The Matchup: FGCU (9-2) @ Arkansas State (5-4)
When: Monday, Dec. 22 | 8 p.m. EST
Where: Arkansas State Convocation Center (10,038)
Video: Available through AStateRedWolves.com
Live Stats: via StatBroadcast
Hashtags: #WingsUp | #WeAreFGCU | #RainingThrees
Series History: First meeting
Game Notes: FGCU | Arkansas State
JONESBORO, Ark. – With four nonconference contests remaining, the FGCU women's basketball team will begin a two-week road swing Monday night at Arkansas State University. The Eagles will face the Red Wolves at the Convocation Center at 8 p.m. EST Monday, Dec. 22.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Live stats and video will be available via AStateRedWolves.com. Fans can also follow via twitter at @FGCU_WBB.
GAME DAY TWEETABLES
- FGCU currently ranks second in the nation with 10.5 3-pointers made per game. The team sits behind only Sacramento State (13.3).
- Whitney Knight collected her 100th career steal in the win at Bethune Cookman.
- After setting a new FGCU DI record with 33 points against Providence, Kaneisha Atwater was named the #ASunWBB Player of the Week last week.
- The Eagles currently average 1.12 points per possession to rank fourth in the nation behind just UConn, Notre Dame & South Carolina.
- With 116 made long-range buckets, 39.2 percent of the team's points come from beyond-the-arc.
THE GREEN AND BLUE
FGCU continues nonconference action with a record of 9-2 picking up wins over Southern Mississippi, Providence, Bethune Cookman and Northern Colorado in the month of December. The team's two losses came in close contests with a three-point loss at Auburn and a double-overtime defeat at the hands of Ohio State, which has helped its RPI rise to the current mark of 48. The team's most recent victory came Friday afternoon with a 13-point win over Northern Colorado.
Backed by five-time Coach of the Year Karl Smesko, the Eagles returned 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 and Haas joined senior Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler) as this season's Preseason All-Conference award winners with Knight voted as Preseason Player of the Year.
Junior Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce Westover High School) and Knight have swapped time as the team's point leader with Knight currently pacing the team with 14.8 points per game. After setting a new FGCU Division I single-game program record with 33 points in the win over Providence, Atwater is averaging 14.0 points per contest to rank second on the team. Haas is also contributing double figures with 12.6, while Cobb sits just behind the trio with 8.8 points per game in addition to her 33 assists and 21 steals.
Knight leads the squad all around with 21 blocks and 27 steals on the year, while DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) has dished out a team-high 39 assists in nine games so far.
Redshirt-freshman Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) put up a career-high 23 points against Southern Miss. and is now averaging 6.2 points in 11 games. The technical newcomer earned her first A-Sun weekly honor for the performance following Knight's Player of the Week nod. Atwater conjoined the duo to make it three straight for the Eagles during the month of December.
As a whole, the Eagles average 80.6 points per game, while holding foes to 60.2 points per contest. The team holds a shooting percentage of .473 with a 3-point percentage of .404 so far this year. The Eagles rank second in the NCAA and first among the Atlantic Sun with 10.5 shots made from the perimeter. Defensively, the Green and Blue have been narrowly outrebounded, 34.7 to 35.5 per game this year but hold an advantage in turnovers, 12.2 to 19.1 and steals, 10.2 to 5.8.
The Eagles currently lead the Atlantic Sun Conference in points per game, scoring margin, field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage, assists, turnover margin, assist to turnover ratio, rebounding defense and steals per game.
LAST TIME OUT
Backed by strong offensive performances from Haas and Knight, the FGCU women's basketball team defeated the University of Northern Colorado 69-56 Friday evening at Alico Arena. With the win, the Eagles moved to 9-2 on the season, while the Bears finished the 2014 calendar year at 6-5.
With eight-quick points from Knight, the Eagles took a 10-2 lead in the opening minutes of the game and never looked back. Knight went 4-for-4 from 3-point range and pushed
FGCU to a 21-point lead in the opening stanza. The Eagles allowed UNC to produce a seven-point run late in the half but still maintained a double-figure lead at the break.
After halftime, the Bears cut the deficit to nine points but an 8-1 run for the Eagles midway through the half helped levitate the lead back to 17 points. With 13 second-half points from Haas, the team cruised past the Bears for its sixth home victory of the season and its 18th straight over the last two seasons.
Haas led the team with 19 points on the night, while Knight contributed 17 with four made 3-pointers. Atwater also added double figures with 10 and led the team with three steals.
As a unit, the Eagles shot 44.6 percent with a 43.8 percent clip from 3-point range. The team was narrowly outrebounded, 33-32, by the Bears but held the advantage with just 10 turnovers. FGCU scored 24 points on UNC's 17 miscues and added 13 second-chance points. The Green and Blue produced 32 points in the paint with seven made shots from
3-point range.
ALL-TIME MEETINGS WITH THE RED WOLVES
FGCU and Arkansas State meet for the first time ever Monday evening in Jonesboro. In total, the Red Wolves are the Eagle's 141th foe through 13 years as a program with FGCU holding a record of 104-36 all time in first time meetings. This season, FGCU stands at 5-2 against new opponents.
SCOUTING THE HOME TEAM
• After being selected as the favorite in the 2014-15 Sun Belt Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll, Arkansas State is set to host FGCU with a 5-4 overall record after returning home for the first time in nearly three weeks. A-State comes back to Jonesboro on the heels of its longest trip of the season. The Red Wolves were put to the test in a four-game stretch in just nine days on the road, constructing a 2-2 mark along the way. A-State emerged victoriously from the back end of its journey, topping Kent State (59-44) and Missouri State (78-62), respectively, on Dec. 17 and Dec. 19, after losing at Ohio State (52-67) and Kansas (48-62), on Dec. 11 and Dec. 14. Despite just a 2-4 record on the road, the Red Wolves are 3-0 this season on their home court and have won nine-consecutive games dating back to last season. In its last 16 outings at The Convocation Center, Arkansas State is 14-2. With its most recent victories, A-State has catapulted from 88th to 79th in the latest NCAA women's basketball RPI.
• A-State returns nine letterwinners from the 2013-14 Sun Belt Conference regular season championship squad, including this year's Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year Aundrea Gamble. Last season, Gamble was one of 60 freshmen and sophomores ranked among the 250 scorers in the nation and also touted the 10th best scoring average among all sophomores in the country. Despite having to replace their entire starting front court from last year, Gamble is picking up where she left off last season by averaging a team-high 18.9 points per game and 4.1 assists per game. In addition to A-State's leading point scorer and distributor, she was racked up the most rebounds (46), averaging 5.1 boards per outing. Junior Khadija Brown-Haywood is second on the roster with 9.7 points per game and leads the Red Wolves with 17 steals. Redshirt senior Hanna Qedan has factored in as Arkansas State's most formidable deep threat, sinking a team-best 10 long shots and is currently third in scoring, logging 8.8 points per trip.
• The Red Wolves' two strongest suits are their field-goal percentage (239-of-533) and turnover margin (+5.0). A-State's 44.8 percent conversion rate from the floor ranks 37th in the country and tops in the Sun Belt Conference while its positive turnover margin of +5.0 is the 42nd-best mark in the nation. Arkansas State holds its opponents to a 41.4 percent success rate offensively. On the offensive side of the ball, the Red Wolves average 68.6 points per game per game and hold their opponents to an average of 62.1. From 3-point range, A-State is sinking only 29.9 percent of its attempts (35-of-117) while posting a 62.3 percent rate from the charity stripe (104-of-167). On the glass, the Red Wolves have been outrebounded by an average of two per game as A-State has totaled 34.9 boards per contest.
• Head coach Brian Boyer, the Sun Belt Conference's pick as its Preseason Coach of the Year, became the conference's all-time leader in victories with 137 wins, surpassing former Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barrmore and FIU coach Cindy Russo who previously held the record at 136 victories. Boyer, in his 16th season at the helm of the Arkansas State program, is 252-216 (.539) all-time. Boyer is fresh off the program's ninth WNIT run and fifth under his watch from last season. Boyer led the Red Wolves to 22 wins last season, tying for second most in school history while his 14 wins in the Sun Belt were the most ever by an A-State women's basketball team.
POINTS PER POSSESSION
With a mark of 1.12 points scored per possession, FGCU currently ranks tied for fourth in the nation in points per possession. The Eagles sit behind only UConn, Notre Dame and South Carolina and tied with Iowa State and Washington. The team's mark of 1.47 points per possession against FIU stands at the strongest performance of the season.
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.
MID-MAJOR MADNESS
After concluding the 2013-14 season ranked at no. 10 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25, the Eagles opened the season at no. 11. Since then, the Green and Blue jumped to no. 5, behind only James Madison, Green Bay, Princeton and Chattanooga. Of the team's opponents this season, four rank among the top-25 – Wichita State (6), Quinnipiac (16), Stetson (18), Cal-State Northridge (19), while Arkansas State, Harvard and Northern Colorado are also receiving votes.
1. James Madison 6. Wichita State
2. Green Bay 7. Gonzaga
3. Princeton 8. UALR
4. Chattanooga 9. BYU
5. FGCU 10. South Dakota State
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 112-20 in games with that much time for preparing for a win percentage of 84 percent.
FOR MORE INFO
For all the details on the matchup check out:
UP NEXT Following Monday's contest, the Eagles will break for several days for the Christmas holiday before reconvening in Philadelphia for the Saint Joseph's Hawk Classic Dec. 28 and 29. Following the two-game tournament, the team will wrap up nonconference action with a game at Harvard Jan. 2.
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 323 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.
