BOCA RATON — With the way Florida Atlantic has played in recent weeks, the snowbirds may be inclined to think the rest of the Sunshine State is as cold as Michael Curry’s basketball team.
Falling behind early and allowing Marshall (9-6, 2-0) senior Ryan Taylor to put up 31 points, the Owls (4-9, 0-2) lost their third straight game, falling to the Thundering Herd 89-72.
Two days after losing their Conference USA home opener to Pancake Thomas and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, FAU welcomed in the new calendar year with the same problems that cost them games in 2016.
Many of the fundamental issues plaguing the Owls since their Dec. 6 upset of Ohio State in Columbus – poor shot selection, foul trouble, and an inability to make three-pointers – were on full display Monday night.
But when a team shoots 35.1 percent from the field, racks up fouls, and makes only 18 percent of their three-point attempts, it’s hard to win games.
“I thought our first group didn’t play well – they hadn’t played well the last few games – and that’s why we kind of tinkered with the lineup,” Curry said. “I just thought the guys off the bench represented their minutes – that’s why their minutes were so high. I thought they played better.”
At one point in the first half, FAU found themselves down 33-16 as Jon Elmore and Stevie Browning made basket after basket for the Herd. The Owls would go on a 6-0 run and enter halftime down 43-34, the third straight game FAU was losing following the first 20 minutes.
After FAU clawed within seven early in the second half, Marshall pulled away and ended the game on a 44-34 run. The Thundering Herd held the lead for all but 24 seconds in the entire game.
With 31 points and 13 total rebounds, Taylor was an unstoppable force for the Thundering Herd, something Curry didn’t try to avoid acknowledging.
“Taylor has been a nightmare match-up,” Curry said. “A couple years ago, he was starting at the three and was a four man last year, All-Conference caliber player. We thought Will [Pfister] was a pretty good match-up for Ryan.”
Pfister fouled out of the game with five personal fouls in six minutes.
Making his first start of the season, Adonis Filer totaled seven points for the Owls after leading all scorers in Saturday’s loss to Western Kentucky. Justin Massey led FAU in scoring with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
GameBrowser: Marshall 89, FAU 72
Moving Forward: Getting game action for the first time since the Dec. 3 loss to Hofstra, Devorious Brown scored 12 points in 23 minutes…FAU had 39 points off the bench and made 71 percent of its free throws…Gerdarius Troutman added 10 points off the bench.
Moving Backward: On the season, FAU big man William Pfister almost has more fouls, 40, than rebounds, 46, after five and five respectively on Monday….After playing two minutes on Saturday, Frank Booker again was limited on the court with only three minutes…Nick Rutherford was 2-10 shooting.
Key Stat: 3 – Made three point shots on 17 attempts for FAU.
Up Next: FAU will end their five-game home stand on Saturday when it welcomes the FIU to town. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.
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