ALBANY, N.Y. – Coming off an impressive season-opening win Saturday against Illinois State, the FGCU men's basketball team faces a quick turnaround as the Eagles flock to the Northeast to face Siena on Monday night in the Saints' home opener.
 
OPENING TIP ITEMS
^ FGCU enters the game with the second-longest road winning streak in the nation. Dating back to last year, the Eagles have won nine-straight road contests – just behind the 11 in a row claimed by last year's national runner-up Gonzaga.
^ The Eagles are the defending ASUN regular-season and two-time tournament champions, while Siena reached the MAAC Championship Final after overcoming a 17-point 2nd-half deficit to defeat top-seeded Monmouth in the semifinals. In the final, Iona edged Siena in overtime by one point.
^ FGCU is installed as the preseason ASUN favorites, predicted to return to the NCAA Tournament for a third-straight year. Meanwhile, Siena was tabbed for a 6th-place finish (out of 11 teams) in the MAAC.
^ Last season, FGCU claimed its first outright ASUN regular-season title (12-2) and second overall. The Eagles set a program Division-I regular-season record with 23 wins and tied the all-time victory mark of 26, finishing one triumph shy of matching the program's all-time mark. Additionally, the Green and Blue recorded the first single-digit loss season in the D-I era (since 2007-08). FGCU set D-I program single-season records in points per game (79.4), rebound margin (+5.4) and field goal percentage (.499) – 5th-best in the nation.
^ The Eagles made their third NCAA Tournament appearance in five years (six seasons of eligibility) and earned a program-best No. 14 seed. Despite losing its leading rebounder and shot blocker in Demetris Morant early in the 2nd half with an ankle injury, FGCU went on to fall to 3rd-seeded Florida State – the second-tallest team in the nation – by just six points, 86-80.
 
TWEETABLES
1) FGCU's 98 points against Illinois State were the most in a season opener in program history. The previous high was 90 in the program's first-ever game in 2002-03 versus Puerto Rico-Bayamon.
2) Head coach Joe Dooley is one win shy of 150 for his career. In his 9th season as a head coach (5th with FGCU), Dooley is 149-98.
3) The game is the second of a home-and-home series between the two teams. Last year FGCU defended its home court with a 73-69 win over Siena on Dec. 9, 2016.
4) Brandon Goodwin was named the unanimous ASUN Preseason Player of the Year, while Zach Johnson joined Goodwin as a unanimous selection to the 10-player ASUN Preseason All-Conference Team. Johnson scored a career-high 27 points against Illinois State.
5) FGCU led the country in points in the paint last year at 41.3 per game (48 vs. Illinois State Saturday), in addition to finishing 3rd in the nation with 159 dunks.
 
SCOUTING SIENA
^ Siena opened its season Friday night at the College of Charleston, falling in overtime to the preseason Colonial Athletic Association favorites, 68-60.
^ Siena posted a 17-17 overall record last year – winning 13 of its final 19 games – and finished tied for 3rd in the MAAC with a 12-8 mark.
^ The Saints played 14 games versus teams which finished in the top 100 of the RPI – including FGCU (88) – and recorded four top-100 RPI wins.
^ Siena was one of only two teams last year (National Champion North Carolina) with four 1,000-point scorers, all of whom graduated. The Saints lost 72 percent of their scoring and 68 percent of their rebounding from last year.
^ Seven letterwinners return from last year's squad, led by junior captain Nico Clareth. Clareth – a Preseason Second Team All-MAAC selection – averaged 13.7 points per game off the bench last season and accounts for 43 percent of Siena's returning scoring output from last season.
 
LAST TIME THEY MET | Complete Recap
FGCU shot 57.4 percent (27-47) from the floor, but connected at a furious 73.1-percent clip (19-26) in the 1st half to open up a 13-point lead at intermission. The advantage swelled to 17 points with 14 minutes remaining – and was 15 with 6:30 left – but a late 11-0 Siena run helped pull the Saints within two in the closing 30 seconds, but they marched no closer.
 
Now-graduated Demetris Morant led a trio of FGCU double-figure scorers with a then-career high 16 points. Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) added 14 points and Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) tallied 11 and matched a career high with four steals – a total he equaled on Saturday against Illinois State.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
Overall, FGCU was a program-best 10-3 away from Alico Arena last season, with all three losses coming by single digits.
 
The Eagles finished a program-best 7-0 on the road in the ASUN last year, surpassing the previous single-season record for wins of five. FGCU is the first ASUN institution to go undefeated on the road in conference action since former league member Samford went 8-0 in 1998-99.
 
HEAD COACH JOE DOOLEY
Dooley is in his 5th season as the head coach of FGCU in 2017-18. He has guided the Eagles to at least 20 wins and postseason appearances in each of his first four campaigns with the team. Last season, he became the first coach in program history to be named ASUN Coach of the Year, and was also tabbed as the NABC District 3 Coach of the Year. Under his guidance, FGCU was statistically the 4th-best team in the country in scoring on possessions immediately following timeouts last season, averaging 1.059 points per possession.
 
MILESTONE TRACKER
FGCU is well within reach of several milestone victory marks this season.
 
All-Time Record: 286-195 (14 More Wins For 300)
All-Time Record In D-I Era: 172-156 (28 More Wins For 200)
All-Time Record At Home: 192-60 (8 More Wins For 200)
All-Time Record vs. ASUN Opponents: 91-81 (9 More Wins For 100)
 
SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
FGCU will play an incredible six non-conference games against teams that finished in the top 40 of the RPI last year. Each of those teams won at least 25 games and played in the postseason:
 
Nov. 11: vs. 39 Illinois State (28-7, NIT) | W, 98-87
Nov. 21: @ 34 Middle Tennessee (31-5, NCAA)
Dec. 2: vs. 34 Middle Tennessee
Dec. 9: @ 40 UT Arlington (27-9, NIT)
Dec. 22: @ 29 Wichita State (31-5, NCAA)
Dec. 27: @ 31 Rhode Island (25-10, NCAA)
 
Each of those NCAA Tournament opponents won a March Madness game last year, and the other two claimed three total victories in the NIT. Those opponents went a combined 142-36 (.798 winning percentage) last season and posted an average RPI of 34.
 
RANKINGS RUNDOWN
FGCU begins the year ranked #12 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25. They are joined in the poll by UT Arlington at #9, while Illinois State, Siena and Lipscomb (all 2017-18 opponents) are each receiving votes.
 
In the Associated Press and/or USA Today Coaches Poll, Wichita State starts the campaign ranked #7 in the country, while Middle Tennessee and Rhode Island (again all 2017-18 opponents) are both receiving votes.
 
Additionally, on Wednesday, ESPN's Joe Lunardi released his preseason Bracketology, which has FGCU predicted as a 14 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament. Along with the Eagles, Lunardi also has Wichita State (2 seed), Rhode Island (9), Middle Tennessee (12) and UT Arlington (13) all included in his initial Bracketology.
 
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 along with Gonzaga and Bucknell. 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.
 
BUILDING A TRADITION
FGCU is believed to be the only men's D-I program in NCAA history to make five postseason appearances in its first six years of eligibility (2013: NCAA; 2014: NIT; 2015: CIT; 2016: NCAA; 2017: NCAA).
 
The Eagles are also one of just 23 teams in the nation to have won at least 20 games and made postseason appearances in each of the past five seasons. Of those 23 teams, only six are mid-major schools, as FGCU joins Vermont, Belmont, New Mexico State, Iona and UC Irvine to hold that distinction.
 
62 INCHES
At just 5-foot-2-inches, freshman Darnell Rogers (Baltimore, Md./Believe Prep/ Shiloh HS/Indian Land HS) is by far the smallest Division-I player in the nation. The next smallest player is Mount St. Mary's Junior Robinson at 5-5.
 
Rogers is believed to be the smallest scholarship D-I men's basketball player in history. While not confirmed due to many teams not being able to verify early-year rosters, only one player has been confirmed as smaller than 5-2, and that was Dayton's Keith Braswell at exactly 5 foot. However, Braswell was a walk-on during his one season with the Flyers in 1994-95.
 
More recently, Malcolm Reid – a 5-2 walk-on at Southeastern Louisiana in 2015-16 – matched Rogers' height, but he once again was also a walk-on. Darnell's father, Shawnta, stood at 5-4 and put together a heralded career at George Washington, ultimately culminating in him winning Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year in 1999.
 
MOST WINS IN FLORIDA
Since the start of the 2013-14 season, FGCU has the 2nd-most wins among D-I schools in the state of Florida (entering games on Nov. 12)
 
1) Florida: 100
2) FGCU: 92
3) Miami: 91
4) Florida State: 85
5) North Florida: 77
6) UCF: 62
7) Jacksonville: 55
8) FIU: 52
9) Bethune-Cookman: 44
10) Stetson: 42
11) USF: 38
      FAU: 37
13) Florida A&M: 30
 
FGCU is the only D-I team in the state of Florida which has posted four-straight 20-win seasons (five-consecutive for the Eagles). As FGCU has moved among some of the preeminent teams in the state, it has done so with Florida talent. Last year, Florida natives were responsible for 80 percent of FGCU's points and 75 percent of the Green and Blue's rebounds and assists.
 
This season, eight of FGCU's 13 scholarship players hail from the Sunshine State, and including walk-ons there are 11 total players from Florida on the 2017-18 roster.
 
LOW-POST FORCE
FGCU led the country in points in the paint per game last year at 41.3. Included in that average were a pair of D-I program record performances of 68 points in the paint versus Ave Maria and Florida National.
 
2016-17 Points In The Paint Leaders
1) FGCU: 41.3
2) Utah: 41.1
3) North Carolina: 39.9
4) VCU: 38.2
5) Kentucky: 37.3
 
#DUNKCITY
Helping fuel that low-post production was FGCU finishing 3rd in the nation with 159 dunks – 11 more than the original Dunk City Sweet Sixteen team in 2012-13.
 
2016-17 Team Dunk Leaders
1) Florida State: 183
2) Kentucky: 179
3) FGCU: 159
4) USC: 154
 
2016-17 Individual Dunk Leaders
1) Tacko Fall (UCF): 106
2) Bam Adebayo (Kentucky): 101
3) Demetris Morant (FGCU): 97
 
BY THE NUMBERS
16: FGCU erased a 16-point 1st-half deficit in its home opener last year against UT Arlington en route to an 85-72 win. It marked the largest comeback in the program's D-I history; one point shy of tying the all-time mark of 17 set in 2005-06.
39: Under Dooley, the Eagles are 40-4 (14-2 last year) when scoring at least 80 points.
66: The Eagles set a D-I program record by scoring 66 points off the bench last year against Ave Maria.
68: FGCU is 69-4 (18-0 last year) under Dooley when leading at the half.
 
LOCKING IN ON D
Since Dooley took over FGCU in 2013-14, FGCU has held 35 teams to 60 points or fewer. The Sweet Sixteen team in 2012-13 held 13 opponents to 60 points or fewer, but prior to that – in five seasons of D-I history – FGCU teams had only held opponents to 60 points or fewer 20 times.
 
The Eagles have led the ASUN in scoring defense in three of Dooley's four years with FGCU and finished 2nd in the other season. Last year, the Eagles paced the conference by holding opponents to just 69.3 points per game – exactly six points better than any other team.
 
FAMOUS LINEAGE
FGCU has a pair of players related to Naismith Basketball Hall of Famers in Michael Gilmore (Jacksonville, Fla./Miami/VCU/Rickards HS) and walk-on Ryan McAdoo (Boca Raton, Fla./St. Andrews HS). Gilmore is the nephew of Artis Gilmore, a six-time NBA All-Star, while McAdoo is the son of Bob McAdoo, a five-time NBA All-Star and NBA MVP in 1975.
 
2016-17 RE-TWEETS
1) The Eagles won 11 non-conference a season ago – the most in program history.
2) FGCU had two separate 4+ game winning streaks in D-I non-conference history for the first time.
3) FGCU won three games by one point for the first time in a single season, and it had a record four games decided by a single point.
4) Incredibly, all 15 of FGCU's players had a positive plus/minus ratio, and every scholarship player was at least +40 on the year.
5) FGCU recorded three 100+ point games last season, marking the first time in single-season D-I history that occurred.
 
THE GROWTH OF FGCU
After starting their D-I transition with five-straight losing seasons, the Eagles have now posted five-consecutive 20-win seasons. After not finishing higher than 6th place in the ASUN the first five years, FGCU has finished no worse than a tie for 2nd each of the past four seasons.
 
2007-08: 10-21, 6-10 ASUN (T-8th)
2008-09: 11-20, 7-13 ASUN (9th)
2009-10: 8-21, 5-15 ASUN (T-10th)
2010-11: 10-20, 7-13 ASUN (7th)
2011-12: 15-17, 8-10 ASUN (T-6th)
2012-13: 26-11, 13-5 ASUN (2nd)
2013-14: 22-13, 14-4 ASUN (T-1st)
2014-15: 22-11, 11-3 ASUN (2nd)
2015-16: 21-14, 8-6 ASUN (T-2nd)
2016-17: 26-8, 12-2 ASUN (1st)
2017-18: 1-0, 0-0 ASUN
D-I Total: 172-156, 91-81 ASUN
Last 5 Years: 118-57, 58-20 ASUN
 
GOODWIN'S RECORD-SETTING 2016-17
Goodwin was the unanimous ASUN Newcomer of the Year, in addition to being named ASUN First Team, ASUN Tournament MVP and setting a league record by securing six ASUN Newcomer of the Week honors. He was also named to the NABC All-District First Team after setting a program record by scoring 629 points. He hit three game-winning shots and led FGCU in scoring (18.5) and assists (4.1).
 
HOME RECORD INFO
FGCU is 76-14 (.844) at Alico Arena since the start of the 2012-13 season, including a 16-3 mark last year. Additionally, in ASUN games FGCU has been even more dominant, posting a 34-5 (.872) mark against league foes in the regular season since 2012-13.
 
NEXT UP
FGCU returns to campus before heading back on the road later this week for a matchup at Bowling Green on Saturday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m.
 
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.
 
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, Like us on Facebook at /FGCUMBB and watch us on Snapchat at FGCU_MBB.
 
COACH DOOLEY
FGCU is led by head coach Joe Dooley, who is in his 5th season with the Eagles in 2017-18 and has coached eight all-conference selections in that time. He has led FGCU to 20+ win seasons and postseason appearances in all four years: 2014 NIT; 2015 CIT; 2016 NCAA; 2017 NCAA. Dooley was named the 2017 ASUN Coach of the Year and the 2017 NABC District 3 Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to a D-I program record 26 wins. In 8+ seasons overall as a head coach, Dooley has a record of 149-98 (.603), and in his 4+ years with FGCU is 92-46 (.667). 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 FourPrios, 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 visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.