No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic will try to continue its Cinderella run in the 2023 NCAA Tournament when it faces No. 4 seed Tennessee in the East Region Sweet 16 on Thursday night. The Owls opened their tournament run with a 66-65 win over No. 8 seed Memphis and took advantage of a favorable draw against No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the second round. Tennessee snuck past No. 13 seed Louisiana before turning heads with a 65-52 win over No. 5 seed Duke in the second round.
Florida Atlantic was dominant during the regular season, cruising to a 28-3 (18-2 Conference USA) record. The Owls booked their spot in the NCAA Tournament with a 78-56 win over UAB in the conference tournament title game. They took advantage of a late meltdown by Memphis in the opening round, advancing with a 66-65 victory. The tournament broke their way again in the second round, as they were able to avoid top-seeded Purdue and face No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson instead. They were rattled at times against the true Cinderella squad, but they eventually came away with a 78-70 win behind 29 points, 12 rebounds and five assists from sophomore Johnell Davis.
Every day is a work day. pic.twitter.com/ovWa06wMIB
— FAU Men's Basketball (@FAUMBB) March 21, 2023
The Owls are an offensive-minded team, ranked No. 32 in college basketball in scoring (78.4), No. 18 in 3-point attempts per game (26.4) and top-50 in 3-point percentage (36.7). They have six players on the roster who have shot 100-plus triples, with Davis, Nicholas Boyd and Bryan Greenlee all drilling at least 38% of their attempts. Davis leads Florida Atlantic with 13.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, while Alijah Martin (13.1) and Vladislav Goldin (10.4) are both in double digits as well. Their fast tempo and perimeter-oriented offense will be tested by a Tennessee defense that leads the country in 3-point percentage (26.4) and is KenPom’s top-ranked defense in adjusted efficiency.
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