Know your opponent: A first look at FAU
Northwestern heard its name called on Selection Sunday in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history on Sunday. Confetti rained down from the rafters at Welsh-Ryan Arena at the program’s official watch party, and players and fans celebrated.
But now that the purple paper has been swept off the hardwood floor, the cold, hard truth is that the Wildcats have about as tough a road as possible to make it out of the first weekend and into the Sweet 16 for what would be another program first. To do that, they’ll have to get through two teams who played in last year’s Final Four.
No. 9-seed Northwestern (21-11, 12-8 B1G) will take on No. 8-seed FAU (25-8, 14-4 AAC) in the first round at 11:15 a.m. Central time at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Win that, and the reward will be a Sunday matchup with UConn, the No. 1 overall seed and the defending national champion.
The Owls aren’t the juggernaut they were last season, when they went 35-4 and lost a national semifinal heartbreaker to San Diego State, 72-71. But almost all of the players, and coach Dusty May, are back from last season, and they are a veteran team that knows how to win in March.
They are ranked 39th in the NET rankings and have a 2-2 record against Quad 1 teams. Northwestern is ranked 53rd, with a 4-7 mark in Q1 games. However, if you look at KenPom.com, the matchup is much tighter, with FAU ranked 41st and Northwestern 46th.
FAU’s Cinderella run to the Final Four created some high expectations out of the gate this season. The Owls were ranked 10th in the preseason poll and reached as high as seventh in late December, after they knocked off NCAA second-seed Arizona, 96-95, in double overtime. FAU also beat NCAA qualifiers Texas A&M, UAB and Charleston.
The Owls made their debut in the American Athletic Conference this season after moving over from Conference USA. They finished second in the league at 14-4 and fell out of the Top 25 for good by mid-February. They lost in the semifinals of the conference tourney to Temple.
Northwestern and FAU share one common opponent: Illinois. The Owls lost to the third-seed Illini, 98-89, in early December. The Wildcats split two games with their downstate rival, getting blown out, 96-66, on Jan. 2, but getting revenge with a 96-91 win 22 days later in overtime in Evanston.
The Owls’ alpha is Johnell Davis, a 6-foot-4 junior guard who averaged 18.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this season. You might remember him from last year’s run to Houston, when he turned in a historic performance in FAU’s win over Fairleigh Dickinson. He finished with 29 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and five steals, the first player to reach those combined numbers since steals became an official stat in 1986.
Their other double-digit scorers are 7-foot-1 center Vladislav Goldin (15.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and 6-foot-2 guard Alijah Martin (13.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg). Goldin, especially, is on a roll heading into the tournament. He's scored 20+ points in seven of the Owls’ last eight games but only played 30+ minutes in one of those games.
They have seven players who average at least 20 minutes per game, but none more than Davis' 32.1. Northwestern, by contrast, plays three players — Boo Buie, Brooks Barnhizer and Ryan Langborg — more than 33 minutes per game. Buie and Barnhizer rank 13th and 15th in the NCAA, respectively.
The key thing about the Owls: they can score. They rank 16th in all of Division 1 with an average of 82.5 points per game. That’s good, because they don’t defend so well, ranking 229th after allowing an average of 73.3 points per contest.
Containing Davis will be a top priority for head coach Chris Collins and the Cats. Barnhizer, a member of the Big Ten's All-Defensive Team and 6-foot-6 to boot, figures to draw that difficult assignment most of the time.
Pace will also be critical. The Wildcats don’t want to get into an up-and-down, high-scoring shootout with the high-flying Owls. They figure to be down two starters – Ty Berry is out for the year, and Matt Nicholson most likely won’t play, even if it hasn’t been announced. They don’t have the depth to run-and-gun.
One silver lining is that FAU doesn’t have much size. Goldin is the only player in their top seven players who stands over 6-foot-4 – though he’s nine inches over that mark. In fact, Goldin is the only player listed at center on their roster.
Missing the 7-foot Nicholson may not be as big a disadvantage for Northwestern as expected, assuming that Luke Hunger and Blake Preston can stay out of foul trouble. The Wildcats figure to double-team Goldin in the post every time he touches the ball.
The Owls average a respectable 38.1 rebounds per game, better than Northwestern’s 31.2, but they haven’t faced the big, physical front lines the Wildcats have.
Hunger, who has some shooting range, may be able to draw the Russian out of the paint with the pick-and-pop game and open up driving lanes for Buie & Co. Nick Martinelli, a 6-foot-7 wing who has some scoring punch, could also be a matchup problem for the Owls.
Like most 8-9 games, this figures to be a tight game. The Cats have been installed as early 1.5-point underdogs. That’s right about where they want to be.