DUNK CITY, Fla. – Looking to continue its best start in Division-I program history, the FGCU men's basketball team (8-1) returns to Alico Arena Sunday at 2 p.m. when it battles cross-state foe FIU (5-4).
 
SETTING THE STAGE
At 8-1 and coming off another quality early-season win at Massachusetts last Sunday, FGCU is ranked No. 12 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. The Eagles moved up four spots this week by virtue of defeating the Minutemen, a top-50 RPI team, as FGCU now boasts an RPI ranking of 33 as of Friday.
 
The Eagles will be looking to avenge a 72-61 loss at FIU last year. FGCU held a 56-48 lead with just a little more than seven minutes remaining in the contest, but allowed the Panthers to close the game on a 24-5 run. The loss was the first to FIU in the D-I era for FGCU as the all-time series is tied at 3-3 (3-1 in favor of FGCU since moving to D-I in 2007-08).
 
WHAT TO KNOW
A limited amount of tickets remain for Sunday's game. Fans can purchase general-admission tickets to Sunday's game and next Friday's contest (Dec. 19) at 7:30 p.m. against Furman for a holiday special rate of $15 for both, a savings of 25 percent. Visit the Alico Arena Ticket Office, call 239-590-7145 or log on to FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets (holiday deal click here) to purchase.
 
Like all FGCU home games, the contest – presented by the News Press – will be broadcast on ESPN3 and via the Watch ESPN app. David Moulton will handle the play-by-play duties with J. Webb Horton serving as the analyst.
 
Fans are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to the game as part of the Toys for Tots campaign. Boxes will be available immediately upon entry into Alico Arena at the marketing table. Following next Friday's doubleheader with the women's team, both the men's and women's basketball programs will deliver the toys to a local children's hospital in Southwest Florida on Saturday, Dec. 20.
 
TWEETABLES (5 Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) FGCU set season highs in points (84), 3-point percentage (.556, 10-18), free-throw percentage (.824, 16-19) and assists (24) in the win at UMass.
2) The 24 assists (Brett Comer, 14) are tied for a D-I team record and second-most all-time in a road game (25 at Southeastern College 1/25/03).
3) After starting the game 1-4 from the free-throw line at UMass, FGCU finished by making 15 in a row.
4) The FGCU bench has produced 82 points in the last two games (51 percent of the team's total points). The bench is averaging 24 points per game.
5) Comer's 14 assists at UMass tied a career high, while Bernard Thompson's six 3-pointers (10-13 the last two games) also matched a career best.
 
DID YOU KNOW?
Thompson (Conyers, Ga./Rockdale County HS) is the only active D-I player with at least 1,500 career points (1,539), 475 career rebounds (498) and 225 career steals (225). With two more rebounds, the senior will become just the fourth player in FGCU program history with at least 500 career rebounds (Chase Fieler, 714; Sherwood Brown, 589; Adam Liddell, 570).
 
#DUNKCITY MAESTRO
Comer (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park HS) orchestrated arguably his best performance from an assist standpoint at UMass Sunday, matching the 14 helpers he handed out in the NCAA Tournament against San Diego State two years ago, but also by only committing one turnover. With 72 assists and just 19 turnovers on the season, Comer is tied for the national lead in total assists, while his 8.0 assists-per-game average is tied for second in the country. Comer leads all active players in the NCAA with 681 career assists.
 
SCOUTING FIU
^ The Panthers will be playing the second contest of an eight-game road trip consisting of 44 days away from home. The trip started with an 82-57 loss at then-No. 5 Louisville on Dec. 5.
^ FIU has already played three Atlantic Sun Conference members this year. The Panthers won at Stetson, 53-52, on Nov. 18, lost at USC Upstate, 68-53, on Nov. 27 and defeated Kennesaw State at home, 59-38, on Dec. 2.
^ The 38 points FIU held Kennesaw State to represent a program record for fewest points allowed. For the year, FIU is holding its opponents to 59 points per game and rank 11th in the nation in 3-point percentage defense (.253). Similarly, FGCU holds opponents to 58.7 points per game and ranks fourth in the country in 3-point percentage defense (.223).
^ Dennis Mavin leads FIU in scoring at 16.3 per game, while Adrian Diaz – who ranks ninth in the country with 39 offensive rebounds – is the lone other double-figure scorer at 12.4 per contest.
^ Anthony Evans is in his second year at FIU and has an overall record in 119-114 in eight season and 20-20 at FIU.
 
#NESTPROTECTED
FGCU is 34-3 at Alico Arena since the start of the 2012-13 season. The three losses have come to Lipscomb, Iona and Mercer, snapping – respectively – a nine-game home-court winning streak, another nine-game streak and a 12-game stretch. FGCU went 15-1 in 2012-13, 15-2 last year and is 4-0 this season.
 
Furthermore, against non-conference opponents during the regular season, FGCU is 22-1 at The Nest since 2011-12. The Green and Blue went 5-0 in 2011-12, 7-0 in 2012-13, 6-1 in 2013-14 and is 4-0 so far this season. The loss to Iona snapped a 15-game winning streak at Alico against non-conference opponents.
 
CHALLENING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
FGCU has already defeated four 20-win teams from a season ago (UC Santa Barbara, Ohio, San Francisco, Massachusetts) and another (South Dakota State) which won 19 contests. The Eagles have played three teams ranked in the top-55 of the current RPI (Green Bay, UC Santa Barbara, UMass), going 2-1 against that group, and will still play three more teams ranked between 40 and 85 in the RPI in its non-conference schedule. In total, FGCU has already, or will, play seven teams in its non-conference docket currently ranked in the top-120 of the RPI. FGCU's lone loss of the season was to Green Bay, which is currently the No. 1 RPI team in the nation and last weekend handed then-No. 15 Miami its first loss of the season.
 
#DEPTHCITY
FGCU had five different leading scorers through the first eight games this year. FGCU has 10 players averaging at least 12 minutes of action per game, and only one (Thompson, 30.8) is playing more than 30 minutes per contest. The Eagles also boast five double-figure scorers (only two which have started all nine games (Thompson and Comer)) and have eight players who are averaging at least three rebounds per game.
 
NATIONAL RANKS
In addition to the aforementioned national ranks in 3-point percentage defense, FGCU ranks 14th in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (.353). The Eagles are 22nd in the country in total assists (148), 16th in total rebounds (376) and 12th in defensive rebounds per game (29.3).
 
ODDS & ENDS
Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Olympia HS/Tulane) leads the A-Sun in rebounding (8.0 per game) as no one else is even at 6.5 per game … Thompson (16.0 points per game) is third in the league in scoring … Comer has 28 more assists than anyone else in the A-Sun … Thompson leads the A-Sun with 26 made 3-pointers … FGCU leads the A-Sun with a .391 percentage from 3-point range … Comer's 14 assists at UMass were tied for the second-most in the nation this year in a single game.
 
RETWEETS
1) FGCU has six opponents this year which are ranked or receiving votes in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25 Poll.
2) The 43 and 47 points FGCU held Marist and San Francisco to earlier this year, respectively, were the second and third fewest in non-conference D-I program history.
3) Thompson has been named to the Lou Henson Player of the Year Watch List, awarded annually to the nation's top mid-major player.
4) FGCU's shooting percentage of 27.3 from the field against Green Bay was the worst since a 25.4-percent outing at Arkansas on Nov. 22, 2010.
5) ESPN has named Thompson as the nation's No. 8 best returning dunker in college basketball.
 
THE MOST PROLIFIC BACKCOURT IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Thompson and Comer are not only the best backcourt in the A-Sun but also one of the best in the nation, and based on the following numbers the best senior backcourt duo in all of D-I basketball. No other senior backcourt duo has combined to produce more stats than the following:
 
Points: 2,694
Next closest: 2,630 by Saah Nimley & Arlon Harper (Charleston Southern)
Assists: 882
Next closest: 781 by Raheem Appleby & Kenneth Smith (Louisiana Tech)
Games Played: 224
Next closest: 218 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Games Started: 217
Next closest: 189 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Minutes: 6,537
Next closest: 6,175 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
 
A-SUN FAVORITES
For the second-straight season, FGCU is the preseason league favorite to win the A-Sun, and the Eagles were a near-unanimous selection. FGCU garnered seven of the eight first-place votes in the coaches' poll (63 points), while it received 25 of 26 first-place votes in the media poll (207 points).
 
Thompson was named the A-Sun Preseason Player of the Year and the A-Sun Preseason Defensive Player of the Year – the first time in at least five years the same player has been recognized with both awards. Comer and Jamail Jones (Atlanta, Ga./Montverde Academy/Marquette) join Thompson on the A-Sun Preseason All-Conference Team as FGCU is the only school with two unanimous selections (Comer and Thompson), and is tied with the University of North Florida for the most all-league selections with three.
 
GROWING UP QUICKLY
Despite only becoming D-I postseason eligible in the 2011-12 season, FGCU has already claimed an impressive nine wins in the postseason.
 
7-2: Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament
FGCU is the only school in D-I history to reach the championship game of its conference tournament in each of its first three seasons of eligibility. The Eagles went 2-1 in 2012 (lost to Belmont), 3-0 in 2013 (defeated Mercer) and 2-1 in 2014 (lost to Mercer).
 
2-1: NCAA Tournament
FGCU became the first school in NCAA history to reach the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 15 seed in 2013 when the Eagles defeated No. 2 Georgetown and No. 7 San Diego State en route to captivating the nation and earning the #DunkCity moniker. The Green and Blue lost to No. 3 Florida in the next round.
 
0-1: NIT
FGCU won the program's first A-Sun regular-season championship in 2014 courtesy of a 14-4 league mark. The Eagles received a No. 8 seed in the NIT and traveled to No. 1 Florida State, falling just short (58-53) to the eventual NIT semifinalists.
 
THE ONLY ONE
FGCU is the only school in the Atlantic Sun Conference which has won an A-Sun Men's Basketball Championship. Conference re-alignment has drastically altered the landscape of collegiate athletics, and the A-Sun is no different. The Eagles joined the league in 2007-08 with USC Upstate, and prior to that North Florida and Kennesaw State both joined for the 2005-06 season. Lipscomb has been a member since 2003-04, Jacksonville since 1998-99 and Stetson since 1986-87. Northern Kentucky is in its third year in the A-Sun after joining in 2012-13 and has two years (including this season) of its NCAA-mandated Division-I reclassification period remaining.
 
A-STUN CONFERENCE
The Atlantic Sun Conference has been the talk of the college basketball world the last two postseasons as FGCU and Mercer (now a Southern Conference member) have both been responsible for three major upsets in the NCAA Tournament, affectionately turning the A-Sun into the A-Stun.
 
2013 NCAA Tournament: No. 15 FGCU 78 No. 2 Georgetown 68
2013 NCAA Tournament: No. 15 FGCU 81 No. 7 San Diego State 71
2014 NCAA Tournament: No. 14 Mercer 78 No. 3 Duke 71
 
AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE
For the second-consecutive year FGCU was selected by ESPN for inclusion in the worldwide leader's Midnight Madness coverage when the Eagles hosted Dunk City After Dark on Oct. 17. With that honor, FGCU joined only four other extremely tradition-rich programs which can boast that claim: Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse and UConn.
 
MORE BT & BC
BERNARD THOMPSON
Points: 1,539 – A-Sun active career leader, 33rd on the all-time conference scoring list and tops on the FGCU program career scoring record. If Thompson scores 605 points (20 points per game over the regular season), he would become only the eighth player in A-Sun history (first season: 1978-79) to reach 2,000 career points. The A-Sun career scoring record is held by Willie Jackson (2,535) who played for former league member Centenary from 1980-84. Thompson is currently 12th among all active D-I players for career points.
 
Steals: 225 – Fourth among all active D-I players, Thompson is already FGCU's program career leader, and needs just 35 more thefts this year to own the A-Sun career record (259), currently held by Vaughn Williams who played at former league member Arkansas-Little Rock from 1980-83.
 
BRETT COMER
Assists: 681 – Comer is 27 assists ahead of his next closest active competitor (Louisiana Tech's Kenneth Smith, 654). Of the 113 career games he has played in, Comer has led FGCU in assists 102 times.
 
NEXT UP
FGCU will remain at home when it hosts Furman (2-5) Friday night at 7:30. The contest will be the second game of a doubleheader as the women take on Northern Colorado in the first game starting at 4:30.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
General-admission tickets for all FGCU men's basketball games at Alico Arena are still available and can be purchased by logging on to FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets, in person at the Alico Arena Ticket Office or over the phone at 239-590-7145. For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the men's basketball program, follow @FGCU_MBB on Twitter and Instagram, and "Like" us on Facebook at /FGCUMBB.
 
COACH DOOLEY 
FGCU is led by second-year head coach Joe Dooley, who coached three all-conference selections during his first season and guided FGCU to its first Atlantic Sun Conference Regular-Season Championship and first trip to the NIT. Prior to arriving in SWFL, Dooley spent 10 seasons as an assistant at Kansas under head coach Bill Self. During those 10 seasons, Kansas produced 300 wins, nine straight Big 12 regular-season titles, six Big 12 Tournament championships, six NCAA Sweet 16s, five NCAA Elite Eight appearances and two Final Fours, including the 2008 National Championship.
 
SUPPORT THE CAUSE 
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visitwww.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.