DUNK CITY, Fla. – Coming off a home-opening win on Monday night, the FGCU men's basketball team (1-1) welcomes three teams to Southwest Florida for the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic at Alico Arena beginning Saturday, Nov. 21, and concluding Monday, Nov. 23.
 
The non-exempt tournament features Youngstown State, North Dakota and Bowling Green as FGCU will play each team at 7 p.m. in consecutive days, while the two teams the Eagles are not playing that day will tip off at 4 p.m.
 
Saturday, Nov. 21
North Dakota vs. Bowling Green, 4 PM
FGCU vs. Youngstown State, 7 PM
 
Sunday, Nov. 22
Youngstown State vs. Bowling Green, 4 PM
FGCU vs. North Dakota, 7 PM
 
Monday, Nov. 23
North Dakota vs. Youngstown State, 4 PM
FGCU vs. Bowling Green, 7 PM
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Tickets to each game are still available and can be secured by logging on to FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets, by calling 239-590-7145 or by visiting the Alico Arena Ticket Office during regular business hours. Students are encouraged to pick up their free tickets in advance at the ticket office by showing their student ID.
 
For those not able to make it to The Nest, the games – like all FGCU home contests – will be broadcast on ESPN3 and via the WatchESPN app with David Moulton and J. Webb Horton on the call Sunday and Monday and Tom James and Horton on the call Saturday night. The 4 p.m. games will be broadcast via a single-camera feed at ASun.TV.
 
CANNED FOOD DRIVE
FGCU Athletics will be collecting unperishable food items at all home games during the month of November, continuing with the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic. Items donated will benefit students experiencing food insecurity on campus. FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry. For more information, visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
 
TWEETABLES
1) FGCU had five double-figure scorers against Texas Wesleyan on Monday for the first time since Nov. 23, 2013, versus Ave Maria.
2) The Eagles recorded 47 points in the paint on Monday, the most in a game since they posted 58 as part of a 100-71 win against Jacksonville on Feb. 6, 2014.
3) Freshmen point guards Reggie Reid and Zach Johnson have combined to issue 18 assists and only commit six turnovers through the first two games.
4) FGCU hosted a similar early-season invitational Nov. 24-26, 2008, as it welcomed Richmond, Bradley and UMKC to Alico Arena.
5) The Eagles will open the season by playing three of their first five games against teams from Ohio (Ohio, Youngstown State and Bowling Green).
 
KEY PIECES EARLY ON
One season after not having a consistent scoring threat from long range and after losing the Atlantic Sun Conference's career assists leader, FGCU has had early-season success this year in both of those areas with two players it didn't have in 2014-15.
 
True freshman Reid (Harlem, Ga./Harlem HS) ranks 2nd nationally with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 11 (five assists and one turnover at Ohio; six assists and no turnovers vs. Texas Wesleyan). Through two games, redshirt senior Filip Cvjeticanin (Zagreb, Croatia/American School of Madrid) has made nine 3-pointers as the 4.5 per-game average ranks 11th nationally. His six 3s versus Texas Wesleyan set a career high and were the most in a regulation game by an FGCU player since Bernard Thompson also had six at Duke on Nov. 18, 2012.
 
PROTECTING THE ROCK
FGCU has only committed 18 total turnovers through its first two games, the fewest through the first two contests of a year in program history. Prior to head coach Joe Dooley arriving in 2013-14, FGCU had never had less than 30 turnovers through its first two games of a season. Since his arrival, FGCU had 24 turnovers through the first two games of 2013-14 and 22 in 2014-15.
 
YOUNGSTOWN STATE

• Youngstown State head coach Jerry Slocum has 699 career wins, needing just one more to become the 37th coach in NCAA history to reach the 700-win plateau. Slocum currently ranks 8th in wins among all active Division-I coaches.
• Youngstown State has started the season 0-2, with losses to Kent State (79-70) and Toledo (100-78). The loss to Toledo was the first time it had allowed 100 points since January of 2013.
• The Penguins finished last season 11-21, including a 2-14 conference slate.
• Senior Bobby Hain was Youngstown State's lone representative to receive preseason conference honors, being named to the All-Horizon League Second Team for the second-consecutive season.
• Hain is the Horizon League's active leading scorer with 1,053 points. The senior was the 36th player in program history to reach 1,000 points.

 
NORTH DAKOTA

• The Fighting Hawks – the university's new nickname as of Wednesday – are 1-1 on the season, recording their victory in the season opener against Minnesota-Morris (99-69), before falling to Wisconsin (78-64).
• Head coach Brian Jones is beginning his 10th season at the helm for UND. Jones has guided the Fighting Hawks transition to Division I, leading UND to a pair of conference tournament titles and four postseason tournament berths.
• UND returns its leading scorer in Quinton Hooker, who averaged 12.8 points per game last year as a sophomore. Hooker also led the team in assists (4.2 per game) and steals (1.5 per game), in addition to rattling off five-consecutive 20-point outings to finish the season. He was the only player to appear in all 30 games for the Fighting Hawks last year.
• The Fighting Hawks welcome seven new players to the team this season, including four true freshmen and three transfers.

 
BOWLING GREEN

• Head coach Michael Huger will be making his fifth career appearance as a head coach when the Falcons face off with the Eagles on Monday. Huger was a member of the Miami coaching staff in November of 2012 when FGCU defeated the eventual ACC Champion Hurricanes, 63-51, who closed the season ranked No. 10 in the nation.
• The Falcons are 1-1 on the season, winning their home opener against New Orleans, 79-61, before falling to Cincinnati, 83-50.
• Bowling Green lost 64 percent of its scoring from last season, including three of its top four scorers: Richaun Holmes (14.7 ppg), Jehvon Clarke (10.7 ppg) and Anthony Henderson (8.8 ppg).
• In addition to eight returning letterwinners, the Falcons welcome five new faces to this year's team, including three true freshmen and two transfers.

 
HOME SUCCESS
FGCU is 44-7 at Alico Arena since 2012-13. Three of those seven losses occurred in the final four games of last season, with the seven setbacks overall coming to Lipscomb, Iona, Mercer, FIU, North Florida, USC Upstate and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. FGCU is 1-0 at home this year, was 13-4 last year, went 15-2 in 2013-14 and 15-1 in 2012-13.
 
PLEASANT SURPRISE
NCAA officials cleared redshirt sophomore Antravious Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) to play around mid-day last Friday as he was expected to sit out through the completion of the fall semester after transferring from VCU in December of 2014. However, FGCU officials applied for a legislative relief waiver for Simmons – who in part transferred back to South Florida for family reasons – and it was granted just more than 24 hours before the season began. Simmons flew separately from the team, which had departed last Thursday, and arrived at the team hotel around 9 p.m. on Friday and started for the Eagles at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the season opener against Ohio. Simmons scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds in that game and then followed it up with 13 points and six rebounds against Texas Wesleyan on Monday.
 
D-I IMPROVEMENT
FGCU has steadily improved its overall Division-I record nearly every season, and has bettered its winning percentage under each of its now three D-I era coaches.
 
2007-08: 10-21
2008-09: 11-20
2009-10: 8-21
2010-11: 10-20
Dave Balza: 39-82 (.322)
 
2011-12: 15-17
2012-13: 26-11
Andy Enfield: 41-28 (.594)
 
2013-14: 22-13
2014-15: 22-11
2015-16: 1-1
Joe Dooley: 45-25 (.643)
 
NATION'S ELITE
FGCU is one of only 46 teams in the country that has won 20+ games in each of the past three seasons. Meanwhile, the FGCU women have also accomplished that feat, making FGCU one of only 13 D-I schools in the nation to have their men's and women's basketball programs both win 20 or more games each of the past three seasons.
 
FGCU
UConn
Louisville
Duke
North Carolina
Kentucky
Baylor
Iowa
Gonzaga
Wichita State
BYU
Akron
Saint Mary's
 
NEXT UP
FGCU travels to Gainesville to face the University of Florida on Friday, Nov. 27, at 6:30 p.m. in a game televised nationally on the SEC Network. The meeting will be the third all-time between the two schools and first since UF ended FGCU's historical Sweet 16 run in 2013.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
An extremely limited amount of season tickets are still available for the 2015-16 FGCU men's basketball season. Single-game tickets are currently on sale. For the latest ticket information, log on to FGCUAthletics.com or call the Alico Arena Ticket Office at 239-590-7145.

SOCIAL CENTRAL
For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the men's basketball program, follow @FGCU_MBB on Twitter and Instagram, Like us on Facebook at /FGCUMBB and watch us on Snapchat at FGCU_MBB.
 
COACH DOOLEY 
FGCU is led by head coach Joe Dooley, who is in his third year with the Eagles in 2015-16 and coached six all-conference selections during his first two seasons. He guided FGCU to its first Atlantic Sun Conference Regular-Season Championship and first trip to the NIT in 2014, and in 2015 he led the Eagles to their third-straight 20-win season and third-straight postseason appearance with a berth in the CIT. 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. Dooley is in his seventh season overall as a head coach and has a record of 102-77 (.560), and in his two years with FGCU is 45-25 (.643).

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 visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.