DeLAND, Fla. – Riding the longest winning streak in the Atlantic Sun Conference, the FGCU men's basketball team (16-7, 6-1 A-Sun) will be in search of its sixth-straight victory Saturday afternoon when the first-place Eagles face rival Stetson (8-15, 2-5 A-Sun) at 3:30.
 
SETTING THE STAGE
FGCU, ranked No. 20 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, will be looking to either maintain a first-place tie atop the league standings with North Florida (14-10, 6-1 A-Sun) or move into sole possession of first place as the Ospreys host cross-city rival Jacksonville (7-17, 1-6 A-Sun) Friday night.
 
The Eagles swept their homestand last week with a 78-62 win versus Lipscomb on Thursday and a 74-64 triumph over Northern Kentucky on Saturday. Stetson has won three-straight games following Tuesday's 77-72 win at Bethune-Cookman. The Hatters, who had lost five in a row and 10 of 12 prior to their winning streak, have also defeated Northern Kentucky (85-75) and Lipscomb (75-73) during the run.
 
Stetson currently sits in a tie for sixth place in the A-Sun with Kennesaw State (8-16, 2-5 A-Sun). FGCU and UNF are both two games clear of USC Upstate (17-7, 4-3 A-Sun) and Lipscomb (10-12, 4-3 A-Sun). Northern Kentucky (9-13, 3-4 A-Sun) occupies sole position of fifth place, while Jacksonville is alone in eighth at the midway point of the conference season.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and via the WatchESPN app with Jim Tarabocchia and Dee Romine on the call. Additionally, Tom James and Pete Lonergan will have the call of an FGCU audio-exclusive broadcast via FGCUAthletics.com. Behind-the-scenes photos and information will also be posted by following @FGCU_MBB on Twitter and Instagram.
 
The game is the second of a doubleheader as the FGCU women (20-2, 7-0 A-Sun) face Stetson (16-5, 5-2 A-Sun) at 1 p.m. in a contest which if the Eagles win would create a three-game lead for them with just six to play.
 
TWEETABLES (5 Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) A victory would give FGCU its third-longest Division-I winning streak behind only a pair of seven-game stretches in 2012-13.
2) Stetson is one of four A-Sun members that FGCU has won at least five-straight games against (NKU, 5; Upstate, 6; KSU, 7).
3) FGCU is 11-0 when scoring at least 70 points (five of seven A-Sun games); Stetson allows a league-worst 78.6 points in A-Sun games.
4) In the last five minutes of games, Brett Comer has a team-high 59 points; five players have scored more than leading scorer Bernard Thompson (17).
5) Since 2012-13, FGCU is 35-1 when leading at the half; the lone loss came earlier this year to FIU (32-28 halftime lead).
 
SCOUTING STETSON
^ FGCU won the first meeting of the year between the two teams, 72-50, in a game the Eagles led by as much as 30 at one juncture.
^ Stetson was predicted to finish last in the A-Sun Preseason Coaches Poll and sixth in the A-Sun Preseason Media Poll.
^ The Hatters are led by senior Kentwan Smith as he paces the club in scoring (13.8 per game), rebounding (6.0 per game), blocks (1.3 per game), free-throw shooting (71.7 percent) and field-goal percentage (.564).
^ Stetson ranks last in the A-Sun in points allowed in league games (78.6), while FGCU leads the conference by only allowing 60.3 points per game against A-Sun foes – more than six points better than any other team. Additionally, in A-Sun contests, Stetson ranks seventh in field-goal percentage defense (.455), and FGCU ranks first (.387).
^ For the year, freshmen Angel Rivera (3.9) and Divine Myles (3.6) rank fourth and sixth, respectively, in the A-Sun in assists per game.

KEY FOCUS
Through the first half of the conference season, FGCU leads the A-Sun by a wide gap with a +8 rebound margin – more than five better than any other team. Stetson ranks last in league games with a -6.3 rebound margin – more than two worse than any other team.
 
In its first meeting this year, FGCU pummeled the Hatters on the glass, 53-23, with the +30 rebound margin representing a D-I program record. The 53 total rebounds are the most for FGCU against any D-I opponent in program history.
 
That game marked the start of what is now seven-straight games for FGCU in which the Eagles have secured at least 14 offensive rebounds and scored at least 12 second-chance points – both D-I program records.
 
SERIES HISTORY
After Stetson won the first three meetings, and four of five, against FGCU, the Eagles have dominated the series, claiming five in a row against the Hatters and 10 of the last 12 overall. The last FGCU loss to Stetson came on the road on Feb. 22, 2013, by an 80-71 score.
 
RE-TWEETS (5 More Things To Know In 140 Characters Or Less)
1) During the five-game winning streak, Nate Hicks has grabbed a team-best 32 rebounds, including a season-high 11 against NKU.
2) Comer is 29 points shy of moving into second place on the all-time FGCU scoring list (Ryan Hopkins '05 (1,367)).
3) Thompson is one 3-pointer shy of reaching 200 for his career; he would be just the second player in program history to accomplish the feat (Hopkins, 355).
4) Marc-Eddy Norelia was held scoreless versus NKU, but Christian Terrell scored 10 points – the most for the freshman against a D-I team.
5) Comer already has three 20+ point performances in A-Sun games this year, tied with last year for the most in a single season for the point guard.
 
NATIONAL STAT BREAKDOWN
FGCU boasts the nation's second-best perimeter defensive unit as the Eagles allow opponents to connect at only a 26.2-percent clip from 3-point range – just behind national leader Seton Hall (25.9). Additionally, FGCU has claimed 881 total rebounds this year – good for the 17th-most in the country and its .390 field-goal percentage defense ranks 38th in the nation.
 
BEST STARTS
At 16-7, FGCU is off to its best start in the Division-I era, and with a win would also surpass last year's 6-2 A-Sun start as the best in program history. Additionally, with 16 wins, FGCU owns more victories than any other D-I team in the state of Florida.
 
A-SUN FAVORITES
For the second-straight season, FGCU was installed as 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 (Conyers, Ga./Rockdale County HS) 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 (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park HS) and Jamail Jones (Atlanta, Ga./Montverde Academy/Marquette) joined Thompson on the A-Sun Preseason All-Conference Team as FGCU was the only school with two unanimous selections (Comer and Thompson), and was tied with the UNF for the most all-league selections with three.
 
THE ONLY ONE
FGCU is the only school in the Atlantic Sun Conference 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 Division-I reclassification period remaining.
 
A-STUN CONFERENCE
The Atlantic Sun Conference 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 (1,712), 500 career rebounds (563) and 240 career steals (246). Earlier this year the guard posted a D-I program-record 34-point performance in a victory over Ohio.
 
#DUNKCITY MAESTRO
With 152 assists on the year, Comer – who has 60 more assists than anyone else in the A-Sun – ranks sixth in the nation in total assists. Comer is second among all active players in the NCAA (any division) with 761 career assists as the Dunk City orchestrator is already the A-Sun's career assist leader. Comer – who has been 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 55 of the current RPI (four in the top 75). 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 133 is by far the best in the A-Sun, with North Florida (196) being the next-closest team.
 
#DEPTHCITY
FGCU had five different leading scorers in the first eight games this year. The Eagles have 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game (only three (Thompson, Comer and Julian DeBose (Washington, D.C./St. John College HS/Rice)) who play at least 30 minutes per outing) and boast five players averaging at least 8 points per game (four who average at least 11 per game) and seven players who are averaging at least three rebounds per game.

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: 3,051
Leaders: 3,126 by Saah Nimley & Arlon Harper (Charleston Southern)
Assists: 987
Next closest: 922 by Raheem Appleby & Kenneth Smith (Louisiana Tech)
Games Played: 251
Next closest: 237 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Games Started: 244
Next closest: 208 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
Minutes: 7,375
Next closest: 6,762 by Traevon Jackson & Josh Gasser (Wisconsin)
 
THOMPSON
Points: 1,712 – A-Sun active career leader, 19th 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 20 points to surpass James Scott (Arkansas-Little Rock '91) for 18th place on the A-Sun all-time scoring list (1,731).
 
Steals: 246 – Fourth among all active D-I players, Thompson is already FGCU's program career leader, and needs just 14 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: 761 – Comer is only four assists behind active career leader Kenneth Smith from Louisiana Teach (765). Of the 127 career games he has played in, Comer has led FGCU in assists 115 times.
 
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.
 
#NESTPROTECTED
FGCU is 40-4 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 10-1 this season. Against A-Sun opponents during the regular season since 2012-13, FGCU is 21-1 at The Nest. The Eagles have won 19-straight regular-season games at Alico Arena against A-Sun foes.
 
HOME SUPPORT
FGCU has sold out 19 of its last 27 games, and through 11 home games this year, FGCU has totaled 47,511 fans for an average of 4,319 (capacity: 4,333 + 300 standing-room only tickets). That's 35 percent of the A-Sun's total home attendance (eight teams) of 134,623.
 
NEXT UP
FGCU continues a three-game road trip when it travels to Northern Kentucky for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thursday, Feb. 12, before concluding against Lipscomb at 5 p.m. (EST) on Saturday, Feb. 14.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
General-admission tickets for all FGCU men's basketball games at Alico Arena are still available and 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. 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.