Sun Belt Conference Season Begins for FAU :: Road games at Denver, Troy await the Owls

Dec. 15, 2008

FLORIDA ATLANTIC (4-5) @ DENVER (2-6)
Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008 - Magness Arena (7,200)
Denver, CO - 9:00 p.m. ET

FLORIDA ATLANTIC @ TROY (3-6)
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008 - Trojan Arena (4,000)
Troy, AL - 8:00 p.m. ET

GAMES #10/11: Sun Belt Conference play begins for the FAU men's basketball team this week. The Owls will play twice on the road, facing a `Princeton' style offense at Denver Tuesday, December 16 at 9 p.m. ET followed by a game at high-scoring Troy Thursday, December 18 at 8 p.m. ET. FAU preseason All-America forward Carlos Monroe, who sat out the first nine games (eligibility), is expected to be back in the lineup when FAU plays Denver on Tuesday night. The trip initiates a four-game road swing.

TV/RADIO/INTERNET: All of FAU's regular-season games (home and away) will air on live commercial radio WFTL - 640 AM with additional audio links available via FAUSPORTS.com. Ken LaVicka (play-by-play) will call the games in Denver and Troy this week.

GAME NOTES:
# Mike Jarvis (367-207 all-time) is in his 1st year as FAU head coach
# FAU begins its third-season in the Sun Belt Conference
# The Owls began Sun Belt play 0-5 last season, before rallying to finish 8-10
# FAU is coming off a 72-58 home victory over SE Louisiana Saturday
# The Owls are playing 10-of-13 on the road to start the year
# Since 2005 FAU is averaging just four wins per year on the road
# The Owls started the season 3-1 for the first time in its 15-year Division I history
# The Owls are looking for the program's first road win since beating Troy 99-93 last February
# FAU has won 4 of the last 5 against Troy
# The Owls lost at Denver, 90-85 in January of 2007, the only other meeting between the two schools at Denver's Magness Arena
# FAU welcomes back preseason All-America F Carlos Monroe who is expected to make his season-debut vs. Denver. Monroe has sat out the first nine games (eligibility). Monroe averaged 15.4 points and led the SBC with 9.5 rebounds per game last season
# Monroe was named a preseason mid-major All-American prior to the season and was picked to repeat as a First Team All-Sun Belt player
# Senior G Paul Graham III leads the Owls in scoring at 14.0 per game
# Graham became the 7th player in FAU history to score 1,000-points after scoring 16 against UMKC earlier this year
# G/F Xavier Perkins is not expected to play against Denver or Troy. Perkins did not play against SLU Saturday, he was averaging a team-best 16 points and 8 rebounds in FAU's four games prior to SLU
# Freshman G Shavar Richardson is leading the team in 3-point shooting (40%) and is scoring 12.2 per night
# Sophomore F/C Brett Royster ranks 36th nationally in blocks (2.1 p/g)
# Royster is on pace to shatter FAU's single-season and career records for blocked shots
# UP NEXT: @ UAB (Mon. Dec. 22); @ Kentucky (Sat. Dec. 27)

FLORIDA ATLANTIC: The Owls (4-5) are 3-0 at home, but 0-4 in `true' road games this season. FAU will be looking for the program's first road win under first-year head coach Mike Jarvis. The Owls last road win came at Troy on February 27, 2008. FAU should benefit from the return of senior forward Carlos Monroe, who is expected back in the lineup vs. Denver after missing the first nine games of the season due to an eligibility issue. Classmate Paul Graham III scored 15 second-half points in FAU's 72-58 victory over SE Louisiana on Saturday. The victory snapped a four-game FAU losing streak after the Owls had started the year 3-1. In four of FAU's nine games, the Owls have held its opponents to 61 points or less. Graham leads the team in scoring (14.0 ppg) and freshman G Shavar Richardson is adding 12.2 per night. G/F Xavier Perkins, the team's leading rebounder (6.4 rpg) and second-leading scorer missed Saturday's game against SE Louisiana and is not expected to play this week at Denver and Troy.

DENVER: The Pioneers (2-6) finished 11-19 last season in the program's first year under head coach Joe Scott. Five-straight losses to begin the season included dropping close games at Northern Iowa (61-56) and at home against Northern Colorado (71-66) in overtime. A 1987 graduate of Princeton, Scott has instilled a disciplined `Princeton' style offense that scores 56.2 points per game. Their 56.2 points per game ranks 322 out of 330 NCAA teams in scoring offense. The Pioneers do make eight 3-pointers per night which is near the NCAA lead. Denver is being outrebounded this season by nearly eight boards per game (29-21 on average). They are coming off a 62-58 victory over South Dakota State at Magness Arena on Saturday, where the team was 7-2 a year ago.

THE SERIES WITH DENVER: FAU and Denver have split the only two meetings 1-1. The two teams have played one regular season game annually during the past two seasons, but will play twice this year. Led by 24 points from Carlos Monroe, FAU beat Denver in overtime 70-68 last season in Boca Raton (a game that was played at nearby Lynn University due to a presidential debate on the FAU campus). Denver won the only meeting at the Magness Arena, 90-85 in Jan. of 2007.

TROY: The Trojans (3-6) have lost three-straight during a tough road schedule that had Troy playing at LSU (92-57), at Dayton (87-70) and at Middle Tennessee St. (81-53). Troy has played just two home games, losing to UAB (87-66) in their season-opener and beating Georgia State (68-63) during a three-game win-streak that had evened their season record at 3-3 on November 29. Troy shoots over 10 3-pointers per game which ranks 10th nationally. Guard Michael Vogler entered the week averaging a staggering 8.2 assists per game, leading all NCAA players and backcourt teammate Travis Lee has made 42% (20-of-48) of his 3-point attempts.

THE SERIES WITH TROY: FAU is much more familiar with Troy, with both schools playing in the Atlantic Sun Conference before making the recent move to the Sun Belt. FAU and Troy have met 21 times. Troy leads the all-time series 15-6. FAU has won only three times in 10 tries at the Trojan Arena, but have won 4 of the last 5 against Troy, including scoring a season-high 99 points en route to a six-point win at Troy last year (Feb. 27, 2008). Paul Graham III scored a career-high 27 points in that game on 9-of-15 shooting.

NEXT HOME GAME: Versus South Alabama Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 2 p.m. ET. For tickets or more information call 1-866-FAU-OWLS.