Charleston, SC.- South Florida’s finest squads were put to the test during day one of the 2024 Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic.

Eight of the NCAA’s top basketball programs; Miami, Florida Atlantic, VCU, Villanova, Seton Hall, Drake, Oklahoma St., and Nevada traveled to Charleston, South Carolina to compete in this elite tournament, hoping to secure Q1 victories during the early stages of the new season.

Hailing from the great state of Florida, I personally turned all my attention and focus to the first two matchups: Drake vs Miami and FAU vs Oklahoma St. Both South Florida teams feature all new and all different squads then what their faithful fans are used to seeing, so these games were considered “must wins” by the powers that be (the NCAA Tournament Selection committee). Without further ado, lets break down both games for a complete recap of Day 1 of the Charleston Classic.

Miami (FL) v Drake (80-69 Drake)

Drake opened up this game swinging, taking an early 7-0 lead over the Hurricanes. This comfortable lead would be a constant in this morning’s game, as the Bulldogs never seriously relinquished their lead, rather just continued to build upon it. Bulldogs’ star PG Bennett Stirtz dominated the Hurricanes, recording 21 Points (8/17FG), 6 Rebounds and 2 Assists, alongside a double-double performance from 6 foot 6 forward Daniel Abreu (18 Points, 10 Rebounds).

The ‘Canes were led in scoring by 5th year senior Nijel Pack, who had 17 points and 5 assists. Outside of Pack, both Jalen Blackmon and Matthew Cleavland recorded double figures with 12 points a piece.

Despite battling back from adversity, Miami could never overtake Drake, trailing for 39 minutes and 44 seconds of the 40 minute matchup. The more impressive part of Drake’s victory, the Bulldogs’ only hit 4 3 pointers, but walked away with 24 points from the line. Drake’s biggest advantage came from capitalizing on possessions, coming away with points on 37 of the 59 drives (63%), as opposed to Miami’s 29 of 58 drives (50%).

Miami showed serious concerns with rebounding, coming away with only 5 second chance offensive boards, as opposed to Drake’s 21 defensive boards. This is a massive issue that needs to be remedied quickly as the season progresses.

Oklahoma St. v FAU (86-78 FAU)

This was a must win game for the John Jakus led FAU Owls. Following consecutive losses to UCF and Charleston last week, FAU absolutely needed this win over Oklahoma State. Good, bad or ugly, a win is a WIN.

After an early lead throughout the first ten minutes of the contest, FAU found themselves falling into yet another deficit. As the game went on, Oklahoma State was doing just enough to contain a comfortable lead over FAU, especially midway through the second half. Holding a nine point lead over the Owls at the start of the second half, I became uncomfortable with the idea that Florida would go 0-2 on the day. However, through gritty fight and determination, the FAU Owls fought back into this game, turning it into a one possession game with just under five minutes remaining.

Regardless of what was happening, it felt like FAU couldn’t get over the hump, finally being able to take a lead over the Cowboys. That is, until a beautiful and-one layup from Leland Walker tied things 67-67, and then the shifty guard knocked down the free throw to regain their first lead since the 10:40 mark in the first half. From there, the Owls kept walking down the Cowboys who began to shoot ice cold, as KyKy Tandy knocked down a deep triple, and Ken Evans just kept laying down free throws.

FAU capitalized on the trigger happy whistles of the officiating crew, finding themselves at the free throw line 49 times, and taking advantage of 35 of said shots. Oklahoma St. on the other hand couldn’t get anything going offensively, and started forcing shots in attempts of staying alive in this game

KyKy Tandy led the Owls in scoring with 21 points (4/9 3Pt) and Ken Evans followed it up with another extra 14 points (9/11 FT).

Whats to Come?

Both squads will compete again tomorrow (November 22). FAU advances in the winners bracket, while Miami falls into the losers bracket.

FAU will face off against Drake to keep Charleston Classic Championship hopes alive, with tip off being at 11:30 AM EST.

Miami will face off against Oklahoma State at 2:30 PM EST. This becomes a must win game in a double elimination tournament. Win or go home.