Florida Atlantic players react to size of NRG Stadium

Florida Atlantic has secured their first, second, third, and fourth NCAA Tournament wins in school history this year, manning a historical run all the way to their first Final Four appearance in their 35-year history. And as the Owls have continued winning in the month of March, the stage has only gotten bigger and bigger for them.

Wins in Nationwide Arena and Madison Square Garden have led them to NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans. And after arriving in Houston Sunday, several FAU players reacted to the latest and greatest stage they will perform on soon.

“Honestly, I feel like the arena felt a little more comfortable than the last two we played in. I don’t know, for some reason the rim felt closer. The balls are bouncing on the rim nice. I feel like the court felt really comfortable compared to the last two arenas we played in,” Nick Boyd said. “We weren’t really shocked by it. We knew what to expect, and we went out there, had a good practice and had fun.”

The Owls being even more comfortable in the tournament than they have been already could be bad news for their upcoming opponent. They’ve had the hot hand all postseason long, not shooting below 40% in both the NCAA and the Conference USA Tournaments. They’ve only suffered three losses this season, all on the road, but have thrived in their neutral-site matchups.

“NRG, it’s a beautiful stadium,” Giancarlo Rosado said. “We’re blessed to be here. What we had to get used to was the backdrop. We’re not used to that. Used to The Burrow. But the backdrop was nice, like Nick said, the rim is nice. The court is a little bouncy. It’s a great atmosphere. Going to be a great environment.”

Florida Atlantic seems to be satisfied with their surroundings, but still haven’t lost sight of the impact of making it this far on college basketball’s biggest stage.

“It’s huge. It’s actually huge. And the way like you look around and it’s like you see how many seats there are, how many potential people are going to be there and you go, Wow, I’m going to be here? Wow,” Vladislav Goldin said.

The Owls are just two wins away from being national champions, but first, have to go through another cinderella team that many didn’t have slated in their Final Four when filling out their brackets. The Owls take on San Diego State this Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET airing on CBS.