Men's Hoops Defeated by Tennessee 81-62

Wednesday, December 16

Knoxville, Tenn.

7:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

2-8

Tennessee

5-4

Florida Atlantic

Tennessee

12/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Dec. 16, 2015

Box Score

FAU-Tennessee Box Score

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team couldn't overcome a slow offensive start, falling to Tennessee 81-62 on Wednesday night. The Volunteers (5-4) scored the first eight points of the game, as FAU (2-8) went scoreless for nearly five minutes at the beginning of the contest. The game was the second half of a back-to-back for the Owls.

The Turning Point

A pair of Jeantal Cylla free throws cut the Owls' deficit to 53-48 with 9:46 to go in the second half. It was the closest FAU had been since the 12:53 mark of the first half. At that point, Tennessee went on an 18-2 run that sealed the win for the Volunteers.

Notables
Solomon Poole led the Owls with 10 points on the night.

Nick Rutherford had nine points, six assists and five steals in the contest. The five steals were the most by an FAU player since Raymond Taylor had five on Nov. 13, 2009 against Florida Tech.

Both teams shot 72.7 percent from the free throw line. FAU made 16 of its 22 attempts, while Tennessee went 24-of-33.

FAU went 6-of-15 (40%) from behind the arc. It was its best three-point shooting percentage of the season.

The Owls were outrebounded 45-31 by the Volunteers. C. J. Turman and Nick Rutherford led FAU with five boards each.

Quotable From Head Coach Michael Curry:
On playing back-to-back nights -- "It prepares us for some of the tough travel we have in our league. It also gets us ready for the conference tournament, when you have to play three of four nights in a row to win it."

Up Next
The Owls return to South Florida to face Florida State in the Orange Bowl Classic on Saturday, Dec. 19. The game will be played at the BB&T Center in Sunrise. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN 106.3 FM and will air on Fox Sports Florida. Live stats will be available at fausports.com and in-game updates will be available at twitter.com/FAU_Hoops.