The Rundown: FGCU (15-2 | 20 RPI) at Jacksonville (8-10 | 261 RPI)
When: Saturday, Jan. 17 | 7 p.m.
Where: Swisher Gymnasium  
Video: via ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app
Live Stats: via JUDolphins.com
Live Audio: Tom James on FGCUAthletics.com
Hashtags: #WingsUp | #WeAreFGCU | #RainingThrees | #ASunWBB
Series History: FGCU leads 13-1 all time, JU won first meeting, Eagles have won 13 straight
 
 
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With a 2-0 record in Atlantic Sun play, the FGCU women's basketball team will hit the road for the first away contest of the conference slate. The Eagles will take on the Dolphins of Jacksonville University Saturday, Jan. 17 with tipoff at Swisher Gymnasium set for 7 p.m.
 
Saturday's contest stands as the Eagles' third-straight in-state challenge as the team defeated Stetson University last weekend and continued conference play with a victory over UNF Wednesday.
 
WHAT TO KNOW
Live stats will be available via JUDolphins.com with a video stream available through ESPN3 and the WatchESPN mobile app. Live audio via FGCUAthletics.com will also be available free of charge with Tom James on the call. As always, fans can also find live updates via Twitter at @FGCU_WBB.
 
GAME DAY TWEETABLES
1. FGCU currently holds an RPI rating at 20 after rising to a program-best 13 two weeks ago.  #EaglesRising
 
2. With two undefeated seasons and a 17-1 slate a year ago, the Green and Blue hold a record of 55-1 in conference in the last four seasons.
 
3. This weekend marks the first of two trips to Jacksonville for the team this season. FGCU will return Feb. 25 to face UNF.
 
4. The Eagles currently average 1.05 points per possession to rank 10th in the nation, just .15 points per possession behind top-ranked UConn.
 
5. FGCU has not lost a game in regulation in eight weeks of competition.
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
FGCU is in full swing in the A-Sun slate as the team travels to Jacksonville. The Eagles enter Saturday's contest with a record of 15-2 on the season and 2-0 in conference play. In addition to the impressive start, the team has also constructed a 10-game win streak dating back to the start of December and has not lost a game in regulation since Nov. 20.
 
The team picked up notable wins over Arkansas State, Cal State-Northridge, Quinnipiac and Harvard in nonconference action before defeating rival Stetson and cross-state foe North Florida in the first week of conference play. With a strong strength of schedule thus far, the Eagles' official RPI ranking jumped to a program-high 13 earlier this month and currently stands at 20.
 
With five-time Coach of the Year Karl Smesko at the helm, the Eagles entered the season with three Preseason All-Conference award winners in juniors Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School) and Stephanie Haas (Avon Lake, Ohio/Magnificat High School) and senior Jenna Cobb (New Holland, Ohio/Miami Trace High School/Butler). Knight earned the Preseason Player of the Year nod and has since picked up two A-Sun Player of the Week awards.
 
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 15.9 points per game. After pacing the Eagles against Quinnipiac and Harvard, Atwater is averaging 13.3 points per contest to rank second on the team. Haas is also adding double figures with 11.5, while Cobb sits just behind the trio with 8.2 points per contest in addition to her 46 assists and 33 steals.
 
Knight leads the squad all around with 33 blocks and 38 steals on the year, while DyTiesha Dunson (Albany, Ga./Westover High School) has dished out a team-high 63 assists in 17 games so far. Knight's 38, Atwater's 35 and Cobb's 33 steals all rank among the top-four in the conference for total steals. Knight also paces the squad on the boards with 6.1 rebounds per game, with Atwater and Cobb pulling down 4.0 and 4.4, respectively.
 
Redshirt-freshman Taylor Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy High School) entered the starting lineup in December and is now averaging 6.4 points in 17 games. Gradinjan has started 10 of the team's 17 games this season and currently leads the team and the league with a 3-point percentage of .478 and holds an overall shooting percentage of .529. Gradinjan led the team with 17 points against UNF and matched her career high with four made long-range shots.
 
Senior Anthi Chatzigiakoumi (Athens, Greece/General Senior High School of Kallithea) has performed well for the Eagles recently and is averaging 7.5 points in 15.9 minutes per game. The senior played a career-high 28 minutes at Harvard with 15 points with three makes from the perimeter and started her first game of the year against Stetson.
 
Collectively, the Eagles average 76.8 points per game, while holding their opposition to 59.6 points per contest for the league's best scoring average and scoring margin. The scoring margin also ranks among the top-15 in the nation and stands fewer than four points per game out of the top-10. The team has maintained a shooting percentage of .438 with a mark of .365 from the perimeter this year. The Eagles rank second in the NCAA and first among the Atlantic Sun with 10.2 shots made from beyond-the-arc per game and only sit behind last year's national leader in Sacramento State. On defense, the Eagles have been narrowly outrebounded, 37.5 to 34.9 per game this year but hold an advantage in turnovers, 11.3 to 19.2 and steals, 9.9 to 5.2. FGCU ranks fourth in the country with a turnover margin of +7.94 and 12th nationally in assist to turnover ratio at 1.32.
 
The Eagles currently lead the Atlantic Sun Conference in points per game, scoring margin, field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage, turnover margin, assist to turnover ratio, assists per game and rebounding defense.
 
LAST TIME OUT
With a 63 percent shooting performance in the second half, the team broke open the game to take a 75-42 win over the University of North Florida Wednesday night at Alico Arena. With the win, the Eagles moved to 15-2 on the season with a 2-0 record in Atlantic Sun action, while the Ospreys fell to 9-8 overall and 0-2 in conference.
 
The win marked the Eagles 10th-straight victory with a streak dating back to the start of December. The victory at Alico also extended the team's win streak in home conference matchups to 57 games.
 
After allowing the visiting team to take a nine-point lead right out of the gates, the Eagles used a 14-2 run to reclaim control midway through the first half. FGCU extended the lead with seven-straight points and went into the break with a 33-26 lead. Gradinjan led the charge as the Eagles sank four 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the second half to break open the lead and helped the team to a 10-0 run with 11 minutes to play. The Eagles used hot shooting in the second half and extended the lead to a game-high 34 points before ultimately earning a 75-42 victory at home.
 
Gradinjan and Knight led the team, each with 17 points on the night. Gradinjan matched her career-high with four made shots from the perimeter, while Knight went 5-for-6 from the paint. Knight and Atwater paced the team on the boards with six rebounds each. Knight also added a team-best three steals and two blocks.  Dunson added double figures for the Green and Blue with 11 points and led the team with four assists. 
 
As a unit, the Eagles shot 47.5 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from 3-point range with 13 makes on 37 attempts. The team shot 34.4 percent in the first half and exploded with 17 made shots on 27 tries in the second stanza. FGCU held UNF to a 28.3 success rate and outrebounded UNF, 40-36. The Eagles also forced 13 turnovers with just five of their own and dished out 18 assists.
 
ALL-TIME MEETINGS WITH THE DOLPHINS
The Eagles hold an all-time record of 13-1 against the Dolphins dating back to the 2007-08 season. The Green and Blue fell to JU 62-58 in the first-ever meeting on Jacksonville's campus, but has since won 13-straight contests by an average margin of 13.2 points per game. The team is 7-0 in games played at Alico and 6-1 in contests at JU's Swisher Gymnasium.
 
SCOUTING THE HOME TEAM
Jacksonville enters Saturday's bout at 6-9 on the season with a mark of 1-1 in Atlantic Sun action after narrowly defeating North Florida and falling to Stetson in the first week of A-Sun play. The Dolphins have faced two similar opponents as the Eagles in Bethune-Cookman and FIU, with both teams earning two wins. Jacksonville has also faced in-state foes Florida, UCF, Miami and Florida State with losses at each of the Sunshine-State based programs. Based on the team's schedule so far, the Dolphins hold an official RPI of 261.
 
The team lost four of the top six scorers from last year's squad that went 13-17 overall and 10-8 in conference play. The Dolphins finished fifth in the league and ended their season with a loss to Mercer in the first round of the A-Sun tournament.
 
As a unit, the Dolphins average 60.8 points per game, with their opponents scoring 62.3 points an outing. The team has shot 36.2 percent from the floor with a 25.5 percent success rate on 184 3-point shots. Jacksonville's opposition has converted 38.6 percent of shots so far this season and has made 5.5 shots from 3-point range compared to the Dolphins' 3.1 per contest. Defensively, the Dolphins average 40.9 rebounds per game and allow foes to pull down 38.1 per game for the league's best rebounding margin. The team has recorded 19.1 turnovers per game with 8.6 assists and 8.4 steals. They sit behind their competition in assists and steals as teams have produced 12.7 assists and 9.1 steals in games against the Dolphins.
 
Jacksonville is led by sophomore Sherranda Reddick and junior Briona Brown. Reddick paces the team with 12.5 points per game and a team-high 18 3-pointers made, while her counterpart adds 11.1 points per game with 22 steals and 12 blocks. Junior guard Loliya Briggs is the team's other long-range shooter with 12 made shots on 52 attempts this season. She had added 8.0 points per game with 21 steals. Sophomore Kimberly Dawkins leads the charge on the boards with 7.9 per contest and has recorded a squad-best 13 blocks on the year.
 
Head Coach Yolette McPhee-McCuin is in her second year at the helm of the Dolphins. The former assistant at Clemson is currently the Bahamian National Team head coach. After stints at Clemson, Pitt and Portland, McCuin is looking for her 20th win as head coach.
 
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 115-20 in games with that much time for preparing for a win percentage of 84 percent. 
 
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.
 
UP NEXT
Following Saturday's contest on the road, the Eagles will return to Alico Arena for a two-game stop. FGCU will welcome USC Upstate Thursday, Jan. 22 for a 7 p.m. game and will follow with a Saturday night contest against Kennesaw State.   Following the weekend's bouts, the team will head north for away tilts at Lipscomb and Northern Kentucky to wrap up the first portion of conference play and finish the month of January.
 
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 329 wins at FGCU with 119 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.
 
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.