FORT MYERS, Fla. - Coming off its fourth NCAA Tournament berth over the past six seasons, the FGCU women's basketball team will kick off the 2017-18 season by hosting Illinois at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 12 in Alico Arena.
 
WHAT TO KNOW
Sunday's game, which is being presented by Powerade, will see FGCU look to avenge an 82-73 loss in Urbana-Champaign last year where the Fighting Illini outscored the Eagles 27-15 in the final quarter.

Some notes on the game include: 
- Illinois, which finished 9-22 last year, enters having already opened its season on Friday with a 64-50 win over Fort Wayne at home. In that game, Alli Ball and Brandi Beasley each tallied 13 points, while Alex Wittinger had 12 points and seven rebounds. 
- The Fighting Illini are led by Nancy Fahey, who is in her first year at Illinois following 31 years at NCAA Division III Washington University in St. Louis, where she led the Bears to an NCAA record five Division III national championships. She led her teams to NCAA tournament appearances in 29 of 31 seasons and guided her team to an 81-game winning streak from 1997-98 through 2001, which stands as the second-longest winning streak in NCAA women's basketball history.
- FGCU enters the game picked to win its seventh ASUN regular season championship in the past eight seasons. The media and the league's head coaches both picked the Eagles to repeat and tabbed senior Rosemarie Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS) as the ASUN's preseason player of the year, while China Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville) and Tytionia Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS) were both selected as preseason all-conference team members.
- In 2016-17, FGCU saw its streak of six consecutive regular season ASUN championship come to an end with a loss to Stetson in the regular season finale, but the Eagles bounced back and knocked off the No. 1 seeded Stetson in the ASUN championship to make a return to the NCAA tournament. Despite Taylor Gradinjan's (Cudahy, Wisc./Cudahy HS) game-tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds left, FGCU fell 62-60 to Miami (Fla.) in the opening round following two controversial no calls late.
 
TWEETABLES
1) This is the 16th season opener in the history of FGCU women's basketball, and it is the 11th time they've opened at home. They're 11-4 overall (7-3 in Division I era).
2) Last year, the FGCU WBB and MBB teams each won 26 or more games - becoming one of only nine schools to accomplish that.
3) Lisa Zderadicka (Vienna, Austria/HAK Korneuburg), who led Houston Baptist in scoring last year, completed her undergrad in three years. She has two years left at FGCU as a graduate transfer.
4) FGCU is looking to improve to .500 against the Big 10 all-time. They are 3-4 with all three wins coming in Alico Arena.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS
Illinois returns five starters from last year while welcoming five newcomers. The team is set to face 12 opponents coming off of postseason appearances. The Fighting Illini roster features three international players, five newcomers, 11 underclassmen and 97 percent of last year's scoring returning, including its top two leaders in Alex Wittinger and Brandi Beasley. 
 
EXPERIENCE
FGCU returns four of five starters from last year and have added Zderadicka, who averaged a team-high 11 PPG for Houston Baptist last year. The Eagles return 66 percent of the 71.9 PPG scored last year, or 1,737 of the 2,515 points scored. Furthermore, FGCU returns 63.2 percent of last year's rebounding production in addition to 67.8 percent of their 338 3-pointers. With Zderadicka's 276 points, the Eagles will put out a roster that features players who compiled over 2,000 NCAA Division I points last year.

WAITING IN THE WINGS
In addition to Zderadicka, FGCU added three transfers who will sit out this year due to NCAA Division I transfer rules who either led their school in scoring or finished in the top three last year. Davion Wingate (Atlanta, Ga./Stephenson) tied for the team-high in scoring at 11.8 PPG for Stony Brook; Keri Jewett-Giles (Fort Myers, Fla./Dunbar HS) tallied 9.0 PPG for Southern Miss; and Kerstie Phills (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Christian HS) poured in a team-high 13.1 PPG for Wagner en route to NEC Rookie of the Year recognition. Kerstie is the daughter of the late Bobby Phills, who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte Hornets.

EXPERIENCED SQUAD
Among eligible players, this year's roster features six upperclassmen, including five seniors and one junior. Gradinjan is the elder statesman on the team with this being her sixth year following two ACL tears to start her career. Jessica Cattani (Muskego, Wisc./Muskego HS) and Dow are both fifth-year seniors, while Erica Nelson (Kansas City, Mo./Lee Summit North HS) and Julien are in their second season at FGCU following two years at Johnson County CC and Chipola College, respectively, and each player won an NJCAA national title. Zderadicka is a fourth-year junior.

CONSISTENT SUCCESS
FGCU is just one of six programs at the NCAA Division I level to win 25 or more games in each season since 2010-11. The others include: UConn, Baylor, Notre Dame, Stanford and James Madison. Only 10 schools have at least 25 wins in each of the past four seasons.

OVERTIME HISTORY
FGCU is 6-6 all-time in the NCAA Division I era in overtime games. Three of those games have come against Stetson, and the Eagles hold a 2-1 record in those. The most recent overtime game was a 74-67 loss to Stetson on Feb. 25, 2017.
 
HEAD COACH KARL SMESKO
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko, who earned his 400th career victory on Feb. 21, 2015 with a win over USC Upstate, is now 35 wins away from 500 in his coaching career. He won his 400th in just 493 games. That's two faster than legend Geno Auriemma. His game preparation is one of the most crucial factors in the Eagles' all-time success. Last season, the Eagles went 10-4 in games when he had four or more days to prepare. Overall, in 15 seasons, Smesko holds a record of 152-25 in games with extra time to go over the film just one more time for a winning percentage of 85.9 percent.
 
SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
The 2017-18 schedule potentially boasts 11 postseason teams from last year with seven that made The Dance and six that played in the WNIT. The guaranteed opponents that made the NCAA Tournament last year include Chattanooga, DePaul and Kentucky, while the WNIT teams include South Dakota State, Kent State, Abilene Christian, Harvard, Jacksonville and Stetson. Also, FGCU is one of eight teams in the Play4Kay Shootout in Las Vegas. Including the Eagles, there are six teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year in it including Ohio State, Stanford, Gonzaga, Belmont and DePaul (FGCU's opening round opponent).
 
RANKINGS RUNDOWN
FGCU, which received seven votes in the first USA Today Coaches Poll of the 2017-18 season, opens at No. 8 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. They gathered 554 points, just one behind Belmont, 10 behind James Madison and 25 back of South Dakota State. Quinnipiac (744) and Gonzaga (700) are ranked 1 and 2.
 
MEN'S & WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SUCCESS
FGCU is one of only seven schools in the country which have had its men's and women's teams win at least 20 games in five-straight seasons, joining: Duke, Louisville, Kentucky, Baylor, BYU and Saint Mary's.
 
Additionally, with both the men's and women's teams winning at least 26 games last season, FGCU is one of only three non-Power 5 schools in the nation to boast that claim (Bucknell and Gonzaga). In total, only nine schools had both its men's and women's basketball teams record at least 26 victories a year ago: Duke, Notre Dame, Michigan, South Carolina, Baylor and Florida State.

SUCCESS AT HOME VS POWER-FIVES
FGCU has previously hosted 11 teams from a power five conference including Michigan, Wake Forest, Auburn, Virginia, Virginia Tech, LSU, Michigan State, Indiana, Florida State and Florida. Of those 11 previous contests, the Eagles earned wins in eight - defeating Michigan, Wake Forest, Auburn, Virginia Tech, LSU, Michigan State, Florida and Indiana.
 
NEXT UP
FGCU will hit the road from Nov. 15 - Dec. 3. The trip begins with a trip to Miami to face FIU on Nov. 15. Following that, the team flies to Akron, Ohio to battle Kent State and Akron in the Akron Classic on Nov. 17-18. Then, a short trip to Loudonville, N.Y. to face Siena follows. The biggest event of the trip, a three-game slate in Las Vegas for the Play4Kay Shootout, is Nov. 23-25. The road stretch concludes Dec. 3 in Texas against Abilene Christian.

FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the women's basketball program, follow @FGCU_WBB on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook at /FGCUWBB.

COACH SMESKO
FGCU head coach Karl Smesko rallied the 2016-17 Eagles to their seventh-straight 25-win campaign, which culminated in the team's fourth NCAA tournament appearance in six seasons of eligibility. The seven-time ASUN Coach of the Year was named the espnW Mid-Major Coach of the Year in 2015-16 following a run that witnessed the Eagles finish a best-ever 33-6. Over a five-year stretch starting in 2011-12, FGCU racked up four ASUN seasons with a perfect record and capped the run with back-to-back 30 plus win seasons. In 2014-15, the team earned its first top-25 ranking and another NCAA Tournament trip as a seven seed, where FGCU won its first ever NCAA Division I Tournament game against No. 10 Oklahoma State. With 26 wins in 2016-17, Smesko has guided the Eagles to 13-straight 20-win seasons.  He maintains a record of 404-82 (.831) at FGCU, including a 160-15 (.914) mark in ASUN play. Over the past six seasons, he has guided FGCU to a 93-3 (.969) record in conference play. Smesko earned his 400th career coaching win in 2014-15 in just 493 career games, two games faster than UConn's Geno Auriemma. He holds a career head coaching record of 465-109 (.810). Smesko ranks among an elite list of just four active Division I coaches with a career win percentage of .800 or higher, joining 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 visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help.

IRMA RELIEF DONATIONS
In the wake of Hurricane Irma, many individuals and families throughout Southwest Florida are still in desperate need of assistance. To aid in those relief efforts, FGCU Athletics will be collecting donations at all Eagle home games for the immediate future. Donation items most needed include: non-perishable food, clothing, household items and first-aid supplies. Additionally, those unable to attend upcoming home games can drop off donations in canisters located in the Alico Arena lobby. All donations will be given to those hardest hit in Lee and Collier counties.