Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at South Florida on January 25, 2026 at 1 p.m.
1 p.m.
Men's Basketball
at South Florida
Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Men's Basketball Hopes Resilience Pays Off in 2020-21
11/5/2020 1:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BOCA RATON, Fla. – Lead-up to the 2020-21 men's basketball season was anything but normal for Florida Atlantic University and coach Dusty May. Full-contact practices shifted to small-group sessions, and team film breakdowns to Zoom meetings, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
But while preparing for this season was more challenging than others, May sees his team gaining an advantage from it.
"Everyone learns differently, and it's a challenge for everyone in the country and every sport and every field," May said. "The most resilient teams, the most focused, those are the ones that can figure out different ways to teach and learn (and) are the ones that are going to be ahead of the game."
Resilience has defined Jailyn Ingram's FAU career. Midway through the 2018-19 season, Ingram suffered a significant knee injury. The injury ended his season and its effects lingered into 2019-20.
Now, Ingram is back to full health for the first time in over two years. And he may be better than ever before.
"This is the healthiest he looks," May said of Ingram, an 1,000 point scorer at FAU, "and he deserves to be healthy because he's been through a lot. He's moving well, he's leading, he's vocal. We're very excited about the type of season Jailyn is capable of having."
Ingram and FAU's 2020-21 season will look much different than those in years' past. Instead of playing games on Thursdays and Saturdays, FAU will play Friday and Saturday back-to-backs against the same opponent each week. Conference USA constructed its teams' schedules that way to limit travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Â Â
"It's going to be unique, but like we said, any way we can play a season and give our guys an opportunity to get on the floor, we want to take advantage of it," May said of the scheduling changes. "We're thankful the league has thought outside the box and tried to come up with solutions for us to hopefully get through with a healthy season."
FAU returns key contributors such as Ingram, Everett Winchester, Karlis Silins and Michael Forrest this season. May is eager to see them mesh with talented newcomers such as Nicholas Boyd and Giancarlo Rosado.
The team began official practice two weeks ago and its players showed little rust from the extended layoff. Their resilience is a big reason why, May says, and he believes it could help FAU this season. Â
"They've been great, and they've been resilient," May said. "The teams that handle adversity the best are the ones that will be the most successful this season."
MAY'S PLAYERS TO WATCH
Everett Winchester: "Everett, since he's been here, when he's healthy, has been – we feel like – one of our two or three best players. And at times, our best all-around player because he's able to defend, play multiple positions."
Michael Forrest: "Mike Forrest has had as good of an offseason as anyone in our program. He's made a significant jump, and we're excited about Mike going into his third year of college basketball. He's played a lot of minutes. He started at the point as a freshman, so he's got a year under his belt running a team. And then last year we slid him off the ball and brought him off the bench because we needed a spark and some scoring coming off the bench. I could see Mike playing on the ball and off the ball this year, but we're definitely going to lean on him for perimeter shooting and the ability to stretch the defense. And also, he's such a good defender that plays with the ultimate energy every night he's on the floor."
Kenan Blackshear: "Outside of Mike, I would say Kenan has had the second best or even 1A/1B offseason. He's gotten in better shape. Kenan is such a smart player that he's been able to acclimate into any team and any situation. But he's really improved his skill level, his shooting, his decision-making. But most importantly, his conditioning: he changed his body. When he was home during the pandemic, he took advantage of that time to really work on his body."
Karlis Silins: "If he can stay healthy and we can get his minutes up, he's a very, very productive player. As a staff we have to find a way to balance his inside and outside presence because he's such a valuable commodity shooting the perimeter shot and getting the opposing bigs away from the basket. Karlis, percentage-wise, has been one of our best shooters. So, he's a unique talent as well, and we're excited about the potential he has going into his fourth year of college."
Â
But while preparing for this season was more challenging than others, May sees his team gaining an advantage from it.
"Everyone learns differently, and it's a challenge for everyone in the country and every sport and every field," May said. "The most resilient teams, the most focused, those are the ones that can figure out different ways to teach and learn (and) are the ones that are going to be ahead of the game."
Resilience has defined Jailyn Ingram's FAU career. Midway through the 2018-19 season, Ingram suffered a significant knee injury. The injury ended his season and its effects lingered into 2019-20.
Now, Ingram is back to full health for the first time in over two years. And he may be better than ever before.
"This is the healthiest he looks," May said of Ingram, an 1,000 point scorer at FAU, "and he deserves to be healthy because he's been through a lot. He's moving well, he's leading, he's vocal. We're very excited about the type of season Jailyn is capable of having."
Ingram and FAU's 2020-21 season will look much different than those in years' past. Instead of playing games on Thursdays and Saturdays, FAU will play Friday and Saturday back-to-backs against the same opponent each week. Conference USA constructed its teams' schedules that way to limit travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Â Â
"It's going to be unique, but like we said, any way we can play a season and give our guys an opportunity to get on the floor, we want to take advantage of it," May said of the scheduling changes. "We're thankful the league has thought outside the box and tried to come up with solutions for us to hopefully get through with a healthy season."
FAU returns key contributors such as Ingram, Everett Winchester, Karlis Silins and Michael Forrest this season. May is eager to see them mesh with talented newcomers such as Nicholas Boyd and Giancarlo Rosado.
The team began official practice two weeks ago and its players showed little rust from the extended layoff. Their resilience is a big reason why, May says, and he believes it could help FAU this season. Â
"They've been great, and they've been resilient," May said. "The teams that handle adversity the best are the ones that will be the most successful this season."
MAY'S PLAYERS TO WATCH
Everett Winchester: "Everett, since he's been here, when he's healthy, has been – we feel like – one of our two or three best players. And at times, our best all-around player because he's able to defend, play multiple positions."
Michael Forrest: "Mike Forrest has had as good of an offseason as anyone in our program. He's made a significant jump, and we're excited about Mike going into his third year of college basketball. He's played a lot of minutes. He started at the point as a freshman, so he's got a year under his belt running a team. And then last year we slid him off the ball and brought him off the bench because we needed a spark and some scoring coming off the bench. I could see Mike playing on the ball and off the ball this year, but we're definitely going to lean on him for perimeter shooting and the ability to stretch the defense. And also, he's such a good defender that plays with the ultimate energy every night he's on the floor."
Kenan Blackshear: "Outside of Mike, I would say Kenan has had the second best or even 1A/1B offseason. He's gotten in better shape. Kenan is such a smart player that he's been able to acclimate into any team and any situation. But he's really improved his skill level, his shooting, his decision-making. But most importantly, his conditioning: he changed his body. When he was home during the pandemic, he took advantage of that time to really work on his body."
Karlis Silins: "If he can stay healthy and we can get his minutes up, he's a very, very productive player. As a staff we have to find a way to balance his inside and outside presence because he's such a valuable commodity shooting the perimeter shot and getting the opposing bigs away from the basket. Karlis, percentage-wise, has been one of our best shooters. So, he's a unique talent as well, and we're excited about the potential he has going into his fourth year of college."
Â
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F/C
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballPostgame Presser vs. Tulane (HC John Jakus and Devin Vanterpool and Isaiah Elohim)
Wednesday, January 21
Weekly Presser with Head Coach John Jakus
Monday, January 19
Postgame Presser at Temple
Sunday, January 18
Wichita State Postgame Presser
Friday, January 16