March Madness: Northwestern committed to ensuring Boo Buie's last dance is one to remember

NEW YORK — Florida Atlantic emanated a calm swagger as it emerged from the dark tunnel connected to its locker room and took the court at the Barclays Center.

Sure, the Owls’ open practice — a glorified shootaround — Thursday morning was nothing to be overly concerned with, but their carefree exuberance was an indication of their confidence. And why shouldn’t they be confident?

They shocked the world last year by reaching the Final Four before losing to San Diego State. They returned 14 of their 15 players from that roster. Their coach — Dusty May — has been linked to multiple major-conference coaching positions and has his team in position to make another deep tournament run.

The FAU men’s basketball program, by all accounts, is red hot.

If Northwestern stands any chance of cooling it off, it’s going to fall on the shoulders of star Boo Buie.

“He’s got to play a great game,” coach Chris Collins said.

Of course, that’s true of every great player come tournament time, but for this injury-ridden team, it’s paramount if the Wildcats are going to advance to the second round for the second straight year.

The first blow to the Wildcats’ depth came in February when senior guard Ty Berry tore his meniscus in an 80-68 victory over Nebraska. Less than a month later, senior center Matthew Nicholson suffered a broken right foot in an 87-80 loss to Iowa.

Berry and Nicholson are with the team in Brooklyn. Nicholson’s attendance — after not being permitted to fly following surgery — meant making the nearly 800-mile drive from Chicago with his mom and sister. The road trip included his mom’s old-school music, a succession of Myth Buster episodes and stops every two hours so he could get up and move around on his crutches — a requirement established by his doctors.

“The worst part was crawling into the car,” Nicholson said. “My mom drives a minivan, so I was sitting in the backseat with the front seat put down so I could stretch my legs out. It would take me a good few minutes to crawl back there every time.”

Northwestern’s one constant this season has been Buie, who’s averaging a team-high 19.2 points on 45% shooting from the field and 44.3% from three-point range. He was held to single digits in scoring just three times this season.

After declaring for the NBA Draft following the Wildcats’ second-round loss to UCLA last year, Buie decided to return for a fifth season. He has made school history in his last go-around, becoming Northwestern’s career-leading scorer with 2,156 points, passing John Shurna (2009-2012) in the victory over Michigan on Feb. 22. Last week, he became the first unanimous All-Big Ten first-team selection in program history.

“The weight that Boo carries is unmatched,” junior guard Brooks Barnhizer said. “Not only on the court, but as a leader off the court.”

Buie is one of five returning players from last year’s team. Nick Martinelli, Barnhizer, Berry and Nicholson were also part of the squad that led the Wildcats to their first tournament appearance since 2017 and second in school history.

This year, they doubled down, securing the program’s first back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths. However this one ends, it will be Buie’s last tournament run.

“I try not to really think about the fact that I won’t be able to play next year, or else I’ll get too sad,” Buie said. “I just try to stay focused on the present each day and give my team the best every single day, and that’s what I’m going to do in this next game.”

Collins established what the team needs from Buie to advance, but what does the self-described “best point guard in the country” need from the team?

“Anytime you have a senior like that, someone who has meant so much to the program, all of us — coaches and players — want to show up for him the way he showed up for us,” Collins said.

Nicholson and Berry each have one more year of eligibility. Nicholson said Thursday that he’s going to make a decision on his future after the season, adding that his injury would impact it slightly.

Last year, Buie talked at length about his commitment to the program being rooted in a desire to take it to new heights. The team wants to make sure it’s an ending to remember.

“We have to go out there and let him go out with a bang because we feel like he’s the best point guard in the country,” Barnhizer said.

Get to know the Owls

Eighth-seeded Florida Atlantic and ninth-seeded Northwestern each are making their second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time and their third appearance overall. While program history and seeding might indicate there’s little separating these teams, statistics and experience say otherwise.

Here are four things to know about FAU ahead of its first-round game against Northwestern on Friday:

1. Final Four roster is back

The Owls returned 14 of their 15 players from last year’s team that lost to San Diego State in the Final Four. They didn’t have a single player enter the transfer portal. Only four other Division I programs can say that.

2. Offensive firepower

FAU averages 82.5 points per game. The Owls rank 25th in the nation in field-goal percentage and 32nd in effective field-goal percentage. Junior center Vladislav Goldin is averaging 15.6 points per game and shooting 67% from the field, which is third in the nation.

This season, the Owls have scored at least 100 points in three games.

3. Guard play

FAU junior guard Johnell Davis, similar to Northwestern’s Boo Buie, is the Owls’ motor. He averages a team-high 18.2 points per game, shooting 48.7% from the field and 42.5% from three. He’s also a pest on the boards, grabbing an average of 6.3 rebounds per game to go with three assists per game.

4. Coach connection

As Northwestern cleared the court at the Barclays Center to make way for FAU’s scheduled practice, Wildcats guard Brooks Barnhizer and Owls coach Dusty May shared a hug under one of the baskets.

It would have been unusual if not for the fact that the two have a long-standing relationship.

“He was really kind of like my dad’s first son,” Barnhizer said. “He played for my dad in high school at Eastern Greene, earlier in my dad’s coaching career. The one story that I kind of have, just to sum it all up, is my dad would pick up Coach May every morning, and they would go to the gym at like 6 a.m., and that was just kind of where their bond was formed. And, you know, it’s a bond that’s lasted a lifetime.”