Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
DUNK CITY, Fla. – Coming off its first Atlantic Sun Conference loss of the season, the FGCU men’s basketball team (13-8, 4-1 A-Sun) will look to bounce back at Alico Arena Wednesday night when the Eagles face Jacksonville (11-11, 3-2 A-Sun) at 7 p.m.
OPENING TIP
Wednesday will mark the first of four-straight games for FGCU against either Jacksonville or North Florida. UNF is in 1st place in the A-Sun with a 6-0 record, FGCU is in 2nd place with a 4-1 mark and JU is in 3rd place at 3-2. After the Eagles face the Dolphins on Wednesday, they travel to face UNF on Saturday, JU on Monday and then back home versus the Ospreys next Saturday in an 11-day stretch that will likely go a long way in determining postseason tournament seeding.
A-SUN STANDINGS
North Florida: 6-0
FGCU: 4-1
Jacksonville: 3-2
NJIT: 2-3
Lipscomb: 2-3
Stetson: 2-4
USC Upstate: 1-4
Kennesaw State: 1-4
WHAT TO KNOW
Tickets are still available and can be secured by logging on to FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets or by visiting the Alico Arena Ticket Office. For those not able to make it to The Nest, the game – like all FGCU home contests – will be broadcast on ESPN3 and via the WatchESPN app with David Moulton and J. Webb Horton on the call. Additionally, live stats are available, and a multitude of social media platforms can also be accessed at the top of this release for fans to keep up with the action and behind-the-scenes coverage.
Wednesday is FGCU’s Coaches vs. Cancer game, with coaches and support staff for the Eagles wearing sneakers to raise awareness and funds for cancer research. “Eagles Don’t Fight Alone” short- and long-sleeved shirts will be available for $10 and $15, respectively, with a portion of the proceeds going directly to the American Cancer Society. All cancer survivors will receive a discounted $7 ticket. Additionally, Wednesday is also Superhero night, with all youth ages 12 and under wearing a superhero outfit being admitted free of charge.
TWEETABLES
1) FGCU has started 4-1 in the A-Sun for the fourth-straight season, with the previous three occasions resulting in postseason appearances (NCAA/NIT/CIT).
2) The Eagles have shot at least 50 percent from the floor in the first half of all five of their A-Sun games so far this year.
3) Redshirt senior Julian DeBose enters the game 31 points shy of 1,000 for his career. He would be the 7th player in program history to reach the milestone.
4) Freshman Rayjon Tucker is 17 of his last 18 from the free-throw line. FGCU shot a season-best 85.2 percent (23-27) from the line at Lipscomb Sunday.
5) Lipscomb made a school record 19 3-pointers against FGCU on Sunday, tied for the most the Eagles have ever allowed in a single game.
SERIES HISTORY: Jacksonville Leads, 9-8
The two sides first met in January 2008 in FGCU’s first season in the A-Sun, and Jacksonville welcomed the Eagles to the league by handing them seven-straight losses. However, beginning with the second meeting of the 2010-11 campaign, the tide began to shift in favor of FGCU, which has won eight of the last 10 meetings, including a stretch of five in a row. Needing a win at JU in the regular-season finale last year to clinch at least a second-straight NIT berth, FGCU lost to the Dolphins, 75-67, before bouncing back with a win three days later at home versus JU in the A-Sun quarterfinals, 81-63.
SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE
^ Jacksonville was picked to finish 5th in the A-Sun Preseason Poll after going 4-10 in league action last year and finishing in a tie for 6th.
^ With 11 wins, the Dolphins have already surpassed their win total from all of last year (10-22).
^ JU is coming off a 77-68 win at USC Upstate on Saturday. The Dolphins have also defeated Kennesaw State, 83-70, and Lipscomb, 76-73, at home and lost at North Florida, 83-68, and at NJIT, 83-63.
^ Unanimous preseason all-league selection Kori Babineaux is 4th in the A-Sun with 18.1 points per game. The senior also leads JU in assists at 3.5 per outing and is 2nd in rebounding at 4.7. Marcel White averages 16.1 points per game, while Darius Dawkins – who ranks 4th in the nation with 3.7 3-pointers per game but has missed the last three games with a knee injury – averages 13.9 points per game.
^ Tony Jasik is in his second season as the head coach at Jacksonville after previously serving as the head coach at IPFW for three years, increasing the team’s win total each year and culminating in a CIT appearance in 2014 after going 25-11.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
FGCU leads the A-Sun by only allowing 70.3 points per game, while Jacksonville ranks 2nd in the league by limiting opponents to 74 points per game. The matchup also features the top-two rebounding teams in the league as FGCU also tops that category by averaging 41.2 per game and JU grabs 37.7.
3-POINT BARRAGE
Jacksonville will the second opponent in a five-game stretch for FGCU in which every team the Eagles will face is ranked in the top-15 in the nation in 3-pointers made. JU ranks 11th in the country in 3-pointers made with 204, while Lipscomb is 2nd with 244 and North Florida is 1st with 290.
FGCU entered Sunday’s game against Lipscomb ranked 2nd in the nation in 3-point percentage defense at .272, but is now 12th in the country in that category at .294 after the Bisons went 19-33 (57.6 percent) from beyond the arc. In addition to being the most 3s Lipscomb has ever made, it was the most FGCU has ever given up in the Division-I era and tied for the most all-time. The 19 3-pointers were tied for the most by any team in the nation this year, but North Florida broke that mark just a few hours later when the Ospreys made 20 3-pointers at NJIT.
COMING ON STRONG
Redshirt freshman Zach Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) has come on strong with the turn of the calendar to 2016 as the 6-2 guard has scored in double figures in eight-straight games dating back to New Year’s Eve. The surge has resulted in Johnson increasing his scoring average every single game since Dec. 28, and he enters Wednesday’s contest as FGCU’s 3rd-leading scorer at 10.2 per game. In conference games, Johnson leads the Eagles at 15.8 points per game, the 2nd-best among all league freshmen.
HOME-COURT DOMINANCE
FGCU is 54-10 (.844) at Alico Arena since 2012-13. Seven of those 10 losses have come since the start of the 2014-15 season. FGCU is 11-3 at home this year, was 13-4 last year, went 15-2 in 2013-14 and 15-1 in 2012-13.
Versus A-Sun foes during the regular season since 2012-13, FGCU is 26-2 (.929) at The Nest. The Eagles had won 21 straight regular-season games at Alico against A-Sun competition before losing to North Florida in the home regular-season finale last year (other loss: Lipscomb in overtime during the 2012-13 season).
RE-TWEETS
1) FGCU has already played four overtime games, setting a single-season program record. In its entire pre-D-I history (2002-06), FGCU played three total OT contests.
2) Seven times this year FGCU has had a game decided by five points or less. The Eagles are 4-3 in such games, and 7-6 in games decided by 10 points or less.
3) FGCU has posted six single-digit turnover games this year. The single-season program record is eight set last year.
4) The Eagles posted 10 or fewer turnovers in their first four A-Sun games, but committed 13 giveaways at Lipscomb on Sunday.
5) Demetris Morant has missed the last four games with a muscle bruise in his right leg, the same leg which has a medal rod in it after undergoing surgery before the season.
A-SUN SUCCESS
Since the start of the 2012-13 season, FGCU boasts a 42-13 (.764) record in A-Sun games – six more wins than any other team in the league (North Florida, 36).
BY THE NUMBERS
FGCU has the following records in 2+ years under the direction of head coach Joe Dooley:
Leading At The Half: 45-3 (.938)
Scoring At Least 80 Points: 20-2 (.909)
Grabbing More Rebounds: 47-6 (.887)
Holding Opponent Below 40% FG: 34-4 (.895)
Scoring At Least 70 Points: 37-6 (.861)
PLAYER QUICK HITS
^ Freshman Reggie Reid (Harlem, Ga./Harlem HS) ranks 5th among all freshmen nationally in assist rate at 33.1 percent – the percentage of field goals made by a team that a player assists on while in the game.
^ Redshirt senior Filip Cvjeticanin (Zagreb, Croatia/American School of Madrid) is 4th on the program’s all-time 3-pointers made list with 176, and 3rd among all D-I players. The D-I record is held by 2014 graduate Bernard Thompson with 219. Cvjeticanin is three 3-pointers shy of moving into 3rd place all-time (Bryan Crislip, 2002-05) and 2nd place on the D-I list (Christophe Varidel, 2010-13). Ryan Hopkins (2002-05) holds the all-time record with 355.
^ Morant has 66 career blocks, just 14 shy of moving into 2nd place on the program’s all-time list. Chase Fieler (2010-14) owns the all-time record with 134 rejections.
ON RECORD PACE
FGCU is on pace for several D-I and all-time program records this year:
Points Per Game: 78 – Would shatter the D-I record of 72.9 set by the Sweet Sixteen team in 2012-13.
Rebounds Per Game: 41.2 – Would set the D-I record, besting each of the previous two years (38.1 in 2014-15 and 36.6 in 2013-14).
Field-Goal Percentage: 46.7 – Would be the best all-time, just ahead of the record of 46.7 percent in 2013-14.
Blocks Per Game: 4.3 – Would shatter the best mark all-time as no team has ever even averaged 4 blocks per game in a season.
Scoring Margin: +7.7 – Would be the best in D-I history, besting the previous mark of +6.1 in 2012-13.
BREAKOUT SEASONS
Redshirt junior Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olympia HS) has tied the D-I program single-season record of seven double-doubles held by Fieler in 2013-14. Norelia is 2nd in the A-Sun in rebounding at 8.7 per outing, 7th in field-goal percentage (.520) and 10th in scoring with 15.4 points per game. Norelia has come one rebound short of a double-double on four other occasions already this year as well. The all-time single-season program record for double-doubles is nine, held by Robinson Tisme in the program’s first season in 2002-03. Norelia has been named A-Sun Player of the Week and A-Sun Co-Player of the Week this year.
After averaging just 3.3 points per game last year, sophomore Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) has catapulted to 13.6 per game this year – an increase of 10.3 – and has led the Eagles in scoring seven times. Not only is the 6-5 Terrell getting the job done on the offensive end, he also enters Wednesday’s contest with the 3rd-most rebounds on the team this year with 93.
YOUNG, TALENTED AND DEEP
FGCU has just two seniors on its roster, and so far this year 82 percent of its scoring, 87 percent of its rebounding (excluding team rebounds) and 87 percent of its assists have come from non-seniors.
Not only are the Eagles young and talented, but they are deep as already this year 10 different players have reached double-figure points in a game. The only teams in the nation with more are Boston University (12) and Georgia Southern (11). Below is a list of players who have already scored 10 or more points in a game, their season high and how many times they’ve led (or tied) the team in scoring.
R-Jr. Norelia (9): 34
R-Fr. Johnson (3 – includes a tie): 26
So. Terrell (7 – includes a tie): 25
R-Sr. DeBose (1): 20
Fr. Tucker (1): 19
R-Sr. Cvjeticanin (1): 18
Fr. Reid: 18
R-So. Antravious Simmons: 17
R-So. Kevin Mickle: 14
R-Jr. Morant: 11
In a further testament to the youthful and talented group, Reid leads all A-Sun freshmen in assists per game (3.7), Terrell leads all A-Sun sophomores in points per game (13.6),Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) leads all A-Sun sophomores in rebounds per game (5.1) and Norelia is second among all A-Sun juniors in rebounds per game (8.7).
CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
FGCU played a challenging non-conference schedule as all but one of FGCU’s seven non-league losses came against top-150 RPI teams, including two losses to top-20 teams (7 Texas A&M, 75-65; 20 Florida, 70-50) and three to top-50 teams (46 South Dakota State, 56-52) – and two of those three losses came by 10 points or less. FGCU also dropped an 85-75 decision at 115 Ohio, a 66-63 contest to 147 Louisiana Tech and an 89-81 overtime outing against 150 South Dakota.
MILESTONE MARKS
FGCU won its 250th all-time game on Jan. 16 with an 85-56 decision over USC Upstate. The Eagles enter Wednesday’s game with an all-time record (since 2002-03) of 251-181 (.581). The Eagles also have their all-time A-Sun record over .500 as FGCU is 75-74 in A-Sun contests. The Eagles had not been over .500 all-time in A-Sun games since they were 4-3 in their inaugural A-Sun and D-I season in 2007-08.
GOLDEN SUMMER
DeBose (Washington, D.C./Rice/St. John College HS) won a gold medal as part of Team USA at the World University Games (WUG) this summer in South Korea … was one of only two players (SMU’s Nic Moore) on the team not from Kansas University … finished the tournament averaging 4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 10.8 minutes per contest … scored a team-high 18 points in the USA’s final group-round game against Switzerland … connected on 50 percent (13-26) of his shots from the floor during the WUG, including 3-8 from 3-point range … added nine offensive and nine defensive rebounds, with the nine offensive boards representing the second-most by any guard on the roster … also contributed six steals and a block as Team USA won its games by an average of 20.3 points.
NEXT UP
FGCU will head to Jacksonville to face North Florida on Saturday at 7 p.m. before battling Jacksonville again on Monday at 7 p.m.
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