AUBURN, Ala. – The FGCU women's basketball team will look to start the season at 3-0 for the second-consecutive year as the team travel to Alabama Thursday evening to take on Auburn University. Tipoff against the Tigers is slated for 7 p.m. EST at Auburn Arena.
Thursday's meeting pits two 2-0 teams against each other on Auburn's campus. The Eagles will look to move to 3-0 for the third-consecutive season and pick up a win over an SEC school for the second time in three seasons.
HOW TO FOLLOW
The game can be viewed live on the SEC Network + free of charge via ESPN.go.com. Fans can also find live in-game updates on twitter (@FGCU_WBB) and through live stats available via AuburnTigers.com.
TOP RETURNERS
Backed by five-time Coach of the Year Karl Smesko, the Eagles return two double-figure scorers in juniors Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School) and Stephanie Haas (Avon Lake, Ohio/Magnificat High School) for the 2014-15 slate. Knight led all returners last season with 12.3 points per game, with Haas contributing 11.6 to the team's total. This season, Knight earned preseason recognition as Preseason Player of the Year, while Haas and senior captain Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler) also earned Preseason All-Conference accolades.
Knight is currently leading the team with 13.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, while five others are averaging double figures. The Eagles have seen eight separate players score 10 or more this season. Seniors Anthi Chatzigiakoumi (Athens, Greece/General Senior High School of Kallithea) and Cobb add 12 points each to the Eagles' total this season.
In addition to the trio of top scorers, the Eagles return a wealth of experienced talent. The active roster features two seniors and eight juniors, who all contributed to the team's point total last season.
As a unit, the Eagles have scored an average of 92.5 points per game this season, while holding foes to 62 points per stanza. FGCU is shooting 53.9 percent from the field with a 42.6 percent clip from beyond-the-arc.
LAST TIME OUT
With 97 total points and 13 players contributing, the FGCU women's basketball team defeated FIU 97-49 Tuesday night at Alico Arena.
The Eagles outscored their opponent by 48 points with a Division I program record shooting percentage of 56.1, including a 60 percent clip in the second half.
FGCU took a 7-0 lead right off the bat and never looked back. The team used an 11-0 run at the end of the first half to take a 44-20 lead at the break and shot 56.3 percent from 3-point range in the second half to maintain the hefty lead.
FGCU saw five players in double figures for the second-consecutive game with Haas leading the way. Haas produced 15 points in just 16 minutes with six made buckets on seven attempts. Knight added 14, while Cobb and Jaime Gluesing (Solon, Ohio/Solon High School) put up 12 and 11, respectively.
Knight led the team defensively with five rebounds, five steals and one blocked shot. She also added four assists. In her second game back from a double ACL repair, Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) added seven points and led the team with five assists.
As a unit, the team shot 56.1 percent with a 40.6 percent clip from distance. The Eagles held FIU to 30 percent overall and just 13.3 percent from three-point range but were outpaced on the boards, 36-21. FGCU forced 22 turnovers with 13 steals and recorded just four turnovers for the second best outing in program history.
ALL TIME MEETINGS
Thursday will be the first meeting between FGCU and Auburn but the team's third contest against an SEC school in as many years.
In 13 years of program history, FGCU is 100-34 in first time meetings and has scored 56 percent of the games' points.
ROAD TEST
Thursday marks the first of 16 contests this season away from Alico Arena. In 2013-14, the Eagles went 9-3 on the road overall with nonconference wins over FIU and South Dakota State.
SCOUTING THE HOME TEAM
• The Tigers finished the 2013-14 season with a mark of 19-15 on the season an 7-9 in SEC action. The team fell to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament before winning two games in the WNIT. Auburn's season came to a close last year with a 59-54 loss at Mississippi State in the third round.
• Auburn enters Thursday's game with a record of 2-0 after a pair of home wins over Troy (71-54) and Grambling State (92-42) to open the season. The Tigers are looking for their first 3-0 start since 2008-09, when Auburn won its first 20 games and captured the SEC title.
• Junior Tra'Cee Tanner has been the Tigers' top offensive threat thus far, averaging 23.5 points and shooting 80% in the first two games. She had a double-double in the opener vs. Troy with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and followed with a career-high 31 points on 14-of-18 shooting vs. Grambling State.
• Sophomore Brandy Montgomery is averaging 10 points per game and sophomore Khady Dieng has contributed 11 points per game so far. Montgomery is the team's leading returner as she averaged 11.4 points per game a year ago.
• Pressure defense remains a staple of third-year head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy's system. After averaging 20.0 forced turnovers per game during her first two seasons, the Tigers have forced an average of 27.0 turnovers in the first two games of the season, while racking up 19.5 steals per game in the same stretch.
• Auburn returns four starters and seven overall letter-winners from 2014 and welcomes five newcomers, all freshmen.
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
On the heels of four-consecutive regular season championships and the team's second Atlantic Sun Championship in three years, the Eagles were once against picked to win the Atlantic Sun in the annual preseason coaches' poll.
With 62 points and six first-place votes, the Eagles finished four points ahead of in-state rival Stetson University. The Hatters garnered two first-place votes to finish second in the poll with 58 points. The Green and Blue picked up 11 first-place votes in the media poll for 123 total points, with Stetson earning four top nods and 104 total points.
The 2013-14 defending Atlantic Sun Champions earned three wins over the Hatters last season, including the regular season finale and the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship Final. With help from those wins, the Eagles finished with their fourth-straight regular season title and earned their second tournament championship title in three seasons.
In addition to the team's predicted success, three individuals also garnered preseason All-Conference accolades. As a former First Team All-Conference member, Knight picked up the Player of the Year nod, while Cobb and Haas also earned spots on the 10-member Preseason All-Conference team.
THE GREEN & BLUE
Under Smesko's direction, the team completed the 2013-14 season with a record of 26-8, including a 17-1 mark in conference action. The Eagles won their fourth-consecutive regular season championship and went undefeated in the A-Sun Conference tournament to win their second Tournament Championship in three seasons. With the A-Sun Championship, the Green and Blue earned their second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years of eligibility, where they fell to eventual Sweet 16 team and no. 5 seed Oklahoma State 61-60 in overtime at the West Lafayette, Ind. Regional. The 2013-14 season marked the 10th-consecutive season in which a Smesko coached team won at least 20 games.
Smesko, who earned his fourth-consecutive Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year award after a successful 2013-14 campaign, led the program to its 300th win in his 12th season.
In addition to the on court success last season, the team was again ranked among the nation's top-25 teams academically. The group finished the 2013-14 academic year with a cumulative grade point average of 3.521 to rank 11th in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Honor Roll.
RAINING THREES
Backed by a 3-point shooting mark of 34.7 percent, the Eagles made an average of 10.2 long-range shots per game last season. The tally ranked the Eagles second among the nation's 349 times, behind only Sacramento State, who tallied 12.2 3-pointers a game for a new NCAA 3-point record – which was previously set by the Eagles in 2012.
The Green and Blue have a strong history in 3-point shooting, as the Eagles have made 3,404 shots from beyond-the-arc in just 12 years. The team has also made a 3-pointer in 378 of the team's 378 games and is currently riding a 266 game streak with at least one shot made from the perimeter.
The Eagles hold the NCAA record for 3-point shots made in a single game with 22 – a mark set against ETSU in 2013.
Individually, 2012 graduate Kelsey Jacobson sits alone as the A-Sun's all-time leader in career 3-pointers with 330 made in just three seasons.
SMESKO'S PREPERATION
Smesko's game preparation is one of the most crucial factors in the Eagles' all-time success. Last season, the team went 14-2 in games when they had four or more days to prepare. In 13 seasons, Smesko holds a record of 110-20 in games with that much time for preparing for a win percentage of 84 percent.
FOR MORE INFO
For all the details on Friday's matchup check out:
UP NEXT
The team will return home Sunday, Nov. 23 for a 5 p.m. contest against Ave Maria before heading to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the 2014 Paradise Jam where they will face Wichita State, Clemson and Ohio State.
Single-game tickets for all FGCU women's basketball games are on sale online at FGCUAthletics.com, over the phone at 239-590-7145 or in person at the Alico Arena Box Office.
Group sales for women's basketball games are available for parties of 20 or more at a discounted rate. Beginning this season, groups will receive the opportunity for to upgrade their package to include chairback seats, a PA announcement and a special FGCU group T-Shirt at a cost of $10.
For up-to-the minute information on the FGCU women's basketball team, stay tuned to FGCUAthletics.com and follow the official Twitter of FGCU women's basketball at @FGCU_WBB.
Head coach Karl Smesko earned his fourth-consecutive Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year award after a successful 2013-14 campaign. Under his direction, the team completed the season with a record of 26-8, including a 17-1 mark in conference action and won the program's 300th win in January. Smesko guided the Eagles to their fourth-consecutive regular season championship and went undefeated in the A-Sun Conference tournament to win their second Tournament Championship in three seasons. The 2013-14 season marked the 10th-consecutive season in which a Smesko coached team won at least 20 games. He has recorded 314 wins at FGCU with 117 Atlantic Sun victories. The five-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year ranks among an elite list of just four active Division I coaches with a career win percentage of .800 or higher. Smesko joins Connecticut's Geno Auriemma, Baylor's Kim Mulkey and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer in the esteemed group.
