Tigers Can Extract Revenge From Recent Loss Against Owls

Florida Atlantic vs. Memphis, 8:00 ET

I got a victory, guys! After being beaten repeatedly by the books the past few days, I switched up and went with a hockey play. In my worst sport (by far), I was able to finally capture a victory and was happy to take a unit home. Sometimes when you're losing repeatedly, you think you'll never get out of the dark, but I was able to put an end to a couple of losing days in a row, and hopefully that catapults me into some winning days ahead. Tonight, I'm going to go back to what has been killing me lately as the Florida Atlantic Owls take on the Memphis Tigers.

Florida Atlantic is having a decent season, but given that they play in the AAC, most people probably aren't even familiar with the team existing. They are 14-7 for the season with a 6-2 record in the conference. It isn't the best conference in the world, and they will be lucky to get anyone reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, but there is still some talent on the roster. Their losses this season have been on the road against Liberty, dropping that one by 20 points. Their next loss was on a neutral site by nine against George Mason. They hosted St. Bonaventure and lost by five. The remaining losses were all on the road with a varying degree of closeness. They fell to St. Mary's and South Florida by double digits, but they lost to UCF and Tulane by only a couple of possessions. The team is fairly guard heavy, and their front court doesn't really concern me much at this point. 

Feb 23, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Florida Atlantic Owls head coach John Jakes talks with a referee during the first half against the Memphis Tigers at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Wesley Hale-Imagn Images

Memphis is really struggling this season. They are a team that I fully expected to perform better and keep improving as the year's went by. It isnt' that the Tigers have been bad, they seem to be a fringe top-25 team most seasons, but head coach Anfernee Hardaway (better known as Penny) doesn't seem to have the ability, or talent on the roster to get his team over the top. This season, Memphis is not even a bubble team, they won't make the NCAA Tournament unless they turn it around. They are 9-10 for the year and are 4-3 in conference play. I suppose a win here would be a big deal, considering that they would get to 5-3 and the Owls would be 6-3. They have had some very bad stretches this season, losing four straight games to Ole Miss, UNLV, Purdue, and Wake Forest. This was a blend of home, road, and neutral sites. Then they won three straight before dropping three straight against Louisville, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State. The other three losses have come in the past five games, losing to this Florida Atlantic team on the road, and then to Tulsa and Wichita State, also on the road. 

Sometimes teams are just substantially better than another team. That doesn't seem to be the case between Florida Atlantic and Memphis, despite the Owls beating the Tigers by 11 a couple of weeks ago. I do think Memphis can get some revenge tonight. It tends to be really difficult to beat a team twice in a season, and even harder in a short period of time. We've seen the Owls struggle on the road lately, too. For the most part, Memphis has been good at home. Give me the Tigers to cover the -1.5 spread. 

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