DUNK CITY, Fla. – The FGCU men's basketball team (11-7, 1-1 Atlantic Sun Conference) will look to bounce back, and potentially move into a first-place tie in the A-Sun standings, when it welcomes Jacksonville University (7-12, 1-1 A-Sun) to an expected sold-out and hostile Alico Arena Saturday night for a league clash at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.
 
SETTING THE STAGE
FGCU, ranked No. 20 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, is coming off a difficult loss at hot-shooting North Florida Wednesday night in a matchup of the top-two teams in the A-Sun Preseason Coaches Poll. Jacksonville earned its first league victory of the season Wednesday by protecting its home court and holding off Stetson, 71-69. While still extremely early in the conference slate, FGCU can move into a first-place tie with a win and losses by UNF (at Stetson) and Lipscomb (at Kennesaw State).
 
WHAT TO KNOW
Like last Saturday's A-Sun opener, the game is expected to be a standing-room-only sellout, with an extremely limited amount of general-admission tickets still available which can be purchased in person at the Alico Arena Ticket Office, by calling 239-590-7145 or by logging on to FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets (prior to Noon on Saturday). Like all FGCU home games, the contest – presented by Frantz Eye Care – 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.
 
At halftime, three-time MLB All Star and former FGCU standout Chris Sale will address the crowd regarding his and wife's charity initiative. In conjunction with Laces of Love, the Sales have established the men's basketball home game on Thursday, Jan. 29, as an evening in which monetary or new shoe donations will be accepted to help children in need in Lee and Collier counties. To learn more about the cause, click here.
 
Additionally, red FGCU T-Shirts will be available for purchase in the lobby for $10. All proceeds go to support the American Heart Association, and the shirts can be worn on Feb. 14 and 19 for the REDOUT games. Finally, raffle tickets to the 2015 Final Four will be available for purchase at the marketing tables immediately upon entry into the arena.
 
TWEETABLES (5 Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) FGCU has not lost consecutive A-Sun games in 25 contests, dating back to near the end of the 2012-13 season.
2) Jacksonville handed FGCU its first A-Sun loss last year after a 4-0 start, stopping a streak of five-straight wins in the series by the Eagles.
3) In their second meeting last year, the Eagles posted their only 100-point game of the season in a dominant 29-point win over the Dolphins.
4) Brett Comer (21) and Bernard Thompson (15) combined to score 36 points versus UNF, the duo's most since 41 against Iona (Dec. 23).
5) Jacksonville is one of only two current A-Sun members (Lipscomb) to have defeated FGCU last year.
 
SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE
^ Jacksonville, which has won five of its last eight games after starting the season 2-9, was predicted to finish seventh in A-Sun preseason polls (coaches and media).
^ The Dolphins have won their last four games when scoring at least 70 points. Jacksonville was the only A-Sun team to score at least 70 points in each of its meetings with FGCU last year (76-69 win, 100-71 loss).
^ Jacksonville committed a season-low seven turnovers on Wednesday against Stetson.
^ Junior Kori Babineaux has reached double-figure points in 10-straight games. He is the only player in the A-Sun ranked in the top 10 in scoring (7th, 13.3), field-goal percentage (9th, .483), assists (5th, 3.6) and steals (5th, 1.6).
^ Guard Andris Misters leads Jacksonville in scoring (14.3), while Babineaux paces the Dolphins in rebounding (4.1) as the 'Fins rank last in the A-Sun in rebounding at just 32.1 per game. FGCU, meanwhile, leads the league at 38.1 per contest.
^ Head coach Tony Jasick, 36, is in his first season at the helm of Jacksonville after spending the previous nine years at Division-I IPFW, the last three as the head coach.

KEY FOCUS
Jacksonville is connecting at a 49-percent clip from 3-point range over the last three games (24-49), including a season-best 10 makes on Wednesday. Seven of those triples came from Josh Adeyeye, tied for the most by any A-Sun player this year and the most by a JU player since the 2009-10 season.
 
Against UNF Wednesday, FGCU allowed a season-high 12 3-pointers and 48 percent from beyond the arc. The usually stalwart Eagles' perimeter defense, which entered the game ranked third in the nation defending the perimeter, now ranks seventh as they allow opponents to hit at just a 26.7-percent rate.
Jacksonville ranks second in the A-Sun in 3-point shooting (36.4 percent), while FGCU leads the A-Sun in 3-point defense.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The two sides first met in January 2008 in FGCU's first season in the A-Sun, and Jacksonville welcomed the Eagles to the league by handing them seven-straight losses. However, beginning with the second meeting of the 2010-11 campaign, the tide began to shift in favor of FGCU, which has won six of the last seven meetings, including a stretch of five in a row which was snapped at JU last year.
 
#NESTPROTECTED
FGCU is 37-4 at Alico Arena since the start of the 2012-13 season. The four losses have come to Lipscomb, Iona, Mercer and FIU, snapping – respectively – a nine-game home-court winning streak, another nine-game streak, a 12-game stretch and a four-game run. FGCU went 15-1 in 2012-13, 15-2 last year and is 7-1 this season. Over the past 2+ seasons, FGCU is 18-1 at home in the regular season against A-Sun opponents (lone loss: Lipscomb in 2012-13).
 
HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE
FGCU is statistically better in every key area at home than on the road, with the somewhat surprising exceptions being 3-point shooting and free-throw shooting. The Eagles connect at a 34.3-percent clip (46-134) from beyond the arc at home and 40.7 (33-81) on the road. From the stripe, FGCU hits 67.9 percent (95-140) at home and 72.6 percent (61-84) on the road.
 
Category: Home / Away
PPG: 70.9 / 62.7
D-PPG: 59.9 / 74.3
FG%: 46.8 / 42.1
D-FG%: 36.6 / 46.1
RPG: 41.5 / 31.5
APG: 16.1 / 13.8
SPG: 5.4 / 4.7
 
HOME SUPPORT
FGCU has sold out 17 of its last 24 games, and through eight home games this year, FGCU has totaled 34,121 fans for an average of 4,265 (capacity: 4,333 + 300 standing-room only tickets) – representing 36 percent of the A-Sun's total home attendance (eight teams) of 93,947.
 
RE-TWEETS (5 More Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) UNF's 12 3-pointers and 48-percent clip Wednesday were the most allowed by FGCU this year (Iona, 10; Green Bay 41.7).
2) FGCU efficiently turned 10 UNF turnovers into a season-high 22 points, including an 18-0 edge in the first half.
3) Thompson scored eight points in the first half against UNF after netting a total of 15 over the previous six first halves combined.
4) Freshman guard Christian Terrell has 18 rebounds over the past four games (none vs. UNF) – the second-most on the team in that stretch.
5) In five of its games this year already, head coach Joe Dooley has played all of his dressed players.
 
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 (Conyers, Ga./Rockdale County HS) 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 (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park HS) 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.
 
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
 
DID YOU KNOW?
Thompson is the only active player (any division) with at least 1,600 career points (1,639), 500 career rebounds (537) and 230 career steals (236). Earlier this year the guard posted a D-I program-record 34-point performance in a victory over Ohio.
 
#DUNKCITY MAESTRO
With 126 assists on the year, Comer ranks fifth in the nation in total assists (just five behind leader Shannon Scott from Ohio State). Comer leads all active players in the NCAA (any division) with 735 career assists as the Dunk City orchestrator is already the A-Sun's career assist leader. Comer – who has been tabbed by ESPN as the country's seventh-best point guard – is second in the nation in assist rate at 47 percent (assists divided by the field goals made by the player's teammates while he is on the court).
 
A-SUN STATISTICAL RANKINGS
Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Olympia HS/Tulane) is tied for second in the A-Sun with 5.8 rebounds per game … Thompson ranks fifth in the league in scoring (14.4 per game) … Comer has 57 more assists than anyone else in the conference … Thompson is second in the league with 2.4 3-pointers per game … Nate Hicks (Panama City Beach, Fla./J.R. Arnold HS/Georgia Tech) is tied for fourth in the A-Sun with 1 block per game … FGCU leads the A-Sun in rebound margin (+3), is second in scoring defense (62.9) and field-goal percentage defense (.390) and is third in 3-point percentage (.360).
 
CHALLENING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
FGCU completed a challenging non-conference schedule in which it defeated four 20-win opponents from a season ago (UC Santa Barbara, Ohio, San Francisco, Massachusetts) and another (South Dakota State) which won 19 contests. Four of FGCU's six losses came to teams ranked in the top-80 of the current RPI. After getting off to 8-1 and 9-2 starts, FGCU lost four of its final five games in the 16-game non-league docket. However, due to injuries and suspensions, the Eagles only had a full roster for four non-conference games (South Dakota State, Florida Tech, UMass, FIU). FGCU's current RPI of 177 is just one spot behind USC Upstate (176) for the best in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
 
#DEPTHCITY
FGCU had five different leading scorers in the first eight games this year. The Eagles have 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game (only two (Comer and Thompson) who play more than 30 minutes per outing) and boast five players averaging at least 8.7 points per game (four double-figure scorers) and seven players who are averaging at least three rebounds per game (nine players who average at least two caroms per contest).

THE MOST PROLIFIC SENIOR 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: 2,905
Next closest: 2,889 by Saah Nimley & Arlon Harper (Charleston Southern)
Assists: 952
Next closest: 859 by Raheem Appleby & Kenneth Smith (Louisiana Tech)
Games Played: 241
Next closest: 233 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Games Started: 234
Next closest: 204 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Minutes: 7,065
Next closest: 6,628 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
 
THOMPSON
Points: 1,639 – A-Sun active career leader, 23rd 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 14th among all active D-I players for career points.
 
Steals: 236 – Fourth among all active D-I players, Thompson is already FGCU's program career leader, and needs just 24 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.
 
COMER
Assists: 735 – Comer is 21 assists ahead of his next closest active competitor (Louisiana Tech's Kenneth Smith, 714). Of the 122 career games he has played in, Comer has led FGCU in assists 111 times.
 
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.
 
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.
 
NEXT UP
FGCU hits the road for another big early-season A-Sun road test when the Eagles begin a two-game swing at USC Upstate (13-5, 1-1 A-Sun) on Thursday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m. The Spartans are the only team in the league with more wins than the Eagles. The contest will be the second-straight road game to open the season for FGCU against a team predicted to finish in the top four of the league ledger (FGCU 1st, UNF 2nd, Lipscomb 3rd, USC Upstate 4th). Following the game, FGCU will travel to Georgia to face Kennesaw State on Saturday, Jan. 24, at 2 p.m.
 
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.