Nine From New York: Florida Atlantic Shocks MSG, Moves to Final Four
Eager to ditch any Cinderella label, the Florida Atlantic University Owls instead lived up to their nocturnal nickname and only got better the closer midnight got.
The Owls' magical March flight continued on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden as they punched their first Final Four ticket in the program's brief yet relatively bereft history with a 79-76 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats. With the win, FAU will represent the East region, where they were originally seeded ninth. To that end, they become the ninth team seeded ninth or worse to earn a trip to the Final Four, and the sixth to earn their first NCAA Tournament win along the way (the first since George Mason in 2006 in that latter category).
Alijah Martin paced the Owls (35-3) with 17 points while Vladislav Goldin put in a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double.
With one improbable trek to the Final Four completed, as well as a portion of the men's bracket rife with upsets (namely top seed Purdue's first-round defeat to Fairleigh Dickinson), another ended as Kansas State (26-10) was denied its first visit to the national semifinals since 1964. The dominant run of senior guard Markquis Nowell likewise ended with the loss, stopping him at third place with 54 assists in a single tournament (needing only four games to earn that tally), accompanying his 14 helpers with 30 points.
Elsewhere on the Wildcat lineup, leading scorer Keyontae Johnson was limited to 18 minutes due to foul trouble, sitting out nearly all of the final dozen minutes of the first half after two early infractions. In the interim, FAU built a 42-38 lead that took them into halftime.
The 2023 men's Final Four will be staged on Saturday night at NRG Stadium in Houston. FAU is slated to take on the South regional champion, which will be decided between Creighton and San Diego State on Sunday afternoon (2:20 p.m. ET, CBS).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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