In what is becoming an early theme, Florida Atlantic Men’s basketball came out on the wrong side in a matchup against a top mid-major opponent.
The Owls worked diligently to overcome a slow shooting effort from beyond the arc, but they were ultimately unable to, falling to Saint Bonaventure 70-65 in a Sunday afternoon matinee.
FAU missed their first eight three point attempts on the day, going on to finish just 29% from 3 (8-27), as inconsistencies from beyond the arc handicapped the offense. They did their best to overcome it, utilizing a 14-4 advantage on the offensive glass and physical approach to get to the rim, but it wasn’t enough in the end.
Saint Bonaventure finished 53% from the field and 42% from beyond the arc, as the Owls defense struggled with resistance, which only compounded their offensive struggles.
Devin Vanterpool led the way with a double-double, notching 17 points and 10 rebounds, while also adding 3 assists and 4 steals. He was joined in double figures by Amar Amkou who finished with 12 points and 3 rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.
Offensive dry spells have plagued FAU in their last two losses, while their 3 point percentage allowed has dipped to 345th in the country, allowing 40.3%. With the offense struggling at times and the defense allowing a porous amount of threes, the Owls have been stuck in the mud over the past two games and will look to use 7 off days in a row to right their wrongs.
Below are 3 takeaways from FAU’s third loss of the season.
Owls unable to overcome struggles from beyond arc
In all three of the Owls losses this season, the common denominator is that there have been long stretches where the offense goes cold, fueled by struggles from beyond the arc.
Against Liberty, George Mason and Saint Bonaventure the Owls shot 20%, 26% and 29% from three respectively, while their opponents shot 46%, 52%, and 42% from beyond the arc. With FAU’s fast paced offense, the Owls will attempt the open triple whenever they can get it, but so far this season when the shots haven’t fallen, they haven’t been able to overcome that.
What has made it worse, is their defense has struggled to slow down opponents from 3, so when the offense goes cold, the game can begin to get away from them.
That is what happened at times against Saint Bonaventure, as the Owls started the second half 0/3 from the field and the Bonnies grew their largest lead of the game, 41-32 with 18:09 to play. Although Jakus stopped the bleeding with a timeout, they were never able to get it back to a tie, after just trailing by 2 at half time.
For FAU to be at its best, they have to find ways to convert at a higher percentage from three more consistently, but when the shots aren’t falling, they have to find another way around it.
According to FAU Head Coach John Jakus, if the Owls are not able to convert consistently from three, they have to be able to finish at the rim, or get an offensive rebound, and at times tonight they did those things, but other times it trailed off.
“We shot 27 threes. The Reality is we’re going to have to finish at the rim. If you look at it, though, the struggle for us, and I can’t comment on it yet, I’ve got to go back, because our numbers on the bench state that a lot of those were uncontested and that we had touched the paint prior to kicking it out. If that occurs, then they’re in full rotation, and we’ve got to get more offensive rebounds,” Jakus said.
“We had, I believe, seven offensive rebounds in the first eight minutes. And so as much as we outrebounded by 10, we only had seven in the last 28 minutes. So when they’re in full rotation, we get a paint touch and shoot that shot. We got to get the weak side board”
“We look as many of our sets to drive Isaiah Elohim, to try to attack the rim, to get Xander downhill on curl, things, I think you could consciously see us trying to push rim attacks, but we missed a couple in transition, and then we’ll have to continue to fight for those,” Jakus said.
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Maxim Logue and Amar Amkou continue to provide sparks with Neugebauer injury
Backup Center Vincent Neugebauer was seen in a boot pre game and did not play, which opened the door for a boost in minutes for both Amar Amkou and Maxim Logue which they both capitalized upon.
Amkou played a season high 19 minutes, finishing with 12 points, 3 rebounds and a block, while Logue tied his season high with 16 minutes, notching 8 points, 6 rebounds, a block and a steal.
In the past two games, both have been able to provide a major boost for the Owls, sparking the offense with a physical style of play off of the bench. While Logue is a typical bruiser down low and gives the Owls a presence near the rim, Amkou is able to play inside and outside, utilizing his length in a variety of ways.
Both Logue and Amkou have been plug and play pieces on both ends of the court over the past few games, as opponents haven’t been able to adjust for when they come off of the bench. Their spurts have turned into momentum boosts for FAU, and although it isn’t something that has translated throughout an entire game, it is an intriguing development for the Owls front-court.
Amkou specifically has asserted himself as a key bench piece for FAU over the last two games and according to Jakus, he earned an expanded role with his performance tonight.
“I thought at George Mason, we started lackluster, and he came in and really changed the game. He earned the right to be the first sub tonight, or one of the first subs tonight, and in the second half, when we had that lull again, we put him in, and Amar really cut the thing to two,” Jakus said.
“I thought there was one or two possessions where we missed a three and had a turnover, where that game could have flipped our way, and it did not. But Amar was engaged and involved, he had three rebounds also. We think it will continue to get better, but the reality is, everybody on our bench has to be ready to play,” Jakus said.
As for Neugebauer, Jakus mentioned he hurt his foot “the other day” and while the swelling has gone down, his status remains up in the air for the Owls next matchup against FGCU.
Owls look to iron out issues
John Jakus didn’t mince words after the game, noting that his team will have to address the offensive issues that have plagued them in their back to back losses to George Mason and Saint Bonaventure.
Outside of that, the Owls have to continue to gel as a team, and get to a point where this team is playing their best brand of basketball by the time we get to conference play.
With losses to Liberty, George Mason and Saint Bonaventure, the Owls have most likely eliminated themselves from any contention for an at-large bid, so the focus now goes to getting this team to a point where they could win in a conference tournament setting, something John Jakus is aware of.
“Our job is to peak in March. We’re going to have to win that conference tournament, and so we’ve got this growth curve that we can stay on,” Jakus said.
The Owls will have three must win games coming up against FGCU, Albany and Saint Leo. Barring a disastrous loss in one of those three games, that would set themselves up on a three game win streak heading into two pivotal matchups against Saint Mary’s and UCF.
As for the off-week ahead, Jakus notes there will be multiple points of emphasis, starting with figuring out what has led to the offensive droughts over the last two games.
“I think one, just the passion for each other. Two, to address why we have lulls like we did against George Mason and in the second half, three, I think we’re gonna have to find a balance of shot distribution. And then four, we went on that run where we won every game by 20 or 30 points. And our defensive field goal percentage was 40 or less in those three games. We don’t do those things, we’ll look in the mirror. That’s my initial guess. So I’m trying to be as honest as I can, because we want to improve,” Jakus said.
All photos provided via Marcus Tran of FAU Athletics.