Florida Atlantic Owls men's basketball
| Florida Atlantic Owls basketball | ||||
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| University | Florida Atlantic University | |||
| Conference | C-USA | |||
| Location | Boca Raton, FL | |||
| Head coach | Michael Curry (3rd year) | |||
| Arena |
FAU Arena (Capacity: 5,000) |
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| Nickname | Owls | |||
| Colors | Blue and Red |
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| Uniforms | ||||
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| NCAA Tournament appearances | ||||
| 2002 | ||||
| Conference tournament champions | ||||
| Atlantic Sun: 2002 | ||||
| Conference regular season champions | ||||
| Sun Belt: 2011 | ||||
| Conference division season champions | ||||
| Sun Belt East: 2011 | ||||
The Florida Atlantic Owls basketball team represents Florida Atlantic University, an NCAA Division I college basketball team, that competes in Conference USA.
Florida Atlantic University basketball began play in the 1988–89 season. The Owls competed as an NCAA Division II independent until the 1993–94 season, when they moved up to Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference. After spending 11 seasons in the Atlantic Sun, the Owls moved to the Sun Belt Conference, with the rest of Florida Atlantic University's intercollegiate sports teams. The Owls moved to Conference USA July, 2013.
Florida Atlantic University played its first-ever intercollegiate basketball contest on November 18, 1988, against fellow local NCAA Division II school, Palm Beach Atlantic University. The Owls won the game 111–62. Even though the newly formed college squad hung 111 points in their first game, they would finish the inaugural season 9–19, which included a 12-game losing streak in the middle of the year. Head coach, Lonnie Williams, was known to be a "program-builder", but after one year, left FAU after its first season to become head coach at the University of California-Davis. Williams would only last one year at UC Davis, posting an 11-16 record.
Replacing Williams was Penn State assistant coach, Tim Loomis. Loomis started his coaching career with a 21–7 record, and followed that up with back-to-back 15–13 seasons. The three consecutive winning seasons is a feat that no other Owls coach has ever matched. Along with the winning seasons, Loomis was able to schedule games against neighbor and powerhouse, University of Miami Hurricanes. Though Miami would beat the Owls soundly in the appearances, the ability to schedule games against them was seen as the Owls basketball program's growth. Loomis would lose the core of that inaugural team after the Owls' fourth season, and the Owls would suffer devastating 3–24 (1992–93) and 3–25 (1993–94) seasons the latter being their first official year as Division One. The members of these teams were true pioneers and super fundraisers for the athletic department as they hit the road to play teams like Florida State, Georgetown, and Iowa State while taking large paydays and suffering losses to higher ranked (#10 Georgetown) opponents. In fact, Loomis' team beat NC State on the road in 1993–94 to become the first Atlantic Sun team to ever beat an ACC team at the time.
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