Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
ORLANDO – Making its third NCAA Tournament appearance in the last five years, the 14th-seeded FGCU men’s basketball team is gearing up for its First Round matchup with in-state foe and 3rd-seeded Florida State on Thursday, Mar. 16, at 9:20 p.m. from the Amway Center.
The Eagles are 3-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, with the .600 winning percentage ranking as the 23rd best and 2nd-highest ever among non-Power 5 or American Athletic Conference teams (Loyola Chicago, .692).
Florida State is the 2nd-tallest team in the nation at an average of 79.2 inches per player (FGCU: 76.9). FGCU leads the nation in points in paint at 41.5 per game. In their three games against BCS opponents this year (Florida, Baylor, Michigan State), the Eagles were only out-scored in the paint by an average of 34.6 to 30.6, and in all three of those games they did not have injured Marc-Eddy Norelia (17.1 ppg last year).
Helping fuel that low-post production is a return of Dunk City as FGCU has already thrown down more dunks this season (157) than the original Dunk City squad in 2012-13 (148). FGCU connects at a 50.2-percent clip from the floor – the 5th-highest rate in the country – and has just 7 percent of its 2-point shots blocked – which ranks as the 7th-lowest rate in the nation.
TWEETABLES
1) This is the second meeting between FGCU and Florida State, with the Seminoles winning the first in the opening round of the 2014 NIT, 58-53.
2) Florida State (171) and FGCU (157) rank 1st and 3rd, respectively, in the nation in dunks this year (Kentucky is 2nd with 164).
3) FGCU and FSU are two of just seven schools in the nation with its men’s and women’s team having won 25+ games: Duke, Notre Dame, Baylor, Gonzaga and Bucknell.
4) With a win, FGCU would match its all-time single-season win record with 27 (final year of Division II in 2006-07); 26 wins currently is tied with the 2012-13 team for the D-I mark.
5) FGCU is 68-4 (18-0 this year) under 4th-year head coach Joe Dooley when leading at the half and 39-4 (14-1 this year) when scoring at least 80 points.
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