Roller-coaster season quickly ends as title defense fades
FRISCO, Texas — A season of ups and a bunch of downs came to an end Wednesday night for the Old Dominion men’s basketball team with a 66-56 first-round loss to Florida Atlantic in the Conference USA tournament at the Ford Center at The Star.
It was a somber mood in the locker room as head coach Jeff Jones spoke to his team about how much he appreciated the players after a season of many injuries and player departures.
The Monarchs’ season included the departure of Dajour Dickens and Marquis Godwin, who both transferred to Hampton University at midseason; and the loss of Jason Wade, the team’s leading scorer, who was sidelined after a January knee injury.
“I communicated to the guys, it wasn’t about basketball, but about appreciation for those guys and everybody who was in that locker room,” Jones said. “That we all went through that journey together. It wasn’t always fun, and tonight certainly wasn’t fun.”
In the teams’ third meeting of the season, after Old Dominion (13-19) had won the previous two, Florida Atlantic was able to get off to a hot start, converting seven of its first 10 3pointers to open a 23-15 lead midway through the first half.
To Jones and junior guard Xavier Green, though, it was the seasonhigh 22 turnovers that essentially did in the Monarchs. At one point in the first half as ODU continued to trail, it had nine turnovers to just five field goals.
However, the Monarchs were able to find their rhythm and closed the first half on a 17-9 run over the final eight minutes to go into the break tied 32-32. That run continued as Old Dominion opened the second half on a 10-5 spurt for its biggest lead of the game.
But the turnovers and exhaustion, with only seven players in the rotation, started to catch up with the
Monarchs as FAU (17-15) responded with a 7-2 run to draw even at 44.
Jones acknowledged that the empty possessions after building the lead took a lot of wind out of his team’s sails.
“I don’t know if it was two, three (or) four unsettled transition situations, but we came away with not a shot,” Jones said. “That’s more deflating than hitting any 3.”
ODU held a 50-48 lead with just less than nine minutes to play.
As had been the case during stretches of the season, ODU went scoreless for nearly six minutes as Florida Atlantic scored 12 straight points to open a 10-point lead before sealing the win with free throws.
For Old Dominion, the program now turns to next year, as it has 11 players set to return.
Green, who should be part of those returnees, gave credit to his coach’s words after the game and was ready to be back in 2020-21.
“We have a lot to look forward to, so we’ll be ready,” Green said.