FORT MYERS, Fla. - It's officially the start of the ASUN schedule for the FGCU men's basketball team (5-2, 0-0 ASUN) after having to take a two-week pause due to COVID-19 protocols surrounding Tier 1 individuals within the program. The Eagles are ready to host a weekend series against league-newcomer Bellarmine (3-5, 0-2 ASUN) on Friday and Saturday nights with both games in Alico Arena tipping off at 7 PM. Each game will be streamed online through ESPN+.
Single-game tickets, group tickets (as low as $8 each), along with several mini-plan packages, are on sale now through the Alico Arena Ticket Office. Fans are encouraged to order tickets online throughÂ
www.FGCUTickets.com or by calling 866-FGCU-TIX. FGCU is using mobile ticketing this year as part of its COVID-19 protocols so please checkÂ
www.FGCUTickets.com for complete details or call the ticket office to speak with a customer service representative. Fans who order one of the four-game mini-plans that are offered, they will also receive their choice of an Eagles hat, bag, or t-shirt!
Friday night will be a Pink Out in honor of Coaches vs. Cancer. Vintage pink FGCU apparel will be on sale for just $5 in the lobby and fans who purchase or make a donation will be entered to win a prize. Saturday night will be a Green Out and Pet Appreciation Night. Fans are encouraged to bring pet food which will be donated to The Humane Society, while submitted photos of family pets will be displayed on the Alico Arena videoboard throughout the game.
After a 5-2 start to the year before the holiday break and the pause, FGCU has been strong at home (4-1) and has notable wins at Miami and at home against Georgia Southern.
Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, Fla./Southwest Florida Christian Academy) has been one of the top players in the ASUN, averaging a team-best 15.1 points per night.
Cyrus Largie (Miramar, Fla./Mater Lakes Academy) continues his walk-on to scholarship player story line, averaging 12 points and 6.6 rebounds, while
Jalen Warren (Milton, Ontario/Eastern Florida State) rounds out the top scorers with 11.5 points per game.
In its final game before the winter break, FGCUÂ downed Georgia Southern, 73-60, in Alico Arena on Dec. 22. Four different players finished with double-digits, highlighted by Largie's career-high 16. Both Largie and graduate student
Eli Abaev (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Austin Peay) earned ASUN weekly honors for their respective performances against the Eagles of Statesboro. Largie, who hauled in a game-high eight boards and contributed a pair of assists to go with his career-best scoring, was awarded Player of the Week, while Abaev was tabbed Newcomer of the Week. Abaev's outing against Georgia Southern marked his third game in double-figure scoring, as the big man notched 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Catto is not the only Eagle whose name shows up on the league's statistical rankings, as Abaev, sophomore
Dakota Rivers (Windermere, Fla./Windermere HS), and freshman
Luis Rolon (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Central Pointe Christian Academy) have also had strong starts to the season. Abaev's 8.6 boards per game are the the most of any player in the conference and he sits just outside the top 10 with 60 total rebounds (11th). Despite the loss of four games, Rivers' 13 blocks on the season pace the ASUN and rank 99th nationally. In his first season playing collegiate basketball, Rolon ranks first in steals per game (2.6) and second in assists per game (4.4) - he is eighth nationally in steals per game, as well.
This weekend's series will be the first-ever contests between FGCU and Bellarmine, as the Knights officially joined the ASUN Conference on July 1, 2020. Though able to play for ASUN Championships, Bellarmine - formerly an NCAA Division II institution - will not be eligible for NCAA Division I Championship competition until the 2024-25 academic year.
The Knights are 3-5 on the year and 0-2 in league play so far. Bellarmine is led by JuniorÂ
Pedro Bradshaw this season, and the Russellville, Kentucky native is ranked in the ASUN's top 10 in five different categories, including scoring (14.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg).  Fellow juniorÂ
Dylan Penn also has been a consistent performer for the Knights averaging just under 13 points a game and is tied withÂ
Ethan Claycomb andÂ
CJ Fleming for the team lead in assists at three per game.
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As a team, the Knights are leading the ASUN in both overall field goal percentage (50.8) and 3-point field percentage (41.0).Â
For complete coverage of FGCU men's basketball, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_MBB and online atÂ
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 visitingÂ
www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
UPCOMING ASUN SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 15
North Alabama at Kennesaw - 6 PM
Liberty at Stetson - 7 PM
Bellarmine at FGCU - 7 PM
UNF at Jacksonville - 7 PM
Saturday, Jan. 16
North Alabama at Kennesaw - 4 PM
Liberty at Stetson - 5 PM
UNF at Jacksonville - 6 PM
Bellarmine at FGCU -
7 PM
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAMÂ 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.Â
Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
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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 169-110 record (.603 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 inÂ
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).
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#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.
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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 82 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 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 (No. 24, 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 (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each 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.
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