Florida Atlantic tops Kansas State, makes Final Four
Florida Atlantic players celebrate after defeating Kansas State in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
Brandon Weatherspoon put his hands on the side of his head as if trying to keep it from exploding. Nick Boyd raced to one of the sections filled with Florida Atlantic fans and screamed, “We are pit bulls!” Vlad Goldin, a piece of the net poking out of his cap, stepped to the student section and let himself be mobbed.
These were only a few images after Florida Atlantic scored the biggest win in program history.
The ninth-seeded Owls made the improbable possible on Saturday night by rallying from seven points down in the second half and holding off a late charge from No. 3 Kansas State for a 79-76 victory in the NCAA East Regional championship game before 19,624 at Madison Square Garden.
The Wildcats cut the margin to one twice in the final 24 seconds but FAU survived as Michael Forrest, who had five points, went 4-for-4 from the line in the final 17.9 seconds. Kansas State couldn’t get off a game-tying three-point attempt on the game’s final possession.
Florida Atlantic (35-3) will make its first Final Four appearance Saturday in Houston when it meets the winner of Sunday’s South Regional championship game between Creighton (24-12) and San Diego State (30-6). FAU is only the eighth team to be seeded No. 9 or worse to reach the Final Four.
“Extremely rewarding to see a group give as much as these guys have all season . . . and then be rewarded because there's never a guarantee,” FAU coach Dusty May said. “You're always relying on faith, that you believe it's going to happen, but you never really know.”
Alijah Martin had 17 points, Bryan Greenlee added 16, Goldin had 14 points and 13 rebounds and Johnell Davis had 13 points and six assists for FAU, which overcame 22 turnovers by outrebounding K-State 44-22 and shooting 48.1%.
“When you draw up plays with X's and O's, on some teams all the O's don't have to be guarded,” Wildcats coach Jerome Tang said. “Every one of his O's can score the ball.”
K-State’s Markquis Nowell, a Harlem product, had 30 points and 12 assists and was named the East Regional’s most outstanding player. Nae’Qwan Tomlin had 14 points for the Wildcats (26-10) but leading scorer Keyontae Johnson had only nine, limited to 18 minutes before fouling out.
“I'm grateful that I got the opportunity to play in Madison Square. I always dreamed of something like this,” said Nowell, who had an NCAA-record 19 assists and 20 points in Thursday’s OT win against Michigan State. “I feel like I gave my heart and soul . . . these past couple games . . I maximized everything I had inside of me to see these guys happy.”
“Shout-out to Markquis Nowell,” Greenlee said. “We game planned for him, and he still put up numbers.”
K-State roared out of halftime, erasing a four-point halftime deficit and going up 57-50 on Tomlin’s layup with 12:02 to play. Not everything went the Wildcats’ way during the burst as Johnson picked up his third and fourth fouls in the first 5:50 of the half.
With Johnson going to the bench, FAU seemed to pick up momentum. The Owls answered with a 15-6 run that, typically, had points scored by four different players. When Davis made one of two free throws with 5:36 left, FAU led 65-63.
“We just stayed the course and focused on what's important,” May said. “Hang around, hang around — and then we always have a run.”
Five FAU players came in averaging between 13.9 and 8.5 points. And for the 34th time, FAU had more assists than its opponent.
“If you Wiki . . . the word ‘team,’ it would be a picture of our guys,” May said.
Perhaps it was Greenlee who best communicated the Owls’ tournament mindset when asked about going to the Final Four.
“It's pretty surreal . . . that everyone gets to experience this together,” he replied. “Also a little bit of just hunger to go finish it off.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
