FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men's basketball team is set to take on North Florida for the second time this season at 5 p.m. Jan. 27 inside Alico Arena. The Sunday contest will be a Whiteout and will be part of a doubleheader with the FGCU women. The game is being sponsored by Coconut Point Ford.

The Eagles (7-14, 2-4 ASUN) have won two of their last three games and dropped a close decision on the road to league favorite Lipscomb, while the Ospreys (9-13, 3-4 ASUN) look to end a three-game losing skid.
  SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's matchup between FGCU and UNF will mark the 31st all-time meeting between the two programs, and the Green and Blue lead the series 17-13. This serves as the longest-tenured rivalry in Eagle history, and this is the only series that has been played at least 30 times. FGCU recently saw an eight-game win streak come to an end, as UNF defeated the Eagles on Jan. 12 in Jacksonville.

LAST TIME OUT
FGCU suffered a close 89-81 setback to ASUN Conference favorite Lipscomb Thursday night in Allen Arena. The Bisons had won their previous four games by an average of 21.5 points per game and had yet to yield 80 points to any ASUN opponent this season. Senior Dinero Mercurius led the Eagles with a season-high 17 points off the bench, reaching double figures for the first time in conference play. Classmate Schadrac Casimir poured in his usual 14, while sophomore Troy Baxter Jr. had 10, all in the second half.

The Eagles hung with the reigning champs and league-leading Bisons for all 40 minutes, and even held a lead with less than three minutes to play. The home side was able to hang on in the end, using a late 14-2 run to avoid the upset bid. FGCU actually outshot Lipscomb, finishing 28-for-59 (47.5 percent) from the field

SCOUTING THE OSPREYS
After picking up wins in four out of five games, North Florida has lost its last three outings. Those have all been ASUN matchups against Liberty, NJIT and Jacksonville. The Ospreys' three league triumphs have come at the hands of North Alabama, FGCU and Stetson.

UNF features leading scorer and rebounder Noah Horchler, who is averaging 15.7 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game. Garrett Sams (11.9 ppg) also averages double-digit scoring, while JT Escobar is third on the team in scoring (11.5 ppg) and Wajid Aminu is second in rebounding (10.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg). Ivan Gandia-Rosa (11.0 ppg) gives the Ospreys five who are scoring in double figures.

North Florida is 2-10 on the road this season.

THE TREACHEROUS NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
FGCU tallied just a 5-10 record during the non-conference portion of its schedule, but part of that can be attributed to a brutal early-season slate. The Green and Blue entered ASUN action with the second-highest strength of schedule in the league, which was a mark that also ranked No. 73 in the nation. The top SOS in the league belonged to North Alabama at No. 23 in the nation. Lipscomb had the third-highest strength of schedule among ASUN schools at No. 79 nationally, while Kennesaw State (No. 85) and North Florida (No. 90) rounded out the top five.

All 15 teams FGCU faced during the non-conference slate are currently .500 or better overall or in conference play. Michigan State leads the Big Ten and South Dakota State leads the Summit League. Illinois State, Toledo, UTSA, FAU, FIU, Colgate, UMBC, Florida, and Ole Miss all currently boast winning overall records. ISU, UTSA, FIU, ORU, and Ole Miss all have winning records in their respective league campaigns, as well.

TOUGH ROAD
FGCU played one of the toughest mid-major non-conference schedules in the country in 2018-19. Each of their first four Division I opponents (Illinois State, No. 10 Michigan State, South Dakota State, and Toledo) either won their regular season conference championship or played in their conference championship game last season. South Dakota State played in the NCAA Championship a year ago, while both Michigan State and Florida advanced to the second round of the tournament.
 
EAGLE LEADERS

Points Per Game		Rebounds Per Game		Assists Per Game
1. Schadrac Casimir	13.3	1. RaySean Scott Jr.	7.3	1. Decardo Day	3.7
2. Dinero Mercurius	8.8	2. Brady Ernst	4.6	2. Christian Carlyle	2.0
3. Christian Carlyle	8.4	3. Brian Thomas	3.8	3. Schadrac Casimir	1.8
FG %		3pt %		FT %
1. Brian Thomas	.714	1. Schadrac Casimir	.490	1. Schadrac Casimir	.883
2. Brady Ernst	.630	2. Zach Scott	.422	2. Dinero Mercurius	.766
3. Schadrac Casimir	.468	3. Dinero Mercurius	.337	3. Troy Baxter Jr.	.640

 
JOURNEY TO 1,000
Two current Eagles have reached the 1,000-point mark in seniors Schadrac Casimir (1,392) and Dinero Mercurius (1,050). Casimir scored 1,112 of those points in NCAA Tournament campaigns at Iona prior to transferring to FGCU.
 
Mercurius surpassed the mark with a five-point effort against Liberty on Jan. 5. He earned his 1,000+ points between stops at USF, Daytona State and now at FGCU.
 
Haanif Cheatham will land just shy of the plateau. He suffered a season-ending injury and will end his career with 876 points.

FGCU SUCCESS IN THE ASUN
Since the infamous dawn of #DunkCity in 2013, the Eagles have dominated the ASUN Conference. FGCU has won six combined conference championships over the past six years, which includes three regular-season titles and three tournament crowns. The rest of the league combined accounts for the remaining six titles. North Florida leads the way with three, former member Mercer has two championships, and Lipscomb completes the list with one.

GAMES PLAYED
Below is a list of all current Eagles and how many games they have played/started over their respective FGCU careers.

Name	Career Games Played (Started)	2018-19 Games Played (Started)
Christian Carlyle	68 (24)	21 (19)
RaySean Scott Jr.	63 (22)	11 (9)
Dinero Mercurius	53 (26)	20 (10)
Brady Ernst	51 (16)	18 (14)
Ricky Doyle	38 (16)	12 (3)
Brian Thomas	30 (3)	12 (3)
Dolan Mahoney	27 (0)	4 (0)
Schadrac Casimir	21 (21)	same
Zach Scott	21 (11)	same
Caleb Catto	21 (0)	same
Troy Baxter Jr.	19 (5)	same
Decardo Day	17 (0)	same
Haanif Cheatham	10 (10)	same
Ryan Rocuant	3 (0)	same
Kyle Hoffman	2 (0)	same

AN ATMOSPHERE UNLIKE ANY OTHER
Since 2013-14, no other program in the ASUN has come close to matching the home atmosphere created by the Eagle faithful and the Dirty Birds. FGCU has led the conference by comfortable margins in both total attendance and average attendance over the last five years. The only reason the Green and Blue aren't leading both categories this season is because league newcomer Liberty has played three more games at home. Below is a list of the top two ASUN programs in both total and average attendance over the last six seasons.
 

2018-19
Total Attendance
1.	Liberty	26,612
2.	FGCU	22,923
Average Attendance
1.	FGCU	3,275
2.	Liberty	2,661
2017-18
Total Attendance
1.	FGCU	73,114
2.	Lipscomb	22,420
Average Attendance
1.	FGCU	3,656
2.	North Florida	1,809
2016-17
Total Attendance
1.	FGCU	76,214
2.	North Florida	33,871
Average Attendance
1.	FGCU	3,979
2.	North Florida	2,258
2015-16
Total Attendance
1.	FGCU	73,373
2.	North Florida	48,554
Average Attendance
1.	FGCU	3,669
2.	North Florida	2,856
2014-15
Total Attendance
1.	FGCU	71,890
2.	North Florida	38,148
Average Attendance
1.	FGCU	4,229
2.	North Florida	2,725
2013-14
Total Attendance
1.	FGCU	73,780
2.	East Tennessee State	50,974
Average Attendance
1.	FGCU	4,340
2.	East Tennessee State	2,549

EAGLES PLAGUED BY THE INJURY BUG
With the recent news of the retirement of fifth-year projected starter Ricky Doyle, FGCU continues to be bit by the injury bug this season. Leading scorer Haanif Cheatham was forced to end his season after 10 games. The Green and Blue have also been without the services of RaySean Scott Jr., Brian Thomas, Troy Baxter Jr., and Brady Ernst at various times throughout the campaign. On top of the injuries suffered, the Eagles had already entered the season without their top five starters from last year. FGCU came into 2018-19 down Zach Johnson (35 starts last year), Brandon Goodwin (33), Christian Terrell (23), Antravious Simmons (20), and Michael Gilmore (20). Goodwin is the reigning ASUN Player of the Year and is FGCU's first NBA product, as he is currently finding success with the Denver Nuggets. Johnson was an All-ASUN First Team selection last year. He transferred to the University of Miami and is currently the second-leading scorer for the Hurricanes.

THE NEW RPI
The NCAA has developed a new ranking system to replace the RPI as the primary sorting tool for evaluating teams during the Division I men's basketball season. The new ranking system was approved in late July after months of consultation with the Division I Men's Basketball Committee, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, top basketball analytics experts and Google Cloud Professional Services. The NCAA Evaluation Tool, which is known as the NET, relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.

The NET was built to create a ranking system that was as accurate as possible while also evaluating team performance fairly. To ensure fairness, certain types of data were omitted from the model. Of key importance, game date and order were omitted to give equal importance to both early and late-season games. In addition, a cap of 10 points was applied to the winning margin to prevent rankings from encouraging unsportsmanlike play, such as needlessly running up the score in a game where the outcome was certain.

The top end of the ASUN sees Lipscomb at No. 46 and Liberty at No. 51 in the national NET rankings. The Eagles are currently ranked fifth in the league and No. 253 in the country.

MILESTONE WATCH
The Eagles are currently 201-182 as a Division I member, and they recorded win No. 200 on the road at Kennesaw State Jan. 19.

FLORIDA'S FINEST
With 23 wins and a trip to the NIT last season, the Eagles are the only Division I men's team in the state of Florida to have 20 wins and reach the postseason in the past six seasons.
 
The Eagles rank third in wins in the Sunshine State over the last seven years (since 2012-13, as of Jan. 22).
Florida- 162
Miami- 150
FGCU- 147
Florida State- 140
UCF- 115
North Florida- 113
FIU- 96
Jacksonville- 93
Bethune-Cookman- 82
FAU- 76
USF- 72
Florida A&M- 53
 
THE GROWTH OF FGCU
After starting their D-I transition with five-straight losing seasons, the Eagles have now posted six-consecutive 20-win seasons. After not finishing higher than sixth place in the ASUN the first five years, FGCU has finished no worse than a tie for second each of the past six 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: 23-12, 12-2 (ASUN (1st)
2018-19: 7-14, 2-4 (ASUN)
D-I Total: 201-182, 105-87 ASUN
Last 6+ Years (since 2012-13): 147-83, 72-26 ASUN

THE STRENGTH OF ALICO
FGCU boasts a 93-23 record (.802) at Alico Arena since the 2012-13 season. In ASUN games during that same stretch, the Eagles have been even more dominant, posting a 42-7 (.857) mark against league foes in the regular season since 2012-13.

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.
 
SEASON TICKETS AVAILABLE
Fans can purchase or learn more about season tickets by contacting an Alico Arena Ticket Office representative over the phone at 239-590-7145 or by visiting the office Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Additional information is available on FGCUTickets.com.
 
As an added incentive, new or returning season-ticket holders who purchase seats will be entered into a contest for an FGCU jersey autographed by either the women's or men's team.
 
Season ticket seat locations are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Like in the past, Eagles Club membership may be required for certain seats, with giving levels utilized for access to better locations.
 
WE'VE GOT YOUR SEAT
Experience FGCU Basketball this season. The following ticket opportunities are on sale now:
Group Sales
Bring your group of 20 or more to an FGCU Men's or Women's Basketball game. All group tickets include an FGCU hat ($15 value), a $5 game day discount at The Boardwalk restaurant, in game group recognition and more. For more information on group outings, click HERE or call 239-590-7145.
Single Game Tickets
Single game tickets are available for all remaining home games. Discounts are available for current or former Military and Youth ages 3-15. Purchase online HERE or call 239-590-7145.

COACH FLY
Michael Fly was introduced as the fourth FGCU men's basketball head coach on April 5, 2018. He had spent the previous seven years as an assistant coach on the Eagles' staff. In that time, he helped FGCU to a 156-86 record (.643 winning percentage), including six ASUN Tournament Final appearances, three NCAA Tournament victories, three ASUN Tournament titles and three ASUN Regular Season Championships, two berths in the NIT, a CIT appearance and a run to the Sweet Sixteen. He has coached a dozen all-conference selections while with the Green and Blue, including two ASUN Player of the Year honors in Sherwood Brown and Brandon Goodwin, and two ASUN Defensive Player of the Year selections in Bernard Thompson and Demetris Morant. Of the top-10 players in career points at FGCU, Fly has helped develop eight of them, including all-time leading scorer Thompson (1,835). Additionally, the Kentucky alumnus has coached both the ASUN all-time assists leader Brett Comer (845; 24th in NCAA history) and FGCU all-time leading rebounder Chase Fieler (714).
 
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.

ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 73 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 11+ seasons at the Division-I level. Additionally, in just seven+ seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 34 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including both men's and women's soccer again in 2018. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.35 GPA in the classroom in the Spring, 2018 and had an ASUN Conference and State of Florida best five teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport.  The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours – being recognized as one of two runner-ups for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.