Troy, Troy again
FAU falls to the Trojans again despite career-high 33 points from Paul Graham.
Originally published on
2/7/2009
by
Marcus Nelson
Video highlights
BOCA RATON - Florida Atlantic basketball coach Mike Jarvis has said he has been looking for one guy to step up this season.
Saturday against Troy one guy did step up, but no one else did.
FAU senior guard Paul Graham scored more than half of his team's points in the Owls' 78-63 loss to Troy. Graham scored a career-high 33 points vs. the Trojans, who won their eighth consecutive game. Graham appeared to be on pace to challenge the school record of 39 points in a game set by Earnest Crumbley and DeAndre Rice when he scored his 28th point with 14 minutes remaining which gave FAU a 52-47 lead.
Howerver, Graham only took one shot over the next six minutes and didn't score his next basket until 6:46 remained and FAU was trailing 67-55 after a 20-3 run by the Trojans.
Jarvis said he would have liked to have gotten the ball more to Graham in that span.
“We didn’t do a very good job of recognizing how hot Paul was” Jarvis said. “He probably should have had even more shots and guys have to recognize when somebody is hot.”
Graham said he didn't notice he wasn't shoting as much down the stretch.
“During the course of the game I don’t even notice I’m not shooting,” Graham said. “I was just focused on the score and how much time was left. I didn’t even notice I wasn’t getting the ball or things of that nature.”
Graham was 11-of 18 from the field including eight-of-11 on three-point shots. The rest of the team was 9-of-38 from the field and five-of-34 from behind the arc.
Jarvis said poor play by his post players kept the Owls from working the ball inside.
“When you don’t have anybody in the post area that can catch the ball without dropping it, you better to chuck it up,” Jarvis said. “We took about 20 more threes than we wanted to take. If you live by the three, you die by the three.”
GAME REWIND
Slam dunk: Guard Alex Tucker had five assists and set a FAU freshman record for assists in a season with 111, topping Earnest Crumbley's 107 in 2000-01. ...FAU was 12-of-28 (42.9 percent) from the field in the first half. ...Brett Royster had four blocks.
Off the rim: FAU's bench accounted for 16 points and freshman Shavar Richardson accounted for all of them. ...Against Troy's zone defense, FAU still turned the ball over 13 times. ...The Trojans outscored the Owls 28-4 in the paint.
From the box score: Paul Graham wasn't the only player with a career night. Troy's Brandon Hazzard scored a career-high 30 points.
Up next: The Owls host Denver on Thursday at 7 p.m.
The final shot: It looked like Graham was going to carry the Owls on his back down the stretch, but he wasn't given the ball enough times for him to get in a rhythm. By the time the Owls adjusted the game was over.