DUNK CITY, Fla. – Looking to start the second half of its season strong, the FGCU men's basketball team (10-6) begins defense of its Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season championship when the Eagles welcome in-state foe Stetson (5-10) for the league opener Saturday evening at 7 inside Alico Arena.
 
SETTING THE STAGE
FGCU, ranked No. 17 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, is looking to get back on track after losing four of its final five, and five of its closing seven, non-conference games after starting the season 8-1. Stetson, meanwhile, has won two-straight games, 77-61 over Florida Tech and 65-60 against Florida A&M, but has not played in a week.
 
The game is the nightcap of a doubleheader as the FGCU women (13-2, RPI: 14) battle the Hatters (11-3, RPI: 52) in a pivotal matchup laced with postseason ramifications at 4 p.m. Fans with a ticket to the men's game will be admitted free of charge to the women's contest, but fans who just possess a women's ticket will not be admitted free of charge to the men's game.
 
WHAT TO KNOW
An extremely limited amount of general-admission tickets are still available and 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 1:45 p.m. Saturday). Like all FGCU home games, the contest – presented by Moe's Southwest Grill – 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.
 
All fans are encouraged to wear white to create a WHITEOUT atmosphere in The Nest as FGCU plays its first home game with students in session since Dec. 3. 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.
 
TWEETABLES (5 Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) FGCU is 5-2 all-time in A-Sun openers and has won three in a row dating back to an 84-71 loss at North Florida on Dec. 2, 2010.
2) The Eagles finished the non-conference season with a D-I program-record 10 wins, while the six losses came to teams with an average RPI of 85.
3) Jamail Jones (11.1 ppg, team-best 6.1 rpg) is expected to return to the FGCU lineup after serving a six-game suspension.
4) If he starts against Stetson, Brett Comer will break FGCU's career record for games started (117) as he is currently tied with Chase Fieler.
5) Since the FIU loss, Bernard Thompson (five games) has scored a total of 15 first-half points and 55 second-half points.
 
SCOUTING STETSON
^ Stetson owns just two D-I wins (both over Florida A&M), while the Hatters' three other victories have come over non D-I opponents.
^ Senior forward Kentwan Smith leads Stetson in scoring (10.9 ppg) and rebounding (5.4), while sophomore forward Brian Pegg (11 ppg, 4.6 rpg) missed most of December with an injury but returned for the Hatters' win over FAMU on Jan. 3.
^ The Hatters, the longest-tenured league member (since 1986-87), were picked to finish last in the A-Sun Preseason Coaches Poll, garnering only 13 votes.
^ Freshmen Angel Rivera (4.4) and Divine Myles (3.6) rank second and fifth, respectively, in the A-Sun in assists per game. Both also rank in the top four (second and fourth, respectively) in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. Myles is the reigning A-Sun Newcomer of the Week after averaging 11.5 points, 5.5 assists and 5 rebounds in a pair of Stetson victories.
 
#NESTPROTECTED
FGCU is 36-4 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 6-1 this season. Over the past two seasons, FGCU is 17-1 at home in the regular season against A-Sun opponents (lone loss: Lipscomb in 2012-13).
 
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  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
 
LAST TIME OUT
FGCU shot just 29 percent from the field in the first half and committed 19 turnovers in the game which led to 26 points for host UC Santa Barbara (7-7) as the Eagles concluded their non-conference schedule with a 63-50 setback to the Gauchos Monday night on the West Coast.
 
After not scoring and attempting just two shots in the first half, Thompson exploded in the second half for FGCU and finished with a team-high 16 points while grabbing a team-best seven rebounds. Thompson was the lone double-figure scorer for the Eagles as redshirt junior Julian DeBose (Washington, D.C./St. John College HS/Rice) added nine. Freshman Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) came off the bench to tally seven points and corral six rebounds in just 17 minutes of action.
 
After shooting only 7-24 in the first half, FGCU connected at a 52-percent clip in the second half (11-21). However, after 10 first-half turnovers for FGCU led to 11 UCSB points, the Eagles committed nine more in the second stanza which turned into 15 points for the Gauchos. The Eagles out-shot UCSB from the floor – 40 percent (18-45) to 38 percent (23-61) – but the +21 edge in points off turnovers for the Gauchos was too much to overcome.

The 26 points off turnovers are by far the most FGCU has allowed this year (18 at Pittsburgh being the second-most), and it also represents the first time the Eagles have out-shot their opponents and lost this year (10-1).
 
DID YOU KNOW?
Thompson is the only active player (any division) with at least 1,600 career points (1,621), 500 career rebounds (529) and 230 career steals (235). Earlier this year the guard posted a D-I program-record 34-point performance in a victory over Ohio.
 
#DUNKCITY MAESTRO
With 119 assists on the year, Comer ranks second in the nation in total assists (just two behind leader Shannon Scott from Ohio State), while his 7.4 assists-per-game average is fourth in the country. Comer leads all active players in the NCAA (any division) with 728 career assists as the Dunk City orchestrator is already the Atlantic Sun Conference's career assist leader. Comer – who has been tabbed by ESPN as the country's seventh-best point guard – leads the nation in assist rate at 50.4 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) ranks second in the A-Sun with 5.9 rebounds per game … Thompson ranks third in the league in scoring (15.1 per game) … Comer has 53 more assists than anyone else in the conference (Stetson's Angel Rivera (66)) … Thompson leads the league with 2.6 3-pointers per game … Nate Hicks (Panama City Beach, Fla./J.R. Arnold HS/Georgia Tech) is tied for third in the A-Sun with 1.1 blocks per game … FGCU leads the A-Sun in 3-point percentage defense (25.7) and rebounds per game (37.4), while the Eagles rank second in 3-point percentage (37.4), field-goal percentage defense (39.2), scoring defense (62.6) and assists per game (15.4).
 
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-75 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 have only had a full roster for four games this year (South Dakota State, Florida Tech, UMass, FIU). FGCU's current RPI of 137 is still the best in the A-Sun, with USC Upstate (141) being the next-closest member.
 
#DEPTHCITY
FGCU had five different leading scorers in the first eight games this year. The team has 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game and boasts five players averaging at least 8.8 points per game (four double-figure scorers) and seven players who are averaging at least three rebounds per game.

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: 2,858
Next closest: 2,816 by Saah Nimley & Arlon Harper (Charleston Southern)
Assists: 941
Next closest: 843 by Raheem Appleby & Kenneth Smith (Louisiana Tech)
Games Played: 237
Next closest: 230 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Games Started: 230
Next closest: 201 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Minutes: 6,953
Next closest: 6,539 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
 
THOMPSON
Points: 1,621 – A-Sun active career leader, 25th 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: 235 – Fourth among all active D-I players, Thompson is already FGCU's program career leader, and needs just 25 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: 728 – Comer is 22 assists ahead of his next closest active competitor (Louisiana Tech's Kenneth Smith, 706). Of the 120 career games he has played in, Comer has led FGCU in assists 109 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 will face a challenging early-season league road test when the Eagles travel to Jacksonville to take on North Florida Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. on ESPN3. The Ospreys, who went 8-9 in their non-conference schedule, were picked to finish second in the A-Sun in the preseason poll and were the only other team besides FGCU to garner a first-place vote. UNF begins its A-Sun slate at cross-city foe Jacksonville Saturday afternoon.
 
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.