The Florida Atlantic basketball team hit the road for a tricky matchup against UAB on Thursday night. The Owls came into the game favored by 5.5, but the Blazers had other plans. Florida Atlantic started off the game strong as they led by seven at halftime, but UAB stormed back in the second half, and they were able to force overtime. The Blazers had control for the entire OT period, and they knocked off the Owls with a 76-73 win.

Florida Atlantic basketball came into this game ranked #20 in the country, but after the loss, they might drop out of the rankings. It was a difficult loss, and at one point, head coach Dusty May thought that his team was going to win the game as his team nearly beat the buzzer for a regulation win.

“It looked like a great pass,” Dusty May said after the game, according to an article from The Owl's Nest. “The floor’s broken, Gaff’s pushing it … What poise to lay that thing right by the rim. I’m not sure if someone got in the way, or if it was high or wide, but what great poise by him. Yeah, in my mind, it felt like we were going to dunk that in and get out of here before overtime.”

In overtime, UAB got an edge early and didn't look back. May noted that he thought that his Florida Atlantic team got some good looks, but they just didn't capitalize like they normally do in overtime, and that's why they lost the game.

“We were happy with the looks we got and typically we convert those,” May continued. “Tonight we didn’t, and on nights you don’t you have to do all the other things. You have to be quicker to the basketball and physical on the glass. UAB (got)  three or four shots and then Johnson banged in the big one to take the lead from three to six.”

Two players that did particularly well for UAB were Yaxel Lendeborg and Christian Coleman. Lendeborg finished with 17 points, and Coleman finished with 14. They made things difficult for Florida Atlantic.

“He was determined,” May said of Lendeborg. “He played to win. He looked exhausted in overtime but kept fighting, fighting, fighting. I thought Lendeborg’s ability to get them extra possessions and control the paint was key, and I thought Coleman came off the bench and gave them great minutes on the interior and was able to handle the paint.”

While May certainly believes that his Florida Atlantic basketball team didn't execute enough, he also recognizes that UAB did a good job of making that happen. He gave them a lot of credit after the game.

“We didn’t finish around the rim nearly well enough .. but they were very disciplined, stayed down on shot fakes,” May added. ‘They didn’t bite on the fakes, and made shots tough for us.”

Last season, Florida Atlantic made it all the way to the final four. If the Owls want something similar to happen this year, May knows that they need to be better.

“The times we were able to get it up with good spacing and knew where to look, we thought we had success,” May said. “Then there were times they’d switch defenses in mid-possession and it’s tough. You want to call a timeout and get organized, but you know in games like this, you have to play off concepts, you have to play basketball. And usually the teams that do really share the ball and move it and have some success against it. When the ball gets stuck, like it did for us tonight, they’re much, more effective because they’re constantly changing and trying to keep you on balance. We’re going to have to do a lot of things better if we’re going to find ways to play at a championship level consistently.”

There is a lot of time to get things cleaned up before the tournament, but Florida Atlantic needs to figure things out. They are a good team, but May expects better.

“We have a lot of challenges,” May said. “We’ll have to take care of our bodies, try to get some rest. It’s life on the road. We’ll have to figure out a way to clean up a few things and bring our best game, our A effort, to the Shockers, who we have a lot of respect for.”

Florida Atlantic basketball will be back in action on Sunday as they will take on Wichita State on the road.