SPARTANBURG, S.C. – For the second time in its first two Atlantic Sun Conference road games of the year, the FGCU men's basketball team (12-7, 2-1 A-Sun) will face a team predicted to finish in the top-4 of the league when the Eagles begin a four-day, two-game roadtrip at USC Upstate (13-6, 1-2 A-Sun) on Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPN3 and via the WatchESPN app.
 
SETTING THE STAGE
The matchup will pit the A-Sun's top-two teams in terms of victories as USC Upstate has a league-best 13, while FGCU boasts 12. The Eagles enter the contest ranked No. 22 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, and the Spartans are No. 18. FGCU was picked to win the A-Sun, while Upstate was tabbed for a fourth-place finish.
 
The Eagles opened their A-Sun road slate last Wednesday with a loss at North Florida. The Ospreys were the only other team in the league besides FGCU to receive a first-place vote in the preseason A-Sun poll as the Ospreys were predicted to finish second. After finishing its non-conference docket with a 12-4 record, Upstate won its first league game of the year – 68-65 over Kennesaw State – before dropping its last two A-Sun games, 60-58 at Lipscomb, and 66-65 at home to Northern Kentucky on Saturday night.
 
TWEETABLES (5 Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) FGCU enters the weekend tied with NKU and one game behind 3-0 Lipscomb and UNF (the two play at Lipscomb Saturday) in the A-Sun standings.
2) Brett Comer (21 points at UNF, 25 points vs. Jacksonville) is coming off consecutive 20-point games for the first time in his career.
3) With 16 points, Comer will move into third place on FGCU's career scoring list, surpassing 2014 graduate Chase Fieler (1,306).
4) FGCU recorded a season-high 26 second-chance points vs. JU and now has 58 over its first three A-Sun games (59 in the previous eight games).
5) FGCU is 9-0 when out-rebounding its opponents this year and 9-1 when holding them below 40 percent from the floor.
 
SCOUTING USC UPSTATE
^ The Spartans defeated Georgia Tech and Mississippi State in their non-conference schedule, and lost by 10 at both Maryland and Memphis.
^ Senior guard Ty Greene leads the A-Sun with 17.4 points per game as Upstate averages 70.9 points per game. However, the Spartans own three wins over non-Division-I opponents in which they scored at least 100 points in each game. Against D-I teams this year, the Spartans are averaging 64.7 points per game.
^ Upstate leads the A-Sun in steals (9.9 per game) and assists (15.9 per game), with the nearly 10 thefts per contest ranking 5th in the nation.
^ Prior to NKU defeating the Spartans on Saturday, Upstate had won 10 of its previous 11 A-Sun home games, with the lone loss in that stretch coming at the hands of FGCU last year, 84-80.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
FGCU and USC Upstate rank 1st and 2nd in the A-Sun in four key statistical areas:
Points Allowed Per Game: USC Upstate 58 | FGCU 62.2
Rebounds Per Game: FGCU 38 | USC Upstate 36.8
Field-Goal Percentage Defense: USC Upstate 38.6 | FGCU 38.8
3-Point Percentage Defense: FGCU 26.9 | USC Upstate 28.4
 
SERIES HISTORY
FGCU leads the all-time series, 10-4, including a 4-2 edge on the road at the Hodge Center. The Eagles have won five in a row over the Spartans, including a pair of close victories last year, 63-60, and 84-80. In six all-time meetings on the road, FGCU has scored at least 70 points in five of them (five straight), and has surpassed 80 points in three of those as the Hodge Center has no seating behind the basket and has a D-I low 818 seating capacity. Three of the last four meetings between the two teams have been decided by four points or less.
 
COACHING TIES
Upstate is led by head coach Eddie Payne, who is in his 13th season with the Spartans and has a long history with FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. Dooley and Payne were both assistants at South Carolina from 1988-91 before Dooley served as Payne's assistant once he accepted the head coaching job at East Carolina from 1991-95. Dooley then took over for Payne as ECU's head coach from 1995-99 following Payne's departure to take the head coaching job at Oregon State.
 
SCORING MARGIN
FGCU has only played one game this year which has been decided by five points or less (83-78 win over Furman). The Eagles have won their 12 games this year by an average of 14.6 points, while their seven losses have come by an average of 14.1 points. Over FGCU's last eight games – since that Furman matchup – the contests have been decided by an average of 18 points per game (three wins, five losses).
 
RE-TWEETS (5 More Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) Christian Terrell has played at least 15 minutes in five-straight games (30 points); double-figure minutes twice in the nine previous games.
2) Demetris Morant has grabbed 15 rebounds the last two games and has 11 offensive boards the last three games (at least three each contest).
3) Julian DeBose posted his best all-around game this year against Jacksonville with nine points, a career-high seven assists and seven rebounds.
4) FGCU's 11 3-pointers vs. JU were tied for the most this year. The Eagles also shot a season-high 53 percent (27-51) from the floor.
5) The Eagles will be looking for their first winning streak since claiming three victories in a row from Nov. 30-Dec. 7.
 
ODDS & ENDS
The 29-point margin of victory over Jacksonville on Saturday was FGCU's largest since another 29-point decision, 100-71, against JU last year … Comer (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park HS) and Thompson (Conyers, Ga./Rockdale County HS) need just 53 combined points to reach 3,000 career points for their careers … DeBose (Washington, D.C./St. John College HS/Rice) has scored no more than 17 points this year and no fewer than four; in 15 of 16 games this year he's tallied at least seven points … Nate Hicks (Panama City Beach, Fla./J.R. Arnold HS) has not scored in the last two games; earlier this year after not scoring in consecutive games he scored a season-high 11 against San Francisco.
 
DIFFERENCE MAKER
Jamail Jones (Atlanta, Ga./Montverde Academy/Marquette) leads FGCU in +/- at +8.10/game, nearly four points better than anyone else (Thompson, +4.33). With Jones in the lineup the Eagles are 8-2 and scoring 73.3 points per game. With him out of the lineup (suspended nine games) FGCU was 4-5 and averaged only 58.3 points per contest.
 
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 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 Jones 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 UNF 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 D-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 (1,656), 500 career rebounds (540) and 230 career steals (239). Earlier this year the guard posted a D-I program-record 34-point performance in a victory over Ohio.
 
#DUNKCITY MAESTRO
With 130 assists on the year, Comer ranks sixth in the nation in total assists (just 11 behind leader Kahlil Felder from Oakland). Comer leads all active players in the NCAA (any division) with 739 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 sixth in the A-Sun with 5.7 rebounds per game … Thompson is tied for fifth in the league in scoring (14.5 per game) … Comer has 60 more assists than anyone else in the conference … Thompson is second in the league with 2.5 3-pointers per game and 3-point percentage (45) … Thompson ranks third in the A-Sun with 1.8 steals per game and free-throw percentage at 81.6.
 
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 186 is the best in the Atlantic Sun Conference, with North Florida (197) being the next-closest team.
 
#DEPTHCITY
FGCU had five different leading scorers in the first eight games this year. The Eagles have 10 players averaging at least 12 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 (eight 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: 2,947
Next closest: 2,933 by Saah Nimley & Arlon Harper (Charleston Southern)
Assists: 957
Next closest: 869 by Raheem Appleby & Kenneth Smith (Louisiana Tech)
Games Played: 243
Next closest: 233 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Games Started: 236
Next closest: 204 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Minutes: 7,116
Next closest: 6,628 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
 
THOMPSON
Points: 1,656 – A-Sun active career leader, 21st on the all-time conference scoring list and tops on the FGCU program career scoring record. With 18 points, Thompson will surpass Centenary's Patrick Greer (1,673) for 20th place on the all-time league scoring list. 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: 239 – Fourth among all active D-I players, Thompson is already FGCU's program career leader, and needs just 21 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. Williams is the only player in A-Sun history with more steals than Thompson.
 
COMER
Assists: 739 – Comer is 15 assists ahead of his next closest active competitor (Louisiana Tech's Kenneth Smith, 724). Of the 123 career games he has played in, Comer has led FGCU in assists 111 times. Comer has 106 more assists than anyone else in the history of the A-Sun.
 
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 will conclude its first A-Sun weekend roadtrip when it travels to Georgia to face Kennesaw State (5-14, 0-3 A-Sun) on Saturday afternoon at 2 on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
 
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.