It was a terrific weekend for both Florida Atlantic and Texas A&M — for FAU because it won the ESPN Events Invitational with a 84-50 victory over Virginia Tech, for Texas A&M because it bounced-back from a loss to FAU with a shorthanded 73-69 win over Iowa State. So the Owls and Aggies are now No. 13 and No. 14, respectively, in Monday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Purdue remains No. 1 for the sixth consecutive day and should also be No. 1 when the Associated Press Top 25 poll and USA Today Coaches poll each update later Monday.
The Texas A&M-Iowa State game was wild.
Down two of their top three scorers because of injuries —namely Henry Coleman III and Tyrece Radford — the Aggies fell behind by 21 points Sunday, 35-14, and seemed on the verge of dropping to 1-2 in the eight-team event. But Texas A&M cut ISU’s lead to 12 by the end of the first half and then started the second half on a 24-8 run to take control.
“I thought we played incredibly hard,” said Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams. “I thought we were unselfish. I thought we were connected. I thought we played with phenomenal fight.”
That “phenomenal fight” allowed the limited Aggies to finish third in the ESPN Events Invitational after losing to FAU on Friday. On Sunday, FAU blasted Virginia Tech by 34 points to win this event that’s previously been won by big brands like Gonzaga, Kansas, Villanova and Maryland.
“These guys are consumed with playing basketball the right way,” FAU coach Dusty May said of his players. “They’re a joy to coach and a joy to watch.”
The Owls have now won four straight games since shockingly losing at home to Bryant nine days ago. Up next is Thursday’s game against Liberty, which is 6-0 and ranked 39th at KenPom.com. So that’ll be an opportunity for FAU to add a fourth top-70 victory just four weeks into the season.
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