FAU Men Open Monday Against LIU With a Revamped Roster: Four Returners, 11 Newcomers and Carlyle in Charge

Florida Atlantic's men's basketball team opens the 2026-27 season at home against LIU on Monday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. at Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena in Boca Raton — and almost everything about the roster is new. The Owls return just four players from last season's team while welcoming 11 newcomers, including three freshmen, after two exhibition wins over Keiser and The Citadel in the past two weeks, Mid-Major Basketball reported. Third-year coach John Jakus is building a new identity following the departure of junior guard Devin Vanterpool, who averaged 15.8 points per game last season before transferring to Providence; the Owls finished 18-15 overall and 9-9 in conference play.

Senior guard Kanaan Carlyle, who averaged 14.3 points per game last season, now takes the reins, joined by senior guard Jelani Hamilton, a Georgia State transfer who averaged 17.8 points per game. All four returners are guards, and nine players on the roster are listed as guards, in keeping with Jakus's guard-heavy, up-tempo approach built on pace, quick ball movement and open three-point shots, with aggressive trapping and perimeter pressure on defense. Transfers Braeden Speed and Milhan Charles and freshmen Felipe Quiñones, Franck Belibi Jr. and David Musis add the depth.

The open question is the paint. Sophomore center Fawaz "Tacko" Ifaola, a Colorado transfer, junior forward Josh Harris, who has played at Indiana and North Florida, sophomore 7-footer Kieran Mullen from Pittsburgh, and senior forward Mason Porter-Brown will be tasked with anchoring the interior defense and the boards — and how the Owls match up against the American Athletic Conference's physical frontcourts could decide their ceiling, with Memphis and UAB among the expected contenders. December brings two neutral-site tests, VCU in Orlando on Dec. 12 and Colorado State in Frisco, Texas, on Dec. 20. The Sports Desk files Monday's final after the game.