WATCH: FAU guard Alijah Martin throws down monster dunk against Kansas State in Elite Eight
It didn’t take long for Florida Atlantic guard Alijah Martin to start the highlight reel against Kansas State. Early in the first half, he threw down a mammoth dunk over a K-State defender to get the Owls going.
Martin took a pass from Vladislov Goldin and took it straight up over David N’Guessan to put FAU on top 5-4 in the early going. It was an electric play that even got play-by-play announcer Brian Anderson fired up.
“Wow, Alijah Martin, just wrecking the rim right there!” Anderson said.
Florida Atlantic is looking to continue its impressive run through March Madness, bringing a 34-3 record into the Elite Eight matchup against No. 3 seed Kansas State. The Wildcats are looking to make the Final Four for the first time since 1964 while the Owls are looking for their first-ever national semifinal appearance.
FAU’s path to the Elite Eight was an interesting one. The Owls beat No. 8 seed Memphis in the first round, then defeated No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson to reach the Sweet Sixteen. That’s where FAU pulled off the upset of No. 4 seed Tennessee, advancing to the Elite Eight to take on a Kansas State team that has been impressive all year under first-year coach Jerome Tang.
Although FAU doesn’t want to be called “Cinderella,” it’s safe to say “dream season” would be a good way to put this year. In fact, Martin said as much during his media availability on Friday ahead of the K-State game.
“We dreamed to be here,” Martin said. “And just to make this run, it’s amazing. Just thinking about all the work that we’ve put in, all the competing we do, all the serving we do, and we’re just thankful for it.”
After handling Montana State in the first round, K-State beat No. 6 seed Kentucky and No. 7 seed Michigan State in its first three rounds to set up the matchup with Florida Atlantic. The matchup with the Spartans proved to be one of the best games of the tournament, heading to overtime before the Wildcats came out on top 98-93 as Markquis Nowell delivered an all-time performance. He set a new record with 18 assists in the game while scoring 20 points of his own.
Friday marked one year since Tang’s introductory press conference at K-State. Exactly 365 days later, he was getting ready to coach his team in the Elite Eight. Even he acknowledged the whirlwind it’s been.
“I don’t know, like, you can fully process all of that,” Tang said. “But like I always say, this wonderful book that I read, it says that the power of life and death are in the tongue, and we have the ability to speak life to people or to speak death to people. Everyone talks about positive thinking and all that kind of stuff. I mean, it’s right there in the scripture.
“I can’t tell you that I thought about what I was saying at that time, but I do believe that it was the spirit of God speaking through me, and therefore it inspired me to live to those words that were spoken.”