GAME NOTES: Bringing up the rear in the Conference USA standings, the Florida Atlantic Owls find themselves pitted against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at E.A. Diddle Arena on Thursday night.

The Owls have had a dreadful time trying to pick up victories this season, winning just eight of 25 outings overall. Since the start of the new calendar year, FAU has won just a single game against Marshall on Jan. 17 by a score of 76-62. Since that triumph, the team has come out on the short end of nine straight decisions, the last loss being a 76-69 defeat at the hands of Rice last Saturday.

While the Owls sit in last place in the standings, WKU finds itself needing a win to stop the bleeding right now. The hosts have dropped four in a row and are is now only 9-5 in conference after a sensational start to the schedule. The latest setback came last Sunday in a narrow 68-66 final versus Middle Tennessee on the road.

During the four-game slide, the Hilltoppers have been outscored by a combined 16 points.

With respect to the all-time series, the Hilltoppers own an 11-5 advantage, slipping by the Owls in the first meeting of the season last month in Boca Raton, 88-85.

Despite shooting an even 50.0 percent from the floor and converting a solid 7- of-16 (.438) behind the 3-point line last Saturday, the Owls still absorbed the home loss versus Rice. FAU, which turned the ball over 14 times, allowed the visiting Owls to hit on 8-of-19 shots behind the 3-point line and just under 50 percent from the floor overall.

Offensively, Florida Atlantic was paced by Solomon Poole who dropped in 22 points on a perfect 3-of-3 effort out on the perimeter and 8-of-10 from the field, followed by D'Andre Johnson and Justin Massey with 15 and 11 points, respectively.

Poole is one of two FAU players scoring in double figures against the rest of Conference USA, posting 12.5 ppg, although his mere 30 percent shooting from the field leaves a lot to be desired. Marquan Botley is ahead of Poole in the scoring column with 14.1 ppg, accounting for a team-best 55 assists in those 14 decisions, but he is shooting under 38 percent from the field, and with the entire unit hitting just 39 percent it is easy to see why FAU is being outscored by 8.8 ppg.

In a game that featured nine ties and seven lead changes, the Hilltoppers found themselves on the wrong side of the final score at Middle Tennessee the last time out. The Hilltoppers did lead by as many as seven points less than four minutes into the meeting, but that was before they allowed the Blue Raiders to knock down an impressive 68.2 percent from the field in the period and 60.0 percent for the game.

On offense, it was T.J. Price who tallied a game-high 24 points for WKU, although he made just three of his 10 attempts behind the 3-point line, followed by George Fant with a double-double consisting of 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

On a team that is posting 72.1 ppg in conference play, Price is carrying a considerable amount of the load with 18.9 ppg, not to mention pacing the group with 55 assists which are meant to take some of the scoring burden off his shoulders. Fant is averaging a double-double with 15.7 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest, while Chris Harrison-Docks and Trency Jackson account for 10.8 and 10.2 ppg, respectively.

All signs point to the Hilltoppers coming up with the win in this meeting, although stranger things have happened this season.