FGCU Men's Basketball Game Notes & Information
Game 32	No. 6 FGCU (10-21) at No. 3 Lipscomb (14-15) - ASUN Quarterfinal
Date // Time	Tuesday, March 3 // 7 PM CT (8 PM ET)
Location	Nashville, TN // Allen Arena
Live Statistics	Statbroadcast
Watch Online	ESPN+
Radio	N/A
Game Notes	FGCU | ASUN | Lipscomb
Twitter	@FGCUEagles // @FGCU_MBB
Instagram	FGCU Men's Basketball
Facebook	FGCU Men's Basketball
Directions // Tickets	Directions to Allen Arena // Tickets
NCAA Weekly Whistle Series	Episode 15 (Feb. 27, 2020)

 

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FORT MYERS, FL -  The postseason officially begins Tuesday night as the ASUN Men's Basketball Championship Tournament gets underway with quarterfinal action. As the No. 6 seed, FGCU will head to third-seeded Lipscomb in Nashville for a 7 p.m. CT/8 p.m. ET tip-off on ESPN+.

The two teams split the series during the regular-season with both teams winning on their home courts.

The winner of Tuesday's game will then face the winner of No. 2 North Florida/No. 7 Jacksonville on Thursday, March 5. The bracket will be re-seeded with the higher ranked teams serving as hosts. The ASUN title game will be Sunday, March 8 at 3 p.m.

The Eagles are coming off a tough 78-73 overtime loss to North Alabama on Saturday. The Eagles led late in regulation, but the Lions were able to make a run forcing the extra session. In the overtime period, UNA used a 7-0 run to pull out the win. Junior Jalen Warren (Milton, Ontario/Eastern Florida State) led the Eagles with 19 points as one of four players in double figures, while redshirt sophomore Malik Hardy (Miramar, FL/Nova Southeastern) had a career-high 16 points.

After a hot start to ASUN play, sophomore Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, FL/Southwest Florida Christian Academy) has taken over as the team's leader in season scoring. He is now averaging 12.5 points per game overall and 14.5 points in league games which ranks sixth among the ASUN leaders.

Fellow sophomore Zach Scott (Miami, FL/Westminster Academy) is just behind Catto with 10.9 points per night. Along with Warren's 10.7 point average, the trio accounts for over half (1,059) of the team's 1,843 points.

Warren's 117 assists on the season are the second-most of any other player in the ASUN - that makes him the first FGCU player since 2017-18 to have 100 assists for a season and the most since Brandon Goodwin had 162 that season. Scott's name also pops up in the league rankings leading the ASUN in total steals (42). 

As a team, the Eagles lead the league with an average of 4.2 blocks per game. Both freshman Dakota Rivers (Windermere, FL/Windermere HS) and junior Justus Rainwater (Enumclaw, WA/Cochise College) have spearheaded that effort, combining for a total of 74 blocks, the most of any duo in the conference. Individually, Rainwater and Rivers rank fourth in the ASUN with 37 blocks each. Despite missing 12 games due to injury, junior Brian Thomas (Kennesaw, GA/Kell HS) is third on the team with 26 bocks overall - 21 of those have come in league action ranking fourth in the league at 1.5 per conference game. Rivers leads all ASUN freshmen and ranks 14th nationally among rookies.

Lipscomb enters the postseason having won six of its last seven during the regular season including a 77-71 victory over top-seed Liberty in the finale. Ahsan Asadullah leads the Bisons with 17.4 points per night along with 9.6 rebounds. KJ Johnson and Michael Buckland average 12.0 and 10.5 points per game, respectively, while Andrew Fleming is just under double figures with a 9.1 point average.

SERIES HISTORY VS. LIPSCOMB
• Tuesday's game will be the 27th meeting in the history between the two programs, in which the Bisons hold a 15-11 advantage.
• The teams split the two regular-season meetings this year with each winning on their home court. Turnovers hurt the Eagles the last time out, a 64-54 win for Lipscomb just over two weeks ago in Nashville. 
• This will mark the second time the two program have met in the ASUN Tournament - the last time was a 108-96 win for the Bison at Alico Arena in 2018. Lipscomb built out a 32-point lead in the first half before FGCU was able to battle back cutting the deficit to just five late in the second half.   

For complete coverage of FGCU men's basketball, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_MBB and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU men's basketball and other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.

FGCU IN THE ASUN TOURNEY
• The FGCU men's basketball team owns a 16-5 record all-time in the ASUN Championship tournament. The Eagles have lost just once, last season, in the quarterfinals (7-1) and have reached the title game in six of the last eight years. FGCU competed as the No. 6 seed just one other time when the Eagles finished as the tournament runner-up in 2012.

2012 - 2-1 - Runner-up (6 seed)
2013 - 3-0 - Champions (2 seed)
2014 - 2-1 - Runner-up (1 seed)
2015 - 1-1 - Semifinals (2 seed)
2016 - 3-0 - Champions (4 seed)
2017 - 3-0 - Champions (1 seed)
2018 - 2-1 - Runner-up (1 seed)
2019 - 0-1 - Quarterfinals (4 seed)

By reaching the ASUN Championship Final Game in each of its first three seasons of eligibility, FGCU became the only school in NCAA history to accomplish that feat.
 

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ASUN MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
SCHOOL	OVERALL	ASUN
Liberty *	27-4	13-3
North Florida *	20-11	13-3
Lipscomb *	14-15	9-7
Stetson *	15-16	9-7
North Alabama *	13-16	8-8
FGCU *	10-21	7-9
Jacksonville *	14-17	9-9
NJIT *	9-20	6-10
Kennesaw State	1-28	0-16

Upcoming ASUN Men's Basketball Schedule
Tuesday, March 3
(1) Liberty vs. (8) NJIT - 7 PM (ESPN+)
(2) North Florida vs. (7) Jacksonville - 7 PM (ESPN+)
(3) Lipscomb vs. (6) FGCU - 7 PM CT (ESPN+)
(4) Stetson vs. (5) North Alabama - 7 PM (ESPN+) 
 

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E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
 
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 his time with the Eagles, he helped FGCU to a 164-107 record (.618 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 16. He has coached 13 all-conference selections while with the Green and Blue, including two ASUN Player of the Year honors in Sherwood Brown and Brandon Goodwin, two ASUN Defensive Player of the Year selections in Bernard Thompson and Demetris Morant and one ASUN Newcomer of the Year in Schadrac Casimir. 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).
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April 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 81 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 12-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just eight-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 36 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. 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. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.35 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2018 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for twenty-one consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall semester saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
--FGCUATHLETICS.COM--