DUNK CITY, Fla. – Coming off a loss Friday night at the University of Florida, the FGCU men's basketball team (3-3) will look to halt a mini two-game losing streak when local NAIA foe Ave Maria (0-5) visits Alico Arena Sunday for a 5 p.m. tipoff on ESPN3.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Tickets are still available and can be secured by logging on to FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets or by visiting the Alico Arena Ticket Office. 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.
 
CANNED FOOD DRIVE
FGCU Athletics has been collecting unperishable food items at all home games during the month of November. 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 a 33-32 halftime lead at Florida, marking just the second time in Dooley's 2+ years the Eagles have lost a halftime lead (36-2).
2) The Eagles held UF to just 36.6 percent shooting, the lowest the Eagles have held an opponent to and lost since Miami (32.1) on Nov. 22, 2011, 60-50.
3) FGCU had a season-high 18 turnovers in regulation at UF, and shot a season-low 34.5 percent from the floor.
4) After issuing 20+ assists in three-straight games, FGCU has had back-to-back nine-assist performances versus Bowling Green and Florida.
5) FGCU did not have a double-digit point scorer at UF for the first time since Jan. 14, 2010, at Campbell in a 61-45 loss.
 
SCOUTING AVE MARIA
^ Ave Maria University is an NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) school which competes in the Sun Conference and has an enrollment of roughly 1,000.
^ Founded in 2003, the university moved to its permanent campus in Ave Maria (20 minutes east of Naples) in 2007.
^ The Gyrenes have lost their first five games by an average of 28 points and have scored no more than 60 points in all of those contests.
^ Martez Harris leads Ave Maria with 15.8 points per game, and he's followed closely by Brandon Dean who averages 13 per outing to represent the only double-figure scorers for the Gyrenes.
^ John Lamanna is in his first season as head coach at Ave Maria. Lamanna was hired in July after previously serving as the head coach at Franciscan University (Steubenville, Ohio) for the past four seasons.
 
HOME SUCCESS
FGCU is 46-8 at Alico Arena since 2012-13. Three of those eight losses occurred in the final four games of last season, with the eight setbacks overall coming to Lipscomb, Iona, Mercer, FIU, North Florida, USC Upstate, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Bowling Green. FGCU is 3-1 at home this year, was 13-4 last year, went 15-2 in 2013-14 and 15-1 in 2012-13.
 
YOUNG AND TALENTED
FGCU has just two seniors on its roster, and so far this year 77 percent of its scoring, 82 percent of its rebounding (excluding team rebounds) and 85 percent of its assists have come from non-seniors.
 
Two of those young players are the freshman point guard duo. True freshman Reggie Reid (Harlem, Ga./Harlem HS) was named Atlantic Sun Conference Newcomer of the Week on Monday as he ranks second in the league with 5.5 assists per game and has already turned in a pair of nine-assist performances to go along with an 18-point outing versus Youngstown State.
 
Redshirt freshman Zach Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) scored a career-best 26 points Monday night against Bowling Green in which he shot 11-13 from the floor, with the .846 shooting percentage ranking as sixth-best single-game performance in program history. Johnson is second in the A-Sun with a .611 field goal percentage (22-36). Reid (33) and Johnson (17) lead FGCU in assists as the two have played nearly the exact same amount of minutes (121 for Reid, 130 for Johnson).
 
PLEASANT SURPRISES
NCAA officials cleared redshirt sophomore Antravious Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) to play around mid-day on Nov. 13, the day prior to the start of the season, as he was expected to sit out through the completion of the fall semester after transferring from VCU in December of 2014.
 
Uber-athletic and lengthy Demetris Morant (Miami, Fla./UNLV/Bishop Gorman HS) returned about a month earlier than expected on Nov. 22 against North Dakota following surgery to help repair a stress fracture in his right leg (medal rod remains in the leg). The redshirt junior's surgery was performed on Oct. 2, and he was expected to be out 3-4 months.
 
NEXT UP
FGCU battles its second SEC member in three games when the Eagles travel to College Station to face No. 25 Texas A&M (6-1) Wednesday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on the SEC Network+. The Aggies are nationally ranked after winning their first six games, but fell to Syracuse in the Battle 4 Atlantis title game on Friday.
 
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 104-79 (.568), and in his two years with FGCU is 47-27 (.635).

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.