Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
WACO, Texas – FGCU (1-2) and Baylor (3-0) were locked in a one-possession game with less than 2 minutes remaining Friday night at the Ferrell Center, but the Bears used a 9-0 run to pull away and defeat the Eagles, 81-72, who were once again short-handed but put forth a valiant effort.
On Tuesday, Baylor destroyed #4 and Final Four favorite Oregon by 17 points, but on a Zach Johnson put back off his own miss with 2:41 left, FGCU was within just a point of the Bears, 68-67. However, BU then went on the aforementioned 9-0 run to open up a 10-point lead with 37 seconds remaining and put the game out of reach.
Redshirt junior transfer Brandon Goodwin once again led the Eagles with 22 points, pacing a quartet of FGCU double-figure scorers. Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) finished with 17 points, one ahead of Christian Terrell, who made six of his nine field goals en route to a 16-point evening. Antravious Simmons rounded out the double-figure scorers for the Green and Blue with 10 points on 5-7 from the field.
The Eagles – plagued by foul trouble all night and once again without leading returning scorer (17.1 PPG) and rebounder (9.3 RPG) Marc Eddy Norelia – trailed by 10 at the half, 42-32, after Baylor shot a blistering 65 percent (13-20) in the opening 20 minutes. That was the highest shooting percentage from the floor in the 1st half that FGCU has allowed in program history.
“Baylor did a good job in the 1st half of throwing the ball inside and putting us on our heels. A lot of those buckets that they got – and the reason they shot such a high percentage – was because we turned over too many live-ball situations,” commented FGCU head coach Joe Dooley of the Eagles’ nine 1st-half turnovers against Baylor’s lengthy and extended zone which led to 14 points.
It was the second-straight game FGCU – ranked #23 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 – faced a double-digit halftime deficit, but like they did against UT Arlington on Wednesday, the Eagles quickly erased it. FGCU opened the 2nd half on a 21-11 run, and on a Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) bank shot at the 11:46 mark tied the contest at 53-53.
FGCU took its first lead of the night a few minutes later when Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to make it 58-55. Baylor responded just over a minute later with an and-1 finish – a foul which was forward Demetris Morant‘s fourth and sent the lengthy 6-9 paint presence to the bench.
Baylor took advantage and scored the game’s next six points either in the paint or at the free throw line and looked to be pulling away with a 64-58 lead and just more than 5 minutes to play. However, FGCU once again displayed its moxie and crawled back within one, 64-63, on a Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./Norcross HS) jumper. The teams then traded baskets until Johnson’s aforementioned tip-in and subsequent Baylor run which iced the contest.
“We regrouped in the 2nd half and had our defense a little bit more situated,” Dooley continued. “We got into a better offensive flow. At the end they made some plays and picked up a couple loose balls under the basket. But I’m proud of the way our guys fought and battled tonight.”
Goodwin led FGCU in scoring for the third-straight game to start the year as he finished 7-15 from the floor and 5-5 from the free throw line. As a team, the Eagles shot 10-11 from the charity stripe – a 91-percent clip – but in stark contrast to Baylor’s 27 makes on 31 attempts (87 percent). FGCU was whistled for 25 fouls, while Baylor was called for just 14.
FGCU did a much better job taking care of the ball in the 2nd half as the Eagles committed only three giveaways and actually finished the evening tied in points off turnovers with the Bears at 18-18.
The much-improved perimeter shooting for the Eagles was on display again as the Eagles connected at a 53-percent rate from 3-point range (10-19), spearheaded by Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) going 4-6 and making each of his first four attempts. FGCU has started the year by shooting 40 percent or better from beyond the arc in all three games.
“This was one of those games where we knew coming in as a staff that it was going to be high-risk, high-reward,” stated Baylor head coach Scott Drew, who leads one of just 13 teams in the country to have been nationally ranked each of the past nine seasons. “What I mean by that is that Florida Gulf Coast won by 31 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year, they were down one to North Carolina at the half – it’s a team that’s used to winning. We knew when we scheduled this game that it was going to be a hard-fought, tough game. But at the same time it’s a great win RPI-wise for us, because they’re going to win 20, 30 games this year.”
Manu Lecomte paced a quintet of double-figure scorers for Baylor with 19 points, one better than Al Freeman’s 18. The Bears won the battle on the boards, 29-20, and out-scored the Eagles in the paint, 36-26.
The Eagles finished the night with 17 assists on 26 field goals (26-55, 47 percent) as FGCU posted a positive assist-to-turnover ratio for the first time in 2016-17. Baylor shot 22 percent worse in the 2nd half (12-28, 43 percent) as the Eagles locked in on the perimeter and held the Bears to just 23 percent (4-17) from 3-point range on the evening.
Making his first start for the Eagles, redshirt junior Kevin Mickle (Brooklyn, N.Y./Broward/CCSU/St. Benedict’s) finished with a team-high six rebounds and a block, giving the Green and Blue a valuable defensive presence in the low blocks to contend with the taller Bears.
FGCU continues its formidable stretch of opponents to tip off the year when it faces another quick turnaround in East Lansing on Sunday night at 7 against 13th-ranked Michigan State. The game – which will be the third in six days in three different states for FGCU – will be broadcast nationally on the Big Ten Network.
The Spartans are 1-2 on the year after routing Mississippi Valley State on Friday night, 100-53. MSU lost to Arizona in Hawaii as part of the Armed Forces Classic and Kentucky in New York City as part of the Champions Classic. It will be the fourth-straight opponent to open the year for the Eagles which won at least 20 games last year and played in the postseason.
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