple difficult 17-foot jump shots. So, our message was, we are down a couple points, and we are playing really well if can clean up these 50/50 basketballs and be quicker to the ball than they are, we will be fine,” May said after the game.
FAU was able to clean up their play, and their biggest lead of the half was 5, until Bryan Greenlee hit a buzzer beating 2-point jumper to give the Owls a 41-35 lead heading into the break and sent the team riding high into the locker room with momentum.
The second half started out with a triple from Brandon Weatherspoon, a signature move on his senior night, and after the game Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said that his shot combined with the slow end to the first half was demoralizing for the Tigers.
“We were down 1 with 40 seconds to go in the first half and go in down 6, that’s a huge problem. Then, come out right after halftime and give up a 3 in the first possession, come on man… not good,” Hardaway said after the game.
That jolted the FAU lead to 44-35 just 19 seconds into the half, and Elanor R Baldwin arena was rocking, as the seniors were cooking on their day and the Owls were flourishing offensively.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin did his best to keep the Tigers in it, as he was cooking in the second half, and he was getting buckets inside and outside of the paint. After FAU almost got their lead to double digits, Tomlins triple brought the lead back down to one possession, 48-45 with 15:10 to play.
FAU outscored Memphis 7-3 quickly over the next couple of stanzas, and a little more than 2 minutes later FAU grabbed a 55-45 lead on a show-stopping Alley-Oop from Alijah Martin.
Whether it was the oos and aah’s from Martins dunk, or the Owls ability to get quick offense from a variety of sources- FAU grabbed ahold of that momentum and ran with it down the stretch.
FAU held a double-digit lead down the stretch in the second half, getting buckets from a variety of different sources, and one of them was Bryan Greenlee on his senior night. Helping the Owls build their largest lead of the night, he hit back-to-back triples and his 2nd gave FAU a 75-61 lead with 6:01 to play.
Jahvon Quinerly got going for the Tigers late down the stretch with a barrage of triples and a press from Memphis that forced a turnover, and his triple with 1:59 to play cut the lead to 83-77 and suddenly, the game was close again.
Bryan Greenlee wasn’t going down easy as he finished with 21, and late in this game he had all the answers, as on the next possession he hit a dagger three pointer to put FAU back up 86-77.
That would be it for the Tigers as they attempted to play the foul game down the stretch, but weren’t able to claw back, briefly getting it back down to 6 with 38 seconds left- but never breaking that, eventually falling to FAU at the final buzzer 92-84.
The win closes the door on the 2023-2024 regular season and locks the Owls into the AAC tourney as a 2 seed with an immense amount of momentum. For Memphis, it’s a return to sub-par play and it halts any talks about Memphis receiving an at large bid.
FAU heads into the tournament, playing some of their best basketball of the season and it echoes Coach May’s mantra of the team getting to a point of playing their basketball come March. The Owls will look to continue their productive stretch of play on Friday, March 15th at 7 PM Est, in Fort Worth Texas to kick off their 3rd chapter of the season.
Photo credits: Dak Arriola
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