Midterm Report

BOCA RATON – Already, we’re halfway through the FAU men’s basketball season. More or less, at least.

As the Owls sit at 5-11, 1-4 in the Conference USA, enough of the season has passed to know who’s enjoying the campaign and who’s in the midst of a season they most likely didn’t see coming.

In the spirit of OwlAccess.com’s recent superlatives for the football team, let’s take this week’s edition of Burrow Bits to grade the men’s basketball team through the first few months. To avoid confusion, the format of this will be the player’s name, followed by their position and then their grade in parenthesis.

Also, due to missing 5 percent or more of the team’s games to this point due to injuries, lack of playing time, or other issues, four players will receive incomplete grades – Devorious Brown, Jordan Phillips, Jesse Hill, and Brandon Bradley.

Justin Massey, who has only played in eight of the team’s 16 games this year following his transfer back to FAU, is eligible for this list as he’s played in all eight since returning last month and had significant minutes.

Ronald Delph, C (B+): When your team lacks a closer, that one player who can take over the game late, the most you can hope for is a player that can dominate at times during the rest of the game. Delph has done exactly that in his junior season and while his stats may have taken a slight dip from last year (points per game are down from 10.5 to 9.4 and he’s averaging a block fewer), the Winter Haven product has increased his rebounding numbers and field goal percentage. If FAU plans on shocking Conference USA over these next few weeks and return to winning, it’ll most likely be Delph who leads the way.

Justin Massey, G (B): Massey’s start to the season was delayed by NCAA transfer rules after he returned to FAU from Brown, but there’s been no signs of rust since being cleared at the fall semester’s conclusion. Shooting a career-best .458 from the field and averaging 8.4 points a game, Massey has arguably been the most productive Owl on offense with four double-digit scoring outputs – two of which have come in Conference USA play.

Jeantal Cylla, F (B-): The key with several of these players is avoiding the term ‘mixed bag,’ but that’s essentially what Cylla’s sophomore year has been. Making improvements in nearly all facets of his game – and lowering both his foul and turnover numbers – was a necessity for the Lake Worth product entering the 2016-17 season, and Cylla has done that. Though Cylla had been in a shooting slump since conference play began, the sophomore will hope to build off a 10 point performance in the overtime loss to UTEP.

Jailyn Ingram, F (B-): Other than Delph, Jailyn Ingram is probably the biggest name on this list after a scorching start to his freshman year. Named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week in late November, Ingram has seven double-digit scoring games and, after getting a heavy workload because of a lack of depth among the other big men, is slowly returning to his early-season form.

Gerdarius Troutman, G (C+): FAU’s sniper from long-range, Troutman ranks eighth in Conference USA with a .440 field-goal percentage from behind the arc and averages 8.8 points a game when he gets on the court. The problem, though, is Troutman only averages 14.4 minutes a night – but did have his first 20 minute game since November 13 in Saturday’s loss to UTEP. If Troutman can keep his precision up, improve his defense and get more minutes, then his final grade should be much higher than a C+.

Adonis Filer, G (C): Giving former Clemson guard Adonis Filer a C grade is either too high or too low, depending on who you ask. On one hand, he leads the team with 10.3 points per game and is averaging a career-high 2.3 assists per game, but Filer is also shooting .364 from the field. For every great game Filer has, like his 23-point output in Columbus against Ohio State, the 23-year-old will also have a performance where he jacks up shot after shot en route to a shooting percentage below 30 percent. When Filer is hot, he’s a threat to opposing defenses, but the senior lacks the consistency that this team needs.

Marcus Neely (C): Neely is the type of player who normally won’t do much off the bench scoring-wise, but will grab some rebounds and commit a foul or two; rarely are you going to get anything flashy or highlight reel-worthy. As William Pfister’s own foul troubles continue, Neely may just be getting an improvement in minutes.

Nick Rutherford, G (C): On paper, Rutherford’s numbers of 10.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game look nice – and his floater against the Buckeyes was what sealed one of the biggest wins in program history – but a .363 shooting percentage just isn’t good enough. Rutherford gets bonus points for his rebounding skills, yet his shooting skills and shot choices still leave much to be desired. Those aren’t words you want to hear when your point guard is second on the team in scoring. And a point guard shooting 66 percent from the free throw line? That doesn’t help protect leads.

Frank Booker, G (D+): To be fair to Frank Booker, he’s a victim of his own success. A big-name transfer from Oklahoma, Booker was seen by some to be the dynamic scoring threat that the Owls needed in their front court. Though his playing time with the Sooners wasn’t near where he wanted it to be, Booker had shown plenty of potential during his two years in Oklahoma. While that potential did briefly show early in the season, Booker has been relegated to the bench indefinitely after too many poor, inconsistent nights. Saturday’s loss to UTEP was the first time since December 28 that Booker played more than nine minutes in a game.

William Pfister, F/C (F): For some bench players, going into the game and committing fouls late in the game is acceptable. When the player in question is a big man who needs to be on the court because of a lack of overall depth depth and is constantly fouling out before the team can even get something going, there’s a problem. Pfister has fouled out in four straight games and has 12 games this year with three or more fouls. Pfister’s horrific season can be explained in one stat only: in 16 games, the French big man has 55 fouls and 57 total rebounds.

Trending Topics:

• If one wants to look at the glass as being half full, then Saturday’s overtime loss to UTEP had plenty of small positives. Cylla broke out of his slump, Troutman had 22 points, and the Owls kept it close. But at this point in the season, taking pride ‘keeping it close’ against a UTEP team that entered play 3-13 is unacceptable. Both games this past week against UTSA and UTEP were winnable games, yet FAU played below the level of their opponents instead of to the level they’re capable of playing at.
• The point Michael Curry made in last week’s notebook about the team playing better on the road, however, did seem to be apparent in both games. Unlike recent home losses where the games evolved into blowouts, the Owls were in their games against UTSA and UTEP for the majority of the 85 combined minutes. Unfortunately for FAU, Curry’s theory about the team feeding off the opposing crowd’s energy to win didn’t come to fruition.
• Earlier, Booker was mentioned in playing his most minutes since Conference-USA play began with 12 against the Miners. Booker didn’t do much scoring-wise to show he should get more minutes this week against UAB, taking three shots – all of which were from behind the arc – and missing all three.

Conference Counterparts: Middle Tennessee remains undefeated to start Conference USA play, winning its first five games to post an overall record of 15-3. UTSA, which had struggled in non-conference play, has won four of its first five C-USA games this season, as have Louisiana Tech and UAB.

Working Women: The FAU women’s team remains winless in Conference USA (4-12, 0-5 C-USA) as the Owls’ losing streak has been extended to six games. The team fell in the final seconds to UTEP on Saturday as Sasha Cedeno’s 3-point buzzer beater hit the rim twice and bounced out. FAU will travel to UAB and Middle Tennessee on Thursday and Saturday respectively.

Game of the Week: Football will get the majority of the focus this week as FAU breaks ground on a new training facility this Friday, but basketball could have some fun the night before. UAB comes to town Thursday night for a showdown with the Owls in Boca Raton. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m.