The Rundown: FGCU (24-2 | 11-0 A-Sun | 16 RPI) v. USC Upstate (13-13| 5-6 A-Sun | 212 RPI)
The Matchup: Karl Smesko (Kent State, '93) 13th season at FGCU (338-66/83.5%) v. Tammy George (Charlotte '93) 10th season at Upstate (133-160/33.3%)
When: Saturday, Feb. 21
Where: The Hodge Center  |  Spartanburg, S.C.
Video: via ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app
Live Stats: via UpstateSpartans.com
Hashtags: #WingsUp | #WeAreFGCU | #RainingThrees | #ASunWBB
Series History: FGCU leads 12-2 with seven straight wins
Game Notes: FGCU  |  USC Upstate
 
SPARTANBURG, S.C. –  The FGCU women's basketball team will look to seal the outright Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship Saturday afternoon as the Eagles take on USC Upstate at 2 p.m. at Upstate's Hodge Center.
 
In their second game since entering the national rankings, the Eagles will look to extend their win streak to 20 games and seal sole possession of the regular season title.  With a three-game lead over Stetson, the Eagles will earn their fifth-straight championship with just one more win, no matter what the rest of the league does. FGCU stands at No. 22 in the AP Top-25 and No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll with an official RPI of 16 as of Friday.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Live stats will be available via UpstateSpartans.com with a video stream available through ESPN3 and the WatchESPN mobile app. As always, fans can also find live updates via Twitter at @FGCU_WBB.
 
GAME DAY TWEETABLES
• FGCU currently holds an RPI rating at 16 after rising to a program-best 13 to start Atlantic Sun action.  #EaglesRising
 
• @FGCUCoachSmesko stands just one win away from his 400th career victory. Saturday marks his 496th career game, giving him a win % of 80.6.
 
• FGCU is currently riding a 19-game win streak, which stands as the 5th-best in the nation. It's been 12 weeks since the Eagles fell.
 
• The Eagles have secured the No. 1 seed in the #ASunWBB Tournament and will clinch the outright regular season title with a win Saturday.
 
• For the first time since joining the ranks of DI, the Eagles entered both Top-25 polls this week at No. 22/24.
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
The Eagles enter Thursday's game with a record of 24-2 and as the winners of 19-straight games. The Eagles have won 22 of their last 23 games and have not fallen in regulation since Nov. 20. The team holds an unblemished record of 11-0 in conference play, a full three games ahead of second-ranked Stetson.
 
With help from the strong record and the team's strength of schedule, the Eagles climbed to a program-best RPI rating of 13 at the end of nonconference action hovered near 25 for several weeks. As of Friday, the team holds a ranking of 16 out of the nation's 349 programs.
 
The team picked up notable wins over No. 24/23 George Washington, Quinnipiac, Wichita State, Arkansas State, Cal-State Northridge, Southern Miss. and Harvard in nonconference action before defeating rival Stetson twice since conference play began. Those marquee wins give FGCU a record of 7-1 against the RPI's top-100 teams, with the only loss coming in double overtime to Ohio State, who stands at 37 in the RPI.
 
FGCU boasts three double-figure scorers in Whitney Knight (Winston-Salem, N.C./R.J. Reynolds High School), Kaneisha Atwater (Fort Pierce, Fla./Fort Pierce Westover High School) and Stephanie Haas (Avon Lakes, Ohio/Magnificat High School).  Knight is pacing the squad and the league with 15.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game and leads the league with 74 made shots from the perimeter. Atwater has contributed 13.6 points per contest, while Haas adds 10.2 points off the bench.
 
Collectively, the Eagles average 73.8 points per game, while holding their opposition to 55.5 points per contest for the league's best scoring average and scoring margin. The scoring margin also ranks among the top-10 in the nation. The team has maintained a shooting percentage of .438 with a mark of .357 from the perimeter this year. The Eagles rank third in the NCAA and first among the Atlantic Sun with 10.0 shots made from beyond-the-arc per game. On defense, the Eagles have been narrowly outrebounded, 35.6 to 35.2 per game this year but hold an advantage in turnovers, 11.3 to 18.5 and steals, 8.9 to 4.8. FGCU ranks third in the country with a turnover margin of +7.3 and eighth nationally in assist to turnover ratio at 1.8.
 
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 win-loss percentage. The team becomes the first A-Sun team to earn a top-25 position since FIU in 1997.
 
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWIN STREAK
With 19-straight wins, the Eagles currently hold the nation's fifth-best win streak. They sit behind only Connecticut, Princeton, Baylor and Chattanooga. 
       
The team also holds a 20-game win streak in conference games dating back to last season to rank fourth in the nation and sits only behind the nation's top two teams in Connecticut and South Carolina with 24-straight wins at home, a streak that also spans two seasons.
 
TOP-25
After receiving votes in the last three weeks, the Eagles broke into the Top-25 for the first time as a Division I program this week. FGCU ranks as the No. 22 team in the AP Top-25 and the No. 24 team in the USA Today Coaches' Poll for Week 15 to sit among the nation's elite.
 
TOP-100
The Eagles hold a 7-1 record against the nation's top-100 teams based on RPI with 'W's over George Washington, Quinnipiac, Stetson, Wichita State and Southern Miss. Their only loss was in an overtime battle against the Big Ten's Ohio State in the US Virgin Islands.    
 
400
Smesko is on the verge of another coaching milestone as he stands at 399 career wins in 494 games. If the Eagles continue the win streak, Smesko will hit 400 in just 496 games for a win percentage of 80.6. To compare the impressive mark, legendary Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma won his 400th in 495 games.
 
SUNSHINE STATE SUCCESS
With Florida State leading the way at No. 13, Florida boasts the most number of teams within the RPI's top-50. FGCU joins the Seminoles, USF, Miami and Stetson to lead the rest of the nation.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Even with a second-half surge from the home team, the FGCU women's basketball team earned its 19th-straight victory Thursday night with a 71-60 win at Kennesaw State. With the victory, the Eagles move to 11-0 in Atlantic Sun Conference action and secure at least a share of their fifth-straight regular season title. With a mark of 24-2 overall, the Eagles also seal the no. 1 seed in the A-Sun tournament and will have home-court advantage throughout the tournament.  As the losers in FGCU's first contest as a nationally ranked team, Kennesaw State falls to 16-10 on the season and 5-6 in conference play.
 
No matter the league's other results, a win Saturday at USC Upstate would give the Eagles the outright Atlantic Sun title for the sixth time in seven seasons.
 
FGCU, which entered Thursday's contest with an RPI ranking of 16, shot 55.8 percent from the field in the first half to take a 14-point lead into the break and extended the advantage to a game-high 23 points by holding the Owls to just one field goal in the first eight minutes of the second stanza. After allowing the Green and Blue to an eight-point streak that pushed the score to 56-33, the home team sparked a 14-2 run to cut the deficit to just 11 points with eight minutes to play. The teams traded field goals before the game was left to shots from the charity stripe in the final minutes. Kennesaw converted 9-of-12 free throws in the last five minutes to bring the game to single digits but made just 1-of-7 field goals in that span. The Eagles made 8-of-13 shots from the free-throw line to maintain the advantage and sealed the win at 71-60.
 
ALL-TIME MEETINGS WITH THE SPARTANS
Saturday marks the 15th meeting between FGCU and USC Upstate since the Eagles joined the Atlantic Sun for the 2007-08 season. The Eagles lead the all-time series 12-2 with seven-straight wins, including a 79-61 victory at Alico Arena earlier this season.  FGCU has outscored the Spartans by an average of 75-53 in 14 previous meetings and has never scored fewer than 70 points.
 
SCOUTING THE HOME TEAM
USC Upstate enters Saturday's game with an even record of 13-13 on the season with a 5-6 mark in conference action and a 10-2 record in home contests. With the 5-6 record in the A-Sun, the Spartans stand tied with three other teams in Kennesaw State, Northern Kentucky and Jacksonville.  Upstate started the year with a loss to No. 19 Iowa but finished nonconference action at 8-7. Since then, the team has earned wins over Lipscomb, Jacksonville and North Florida, with two wins over the Florida teams. The team fell at FGCU 79-61 a month ago and has gone 4-3 since that time. The Spartans most recently fell to Stetson, 92-66, at the Hodge Center Thursday night.
 
The Spartans were selected to finish fourth in the conference in the Preseason Coaches' Poll after going 11-7 a year ago with a 17-15 overall record.
 
This season, the team is led by senior Sharmayne Edwards and junior Brittany Starling. The duo averages 13.7 and 12.1 points per game, respectively. Edwards maintains a shooting percentage of .357 from the floor with a team-high 36 3-pointers made. She has dished out 48 assists and grabbed 22 steals in 29.2 minutes per game. Starling leads the team with 9.0 rebounds per game and has successfully converted 51.9 percent of shots for a squad best shooting percentage. In addition to the scoring duo, junior Brittany Clency adds a team-high 66 assists with 27 steals, with Raven Jefferson leading the club with 33 steals.
 
As a unit, the Spartans average 64.7 points per game with their opponents scoring 66.6 points. Upstate has shot .375 on the season and has allowed foes to a mark of .399, while successfully making 30.8 percent of shots from beyond-the-arc. The team pulls down 40.8 rebounds per game with 14.7 turnovers, 11.5 assists and 7.6 steals.
 
Head Coach Tammy George is in her 10th season at Upstate. She holds a record of 133-160.
 
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Eagle's tough nonconference schedule has been crucial in the team's high RPI ranking this year. The team currently stands at 65 in the official NCAA SOS.
 
SMESKO'S PREPARATION
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 121-20 in games with that much time for preparing for a win percentage of 86 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
The Eagles will look to continue their success with one final road game at North Florida on Wednesday before finishing the regular season with game against Jacksonville at Alico Arena on Feb. 28.  
 
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 last 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.  With 20 wins already in the 2014-15 season, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 11-straight 20+ win seasons.  He maintains a record of 338-66 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.6 with a mark of 128-13 (90.7 W%) in Atlantic Sun contests and has led the team to a 75-1 record in conference play in the last four seasons.  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.