JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For the second-straight year the FGCU men's basketball team (0-1) held a 2nd-half lead on in-state foe Florida (1-0), but the Gators once again used a big surge over the closing minutes to defeat the Eagles, this time by an 80-59 margin on Friday night in the season opener for both teams at Veterans Memorial Arena.
 
The Eagles – ranked #20 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 – held a 50-45 lead with 16 minutes remaining, but the Gators – receiving votes in the national polls – ended the contest on an extended 35-9 run. Included in that stretch was a 17-1 spurt which took the game from a five-point FGCU lead to an 11-point UF edge, 62-51, with just over 8 minutes left.
 
Making his Green and Blue debut, redshirt junior Brandon Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) led the Eagles with 14 points on 6-12 shooting. Sophomore Rayjon Tucker (Charlotte, N.C./Northside Christian Academy) reached double-figure scoring for the 9th time in his career with 10 points on 4-6 from the field as the backcourt duo finished as the only FGCU double-figure scorers.
 
In last year's game with the Gators, FGCU turned the ball over 18 times compared with six for UF, leading to a 26-6 edge in points off turnovers. Friday was unfortunately much of the same for FGCU as the longer and taller SEC member gobbled up the paint and finished with a 19-7 turnover disparity which led to a 24-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
"It was basically the same game as last year," commented FGCU head coach Joe Dooley, whose team held a 33-32 halftime lead in The Swamp last season before falling by 20. "They did a really good job of turning up the pressure after the 16-minute mark, but when we have 19 turnovers and have nine shots blocked that's a pretty good indicator that we needed to have better decision making and shot selection. To be minus-26 (point differential) the final 16 minutes in unacceptable, and that's a credit to UF, but we also put ourselves in that situation."
 
FGCU was playing without leading returning scorer (17.1 PPG) and rebounder (9.3 RPG) Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olympia HS) as he sat out with a broken left (shooting) hand and his status remains game-to-game as he is not yet medically cleared.
 
Despite that, and despite 2016 ASUN All-Freshman Team member Zach Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) and Goodwin both missing substantial minutes in the 1st half with foul trouble, the Eagles were still in a position to win the season opener.
 
UF finished the 1st half on a 5-0 run to create a 40-35 lead, but the Eagles opened the 2nd half with their same starting 5 which began the game and tied the contest at 42-42 before taking the aforementioned 50-45 advantage following a spinning reverse layup by Johnson, who finished with six points.
 
However, from there the Gators applied full-court pressure and sped the Eagles up while also bottling up the paint. The Eagles made six field goals in the opening 3:56 of the 2nd half, but only connected on two shots the rest of the game and turned the ball over nine times in that stretch.
 
The Eagles finished 8-25 (32 percent) from the floor in the 2nd half after connecting at a 44.1-percent clip in the 1st half (15-34). One bright spot for FGCU came in the form of long-ranging shooting as the Eagles connected on 40 percent of their 3-point attempts (8-20), led by 2-3 efforts from Goodwin and Tucker.
 
Making his homecoming, junior Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) finished with nine points, while redshirt junior Antravious Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) totaled seven. The only senior on the floor Friday for the Eagles, Demetris Morant (Miami, Fla./UNLV/Bishop Gorman HS), secured a game-high nine rebounds as FGCU finished with just a 40-39 deficit on the boards.
 
Devin Robinson led a quartet of double-figure scorers for UF with 14 points. John Egbunu and Canyon Barry each totaled 13 points and collected eight and six rebounds, respectively, while Kasey Hill netted 11 points and passed out a game-high-tying four assists.
 
UF finished the night with a 46-26 advantage in paint scoring, a 9-2 edge in blocked shots and a 13-1 margin in steals. UF shot 45.2 percent (28-62) for the game, but the Green and Blue perimeter defense carried over where it left off last year in holding the Gators to just 26.7 percent (4-15) from 3-point range.
 
RaySean Scott Jr. (Compton, Calif./Compton HS) started for the Eagles and finished with five points and four rebounds. With the start, Scott Jr. became the first true freshman to start an FGCU season opener since 2011 when Brett Comer did so against TCU.
 
FGCU will now turn its focus to its home opener on Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. against fellow mid-major power UT Arlington. The Mavericks, who went 24-11 last year and are ranked #6 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, open the season as the preseason Sun Belt Conference favorites and with a game every other day for the first eight days of the season. That stretch begins on Saturday at home versus Texas Southern before continuing Monday at Minnesota and concluding Nov. 18 at Arkansas.
 
Notes: Freshman Christian Carlyle played four minutes in his collegiate debut in front of his hometown friends and family as he is a product of Jacksonville's Bishop Kenny High School … the game was played in Jacksonville due to ongoing renovations to UF's home arena … Reggie Reid scored five points in the 1st half but did not play in the 2nd half with a left elbow injury suffered at the end of the 1st half … Kevin Mickle secured two rebounds off the bench.

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COACH DOOLEY 
FGCU is led by head coach Joe Dooley, who is in his 4th season with the Eagles in 2016-17 and has coached eight all-conference selections over his first three campaigns. Dooley guided FGCU to a 4th-straight 20-win season and 4th-consecutive postseason appearance in 2015-16 as the Eagles claimed the ASUN Tournament Championship and won their First Four NCAA Tournament game in 31-point record-setting fashion. He led FGCU to its first ASUN Regular-Season Championship and first trip to the NIT in 2014, and in 2015 he led the Eagles to 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 8th season overall as a head coach and has a record of 122-91 (.573), and in his 3+ years with FGCU is 65-39 (.625).
 
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.