DUNK CITY, Fla. – Riding a 10-game winning streak, the FGCU men's basketball team (21-7, 11-1 Atlantic Sun Conference) looks to avenge its lone league loss of the season Wednesday night at 7 inside Alico Arena when the Eagles square off for the regular-season championship against North Florida (18-11, 10-2 A-Sun) on Senior Night.
 
SETTING THE STAGE
With a win, FGCU will claim its second-straight A-Sun regular-season championship, and first outright in program history. The Eagles would earn the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament, meaning the Eagles would host each round of the championship provided they do not lose. The A-Sun Championship gets underway on Tuesday, Mar. 3, with all quarterfinal games, semifinal games (Thursday, Mar. 5) and the final game (Sunday, Mar. 8) held on campuses of the highest seed in each matchup.
 
If FGCU loses, the Eagles still have a chance to win the regular-season title, but they would need to win at Jacksonville (9-20, 3-9 A-Sun) on Saturday AND have UNF lose at home to Stetson (8-20, 2-10 A-Sun) the same day. If the two teams finish tied, they will share the regular-season crown, but UNF will earn the No. 1 seed by virtue of two head-to-head victories over FGCU.
 
WHAT TO KNOW
The game is sold out, with the exception of an extremely limited amount of student standing-room-only tickets which can be picked up on a first-come, first-served basis at the Alico Arena Ticket Office beginning Wednesday at 9 a.m. Like all FGCU home games, the contest 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 in attendance, particularly Dirty Birds, are encouraged to wear green to create a GREENOUT atmosphere.
 
SENIOR NIGHT
All fans are asked to be in their seats by 6:40 p.m. as FGCU's five seniors will be honored prior to tipoff. The quintet has been responsible for building the most successful program in the A-Sun over the last four years as the Eagles have claimed 84 victories, posted three-straight 20-win seasons, advanced to the A-Sun championship final game three times, won one A-Sun regular season championship, an A-Sun tournament championship and became the first team in the history of the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 15 seed. The group will be honored in the following order:
 
Marcus Blake (Miami, Fla./American Heritage HS)
Nate Hicks (Panama City Beach, Fla./J.R. Arnold HS/Georgia Tech)
Jamail Jones (Atlanta, Ga./Montverde Academy/Marquette)
Bernard Thompson (Conyers, Ga./Rockdale County HS)
Brett Comer (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park HS)
 
DICKIE V
In addition to all the pomp and circumstance and postseason implications on the line, Dick Vitale will be holding a book signing in the Alico Arena Auxiliary Gym from 4-6 p.m. and will then remain in the building to interact with the fans and watch the Eagles square off against the Ospreys. Fans can purchase copies of his latest book: "It's Awesome Baby! 75 Years of Memories and a Lifetime of Opinions on the Game I Love" by clicking here or by calling Denise Da Silveira, Assistant AD for Marketing & Sales, at 239-590-7060. Fans can purchase online or over the phone until Noon on Wednesday, and then the books will be available to purchase at the arena. All proceeds from the book will be donated to The V Foundation for children battling pediatric cancer.
 
STREAKING
FGCU – ranked No. 16 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll – is tied with Wisconsin and Iona for the fifth-longest winning streak in Division I, behind only Kentucky (27), Murray State (22), Gonzaga (21) and Northern Iowa (15). The Eagles also boast an eight-game home winning streak which ranks 20th in the nation.
 
Additionally, coupled with the No. 21/22 FGCU women's basketball team's 20-game winning streak, FGCU is the only D-I school in the nation which has both of its basketball programs riding at least 10-game winning streaks.
 
TWEETABLES (5 Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) FGCU's 10-game winning streak is the longest in D-I program history, with only a pair of 14-game runs in 2003-04 and 2006-07 being better.
2) In A-Sun games, UNF leads the league in scoring (78.6 per game), while FGCU paces the conference in points allowed (60.9 per game).
3) UNF is the only A-Sun team to have defeated FGCU, and the Ospreys are one of only three A-Sun teams (Lipscomb, Upstate) to score 70 points on the Eagles.
4) Since 2013-14, FGCU has had 11 single-digit turnover games. In the entire program's history prior to that (2002-13), there were only 10 such games.
5) FGCU posted season highs in points (86), field-goal percentage (55.2) and tied a season best with 11 3-pointers in a win over USC Upstate Saturday.
 
SCOUTING NORTH FLORIDA
^ UNF has only lost in the A-Sun to USC Upstate this year (79-74 at home; 80-63 on the road), a team FGCU just defeated on Saturday by 14 points and led late in the contest by as much as 23.
^ The Ospreys were the only other team besides FGCU to receive a first-place vote in the preseason A-Sun polls as UNF was tabbed for a second-place finish in the A-Sun Preseason Coaches Poll and a third-place finish in the A-Sun Preseason Media Poll.
^ Like FGCU, UNF boasts four double-figure scorers, led by 15.3 per game from guard Dallas Moore, who scored a game-high 27 points against FGCU in the first meeting this year. Beau Beech (12.6 per game), Chris Davenport (11.8 per game) and Jalen Nesbitt (10.6 per game) round out the quartet of double-figure scorers for the Ospreys.
 
SERIES HISTORY
FGCU leads the all-time series, 11-8, following an 80-64 victory by UNF in Jacksonville in the Eagles second A-Sun contest of the year. The series has been a streak of runs by both teams as FGCU opened with six-straight victories before the Ospreys responded with seven triumphs in a row. FGCU had a five-game winning streak in the series snapped at UNF with the aforementioned loss. However, since FGCU moved to D-I in 2007-08, the all-time series is tied, 8-8.
 
CONTRASTING STLYES
UNF leads the A-Sun in league games by connecting at a 39.9-percent clip from 3-point range, while FGCU leads the A-Sun in conference contests by only allowing opponents to connect at a 28.2-percent rate from beyond the arc. On the year, FGCU ranks second in the nation in 3-point defense, allowing foes to hit at just 26.9 percent. In the first meeting this year, UNF made 12 triples (12-25, 48 percent) – the most 3-pointers any team has made against FGCU this year.
 
Furthermore, in A-Sun games UNF leads the league in field-goal percentage (46.1), while FGCU leads the conference in field-goal percentage defense (38.0). When holding its opponents below 40 percent from the floor this year, FGCU is 13-1 (loss: at UC Santa Barbara, 37.7 percent).
 
THE TOP TWO
Wednesday's matchup will pit the top two D-I programs in terms of wins in Florida against each other as FGCU is the lone 20-win team in the state (21) and UNF is second with 18 victories, one more than Miami.
 
THE EDGE
FGCU has an advantage in the low blocks as the Eagles lead the league and rank 22nd in the nation by corralling 38.5 rebounds per game. In A-Sun games, FGCU increases that average even more to 40.1 per contest, creating a +5.3 rebound differential from UNF's 34.8. The Green and Blue has a league-best +5.7 rebound differential in conference tilts. FGCU has posted double-figure offensive rebounds in every A-Sun game this year, resulting in an average of 15 second-opportunity points per night.
 
RE-TWEETS (5 More Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) A win puts FGCU's all-time A-Sun record over .500 (72-71) for the first time since its first league contest in 2007-08 (70-67 win at UNF).
2) Head coach Joe Dooley claimed his 100th career victory on Saturday over USC Upstate (57-52 at East Carolina; 43-20 at FGCU).
3) FGCU has tied a single-season program record (2012-13 Sweet Sixteen team) by holding 13 opponents to 60 points or less.
4) Since 2012-13, FGCU is 38-1 when leading at halftime, with the lone loss coming to FIU this year (32-28 halftime score).
5) Bernard Thompson is four rebounds shy of 600 for his career. On the year, FGCU is 16-0 when out-rebounding its opponent.
 
#NESTPROTECTED
FGCU is 42-4 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 12-1 this season. In A-Sun regular-season games since 2012-13, FGCU is a dominant 23-1 inside the friendly confines of The Nest, and has won 21 in a row.
 
HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE
FGCU is statistically better in every key area at home than on the road, with the lone somewhat surprising exception being free-throw shooting. The Eagles connect at 66.7 percent (162-243) at home and 69.8 percent (118-169) on the road.
 
Category: Home / Away
PPG: 72.2 / 64.5
D-PPG: 60.0 / 67.8
FG%: 46.3 / 41.5
D-FG%: 37.8 / 41.6
3-PT%: 35.5 / 33.3
RPG: 40.1 / 35.8
APG: 15.1 / 13.2
 
HOME SUPPORT
FGCU has sold out 21 of its last 29 games, and through 12 home games this year, FGCU has totaled 56,777 fans for an average of 4,367 (capacity: 4,333 + 300 standing-room only tickets). That's 33 percent of the A-Sun's total home attendance (eight teams) of 172,086. In terms of percent capacity (utilizing the 4,333 seats), FGCU's 100.8 percent in which it fills Alico Arena ranks ninth in the entire country.
 
BEST START
At 21-7, FGCU is off to its best start to a season in D-I program history, while its 11-1 commencement to the A-Sun campaign is its best ever. The Eagles have gradually improved their record through the first 28 games of a season in all but one year since 2009-10, while y A-Sun record through 12 games has improved in each of the past five seasons:
 
YEAR: OVERALL / A-SUN (Through 28 /12 Games)
2014-15: 21-7 / 11-1
2013-14: 18-10 / 10-2
2012-13: 19-9 / 8-4
2011-12: 13-15 / 7-5
2010-11: 9-19 / 3-9
 
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 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 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 the UNF for the most all-league selections with three.
 
THE ONLY ONE
FGCU is the only school in the A-Sun 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 A-Sun 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 1,700 career points (1,771), 550 career rebounds (596) and 250 career steals (254). Earlier this year the guard posted a D-I program-record 34-point performance in a victory over Ohio.
 
#DUNKCITY MAESTRO
With 193 assists on the year, Comer – who has 76 more assists than anyone else in the A-Sun – ranks fourth in the nation in total assists. Comer is second among all active players in the NCAA (any division) with 802 career assists as the Dunk City orchestrator is already the A-Sun's career assist leader. Comer – who earlier this year was tabbed by ESPN as the country's seventh-best point guard – is second in the nation in assist rate at 46 percent (assists divided by the field goals made by the player's teammates while he is on the court).
 
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. Three of FGCU's six losses came to teams ranked in the top 50 of the current RPI (four in the top 65 and five in the top 115). 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 99 is by far the best in the A-Sun, with UNF (191) being the next-closest team.

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 (with the exception of points):
 
Points: 3,191
Leaders: 3,336 by Saah Nimley & Arlon Harper (Charleston Southern)
Assists: 1,041
Next closest: 974 by Raheem Appleby & Kenneth Smith (Louisiana Tech)
Games Played: 261
Next closest: 242 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Games Started: 254
Next closest: 213 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Minutes: 7,713
Next closest: 6,944 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
 
THOMPSON
Points: 1,771 – A-Sun active career leader, 16th on the all-time conference scoring list and tops on the FGCU program career scoring record. 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 15th among all active D-I players for career points. He needs 13 points to surpass Mike Smith (ETSU 06-11) for 15th place on the A-Sun all-time scoring list (1,783).
 
Steals: 254 – Fourth among all active D-I players, Thompson is already FGCU's program career leader, and needs just six 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 the history of the A-Sun who has more steals than Thompson.
 
COMER
Assists: 802 – Comer is two assists behind the NCAA active career leader (Louisiana Tech's Kenneth Smith, 804). Of the 132 career games he has played in, Comer has led FGCU in assists 120 times. Comer needs just 31 assists to crack the top 25 all-time career assists list in NCAA history.
 
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 the regular season at Jacksonville on Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
A-SUN TOURNAMENT
General-admission tickets for FGCU's A-Sun Tournament home games will go on sale to the general public beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday for $15. They 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. Season ticket holders should have already received email correspondence with instructions as to how to secure their seats in advance. FGCU will open the tournament at home on Tuesday, Mar. 3, at 7 p.m., and with a win will also host a semifinal game on Thursday, Mar. 5, at 7 p.m.
 
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, 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.