FORT MYERS, Fla. - The FGCU women's basketball team (8-2) will meet #20 Kentucky (8-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday in Alico Arena.

The matchup, which is the first ever meeting between the two programs, will mark the third Power 5 opponent for FGCU this year, including the second at home. The Eagles knocked off Illinois 85-61 in its home and season opener before falling to Ohio State in the Play4Kay Showcase in Las Vegas on Nov. 24.

Fans are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys as part of the department's Toys For Tots drive throughout the first few weeks of December. Boxes will be available in the Alico Arena lobby, and men's and women's basketball players will personally deliver all donated toys to the Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida prior to Christmas.
 
The presenting game sponsor is Tropical Smoothie Cafe.

TAY-GRAD REACHES 1,000, LOOKS TO MOVE UP
With an offensive rebound and a layup late in the first half on Tuesday against Southeastern, sixth-year senior Taylor Gradinjan became just the 10th player in program history to eclipse 1,000 career points. She is only the ninth player to do so in the Division-I era. With 1,010 points, she is now seven away from passing Courtney Chihill (1,016, 2008-12) for the eighth most points in the Division-I era. Prior to Friday's game, she will be recognized for her achievement.

Gradinjan (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy HS) is currently averaging 11.6 points over 10 games this year. Prior to finishing with 11 points on Tuesday, she poured in a season-high 18 points in the team's 94-55 win over Abilene Christian on the road Sunday. In that game, she matched a career-high with six 3-pointers on 60 percent shooting from long range. She has tallied 10 or more points in seven games this year, and 32 of her 38 field goals have come from long range. On top of that, she is shooting a career-best .427 from 3-point range. In her career, which included five games in 2012-13 before back-to-back season-ending injuries, she has tallied 47 double-digit scoring games.

HOME SWEET HOME
With its win over Abilene Christian, FGCU completed an eight-game road trip that spanned 19 days. During the trip, the Eagles ventured from Miami, Fla. to Akron, Ohio to Loudonville, N.Y. to Las Vegas, Nev. to Abilene, Texas. The team produced a 6-2 record during the stretch that included a win over then #21 DePaul in the Play4Kay Showcase at Mandalay Bay. The team's two losses came to #8 Ohio State and Belmont - two teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year. In the game against Ohio State, Kelsey Mitchell broke the NCAA's career 3-point shooting record.

Including the win over Southeastern on Tuesday, FGCU will play 10 of the next 11 games in Alico Arena, which includes the showdown against #20 Kentucky, a battle with undefeated Ave Maria on Sunday, matchups against Harvard and SIU Edwardsville in the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Classic on Dec. 20-21, a tilt against South Dakota State on Dec. 29 and the beginning of conference play on Jan. 6.

THE GREEN AND BLUE
FGCU has started the same five players in nine of 10 games - Gradinjan, Rosemarie Julien, Nasrin Ulel, Tytionia Adderly and Erica Nelson. Gradinjan, Julien and Nelson are all seniors, while Ulel and Adderly are both sophomores. China Dow started in place of Ulel against Southeastern.

Julien (Port St. Lucie, Fla./Treasure Coast HS) leads the team in scoring at 14.3 PPG while shooting .373 from 3-point range. She is third on the team in 3-point field goals made (25) behind Gradinjan (32) and Ulel (27), and she recently eclipsed 500 points in an FGCU uniform after transferring in from Chipola College prior to last season. Ulel (Murrietta, Calif./Murrietta HS) is second on the team in scoring at 12.3 PPG. The sophomore guard exploded for a team-high 19 points on 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range against Abilene Christian. She now has at least 17 points in five of 10 games this year, including a career-high 28 in the team's win over FIU on Nov. 15. She is shooting .529 from 3-point range, which leads the ASUN and is sixth best in the NCAA.

Nelson (Kansas City, Mo./Lee Summit North HS), who leads the team in assists with 32, is averaging 8.6 PPG. She tied a career-high with seven assists against #8 Ohio State and poured in a season-high 19 points against Belmont. In the team's win over Southeastern on Tuesday, the senior point guard had a career-high four 3-pointers along with 18 points. Adderly (Jupiter, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS) leads the team in rebounding at 8.1 RPG, while contributing 6.5 PPG. She has at least five rebounds in all but one game, including a season-high 16 in the win over FIU on Nov. 15.

The FGCU bench is led by Dow (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy of Louisville), who is averaging 11.2 PPG - fourth best on the team. She has scored at least 10 points in four games, including a season-high 26 in the win over #21 DePaul. On top of that, she eclipsed 750 career NCAA points on Tuesday after starting her career at Middle Tennessee State. Lisa Zderadicka (Vienna, Austria/HAK Korneuburg), who checks in at 6.2 PPG and is second on the team in assists with 29, has a pair of double-digit scoring games this year.

SCOUTING KENTUCKY
Kentucky (8-1) is led by Matthew Mitchell, who is the program's all-time winningest coach and in his 11th season. 

In the team's most recent game, a 100-62 win over Evansville, the Wildcats opened the game on a 19-0 run and never trailed. They scored 35 points in the first quarter, which was the most in any single quarter by Kentucky since moving to the four-quarter format, and they had new season highs in points in the paint (60) and blocks (10).

Maci Morris, who is the team's leading scorer at 16.7 PPG, recorded 20 points in the win over Evansville. It was her third game this year with at least that many, and she is the only player on the team who has scored in double digits in every game this year. Freshman center Tatyana Wyatt, who has averaged 12.0 PPG over four games played, had 20 points and 10 rebounds against Evansville. Alyssa Rice (14), who averages 9.0 PPG and a team-high 7.3 RPG, and Jaida Roper (10), who averages 8.6 PPG and 3.4 APG, each also scored in double figures. Roper has at least 10 points in five games this year, and she's led the team in assists five times.

RAINING THREES
FGCU has now made 4,533 3-pointers in 15+ seasons for an average of 9.14 per game. The Eagles are riding a 380-game streak with at least one three-ball and have made a 3-pointer in 495 of 496 games in program history. In the team's 94-55 win over Abilene Christian this past Sunday, the team made a program-record tying 22 3-pointers, which was also just three shy of the NCAA single game record.

SUCCESS AGAINST POWER 5 TEAMS
2017-18 marks the 11th straight season that FGCU has faced an opponent from a Power 5 conference and the fourth straight season the Eagles took on a B1G foe. FGCU has secured a win over at least one team from each of the Power 5 conferences, including:

ACC: Wake Forest ('16), Clemson ('14), Virginia Tech ('10, '11, '12)
B1G: Illinois ('17), Michigan ('16), Michigan State ('11), Indiana ('10)
Big 12: Oklahoma State ('15)
SEC: Auburn ('15), LSU ('12), Florida ('08)
Pac 12: Arizona ('15)

In addition to that, the matchup against Kentucky will mark the 12th team that FGCU has hosted from a Power 5 conference - joining Illinois, Michigan, Wake Forest, Auburn, Virginia, Virginia Tech, LSU, Michigan State, Indiana, Florida State and Florida. Out of the previous contests, the Eagles have won nine of them - defeating Illinois, Michigan, Wake Forest, Auburn, Virginia Tech, LSU, Michigan State, Florida and Indiana.

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 412-84 (.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 473-111 (.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.

TOYS FOR TOTS
The FGCU Athletics Department, FGCU Police Department, Lee County Sheriff's Office and Heroes Unlimited have teamed up to participate in a holiday toy drive. New, unwrapped toys are being collected and will be delivered to the Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida on Friday, Dec. 23. Collection boxes have been placed in the lobbies of Alico Arena, UPD and the FGCU Family Resource Center until Wednesday, Dec. 20. No toy is too small, and all toys will be wrapped prior to delivery.