The Rundown: FGCU (26-2 | 13-0 A-Sun | 16 RPI) v. Jacksonville (11-15 | 6-7 A-Sun | 226 RPI)
The Matchup: Karl Smesko (Kent State, '93) 13th season at FGCU (340-66/83.5%) v. Yolette McPhee-McCuin (Rhode Island '04) 2nd season at JU (24-31/43.6%)
When: Saturday, Feb. 28  |  7 p.m.
Where: Alico Arena  |  Fort Myers, Fla.
Video: via ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app
Live Stats: via Statbroadcast
Hashtags: #WingsUp | #WeAreFGCU | #RainingThrees | #ASunWBB
Series History: FGCU leads 14-1 with 14 straight wins
Game Notes: FGCU  |  Jacksonville
 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – In its final contest of the regular season, the FGCU women's basketball team hosts Jacksonville University Saturday evening at Alico Arena.  Prior to the 7 p.m. tipoff, the Eagle community will honor seniors Jenna Cobb and Anthi Chatzigiakoumi for their contributions to the program.
                                                                    
The Eagles will enter Saturday's matchup looking for their 22nd-straight victory. With a win, the team would set a new program best for consecutive wins and would secure its third perfect conference slate in the last four seasons.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
Live stats will be available via StatBroadcast 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
 
• With the final regular season contest on tap, seniors Jenna Cobb & Anthi Chatzigiakoumi will be honored prior to the 7 p.m. tipoff
 
• FGCU is riding a 21-game win streak, which stands as the nation's 3rd-best. The team will vie for a program-best 22nd straight Saturday
 
• The Eagles have won 60-straight conference game at Alico Arena with the win streak spanning 2,242 days
 
• FGCU currently stands as the No. 21 team in the AP Top-25 poll and checks in at No. 22 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll
 
• FGCU became #ASunWBB's first top-25 team since FIU in 1997
 
• The Eagles have held A-Sun foes to just 46.8 points per game this season and are on pace to set a new record
 
• FGCU set a new program best by holding UNF to just 24 points in Wednesday's win
 
• In the quest for their fifth-straight #ASunWBB Championships, the Eagles have compiled a record of 83-4 in the last five seasons
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
As the team enters its final contest of the regular season, the Eagles hold a record of 26-2 with a win streak of 21 games, which stands as the nation's third-best streak.  The run sits behind only No. 14/14 Princeton and No. 1/1 Connecticut and is tied with No. 18/19 Chattanooga. The Green and Blue also holds an official RPI ranking of 16, third among mid-majors behind only George Washington at 14 and Dayton at 15. The RPI stands ahead of 10 ranked teams including No. 11/13 Mississippi State, No. 12/12 Texas A&M, No. 14/14 Princeton, No. 18/19 Chattanooga, No. 19/19 Stanford, No. 20/18 Rutgers, No. 23/RV Syracuse, No. 24/RV California, No. 25/RV Northwestern, RV/24 Texas and RV/25 Seton Hall.
 
The team clinched its fifth-straight Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship last weekend with a win at USC Upstate and will hold the No. 1 seed with home-court advantage throughout the A-Sun Tournament.
 
FGCU has won 24 of its last 25 games and holds a perfect 13-0 record in conference play this season.
 
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 15.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game and leads the league with 80 made shots from the perimeter. Atwater has contributed 13.7 points per contest, while Haas adds 10.1 points off the bench.
 
Collectively, the Eagles average 73.2 points per game, while holding their opposition to 54.5 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 .436 with a mark of .354 from the perimeter this year. The Eagles rank third in the NCAA and first among the Atlantic Sun with 9.8 shots made from beyond-the-arc per game. On defense, the Eagles have been narrowly outrebounded, 35.5 to 35.3 per game this year but hold an advantage in turnovers, 11.4 to 18.4 and steals, 8.8 to 4.8. FGCU ranks fourth in the country with a turnover margin of +6.93 and 10th nationally in assist to turnover ratio at 1.32.
 
The Eagles currently lead the Atlantic Sun Conference in points per game, scoring margin, field-goal percentage, 3-pointers per game, turnover margin, assist to turnover ratio, assists per game and win-loss percentage.
 
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWIN STREAK
With 21-straight wins, the Eagles currently hold the nation's third-best win streak. They sit behind only Connecticut and Princeton and are tied with Chattanooga. 
       
The team also holds a 22-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 for three-straight three weeks, the Eagles broke into the Top-25 for the first time as a Division I program last week. FGCU moved up in the rankings and stands as the No. 21 team in the AP Top-25 and the No. 22 team in the USA Today Coaches' Poll for Week 16 to sit among the nation's elite.
 
TOP-100
The Eagles hold an 8-1 record against the nation's top-100 teams based on RPI with 'W's over George Washington, Quinnipiac, Stetson, Wichita State, Southern Miss. and Cal State-Northridge. Their only loss was in an overtime battle against the Big Ten's Ohio State in the US Virgin Islands.       
 
SUNSHINE STATE SUCCESS
With Florida State leading the way at No. 12, 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
With a strong defensive presence, the FGCU women's basketball team matched its Division I record with its 21st-consecutive victory Wednesday night with a 56-24 win at North Florida.
 
The Eagles held UNF to just 24 points on the night with long spans of strong defensive pressure. The point total stands as the lowest ever for an FGCU opponent and is the first time an NCAA foe has scored fewer than 30 points against the Green and Blue.
 
The teams traded baskets to open the game but the Eagles held the Ospreys to no field goals over a period of nine minutes late in the first half to take hold of the momentum and went ahead 13 points at the break. FGCU continued its crippling defense and allowed the home team just three field goals in the second half en route to the 32-point win.
 
After shooting 29.2 percent in the first half, the Eagles increased their shooting efficiency and converted 44.4 percent in the second stanza to finish the game with a 37.3 percent clip. Despite the low first-half shooting, the Green and Blue held UNF to just 19 percent overall with eight made field goals on the night to earn the convincing victory. UNF made no 3-pointers despite eight attempts and converted 8-of-17 shots from the free-throw line with half of its second-half points coming from the charity stripe.
 
The Eagles were outrebounded 40-38 but held the advantage in turnovers at 17-12 and steals 8-3.
 
ALL-TIME MEETINGS WITH THE DOLPHINS
The Eagles hold a 14-1 record over the Dolphins in 15 meetings since the 2007-08 season.  FGCU fell at JU in the first ever meeting and has since won 14 straight by an average of 15 points per game.
 
SCOUTING THE VISITING TEAM
Jacksonville enters Saturday's bout at 11-15 on the season with a mark of 6-7 in Atlantic Sun action after winning five of its last seven conference matchups.  The team has earned wins over North Florida, Kennesaw State, Northern Kentucky and Lipscomb and also closes its season Saturday afternoon.
 
The team lost four of the top six scorers from last year's squad that went 13-17 overall and 10-8 in conference play. The Dolphins finished fifth in the league and ended their season with a loss to Mercer in the first round of the A-Sun tournament a year ago and were selected to finish fifth in the league and currently stand in their predicted position.
 
As a unit, the Dolphins average 60.5 points per game, with their opponents scoring 61.3 points an outing. The team has shot 37.8 percent from the floor with a 33.2 percent success rate on 307 3-point attempts. Jacksonville's opposition has converted 39.3 percent of shots so far this season and has made 5.8 shots from 3-point range compared to the Dolphins' 3.9 per contest. Defensively, the Dolphins average 38.3 rebounds per game and allow foes to pull down 35.6 per game one of four positive rebounding margins in the league. The team has recorded 18.1 turnovers per game with 9.6 assists and 7.8 steals. They sit behind their competition in assists and steals as teams have produced 11.8 assists and 8.4 steals in games against the Dolphins.
 
Jacksonville is led by sophomore Sherranda Reddick and junior Briona Brown. Reddick paces the team with 13.9 points per game and a team-high 49 3-pointers made, while her counterpart adds 11.7 points per game with 35 steals and 15 blocks. Junior guard Loliya Briggs is the team's other long-range shooter with 17 made shots on 69 attempts this season. She had added 6.8 points per game with 30 steals. Sophomore Kimberly Dawkins leads the charge on the boards with 7.5 per contest and has recorded a squad-best 32 blocks on the year, while Kayla Gordon has pulled down 7.0 rebounds per game with a team-best shooting percentage of 50.9.
 
Head Coach Yolette McPhee-McCuin is in her second year at the helm of the Dolphins. The former assistant at Clemson is currently the Bahamian National Team head coach. After stints at Clemson, Pitt and Portland, McCuin took over the reins of the program last season and is 24-31 with the Dolphins.
 
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 67 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 122-20 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
With the No. 1 seed, the Eagles will host each game of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship at Alico Arena. The first round is slated for 7 p.m. on Friday, Mar. 6. The team will take on the No. 8 seed, which will likely be North Florida.
 
As the No. 1 seed in the 2015 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, the Eagles will host each game of the tournament. Tickets for all A-Sun tournament games are on sale online at FGCUAthletics.com, over the phone at 239-590-7145 or in person at the Alico Arena Box Office.
 
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 fifth-consecutive regular season championship with a record of 12-0 in A-Sun action this season and earned his 400th career victory on Feb. 21. With 25 wins already in the 2014-15 season, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 11-straight 20+ win seasons.  He maintains a record of 340-66 at FGCU for a win percentage of 83.6 with a mark of 130-13 (90.7 W%) in Atlantic Sun contests and has led the team to a 65-1 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.