SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The FGCU men's basketball program absorbed its first loss of the 2022-23 season Wednesday night, falling 79-73 to the San Diego Toreros at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. The Eagles now sit at 1-1 on the season while USD improves to 2-0.

Junior forward Chase Johnston (Boca Raton, Fla.) came off the bench again to record his second straight stellar outing, leading all scorers with 23 points and making 5 of 9 3-pointers. FGCU as a team made 13 of 32 3-pointers, a 40.6 percent clip. 

Junior forward Zach Anderson (Apopka, Fla.) scored 17 points, led FGCU with nine rebounds and dished five assists. Sophomore center Andre Weir (Hollywood, Fla.) and graduate guard Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, Fla.) each added 10 points. Catto also had five assists. 

San Diego (2-0) got 22 points from Seikou Sisoho Jawara, 19 from Eric Williams Jr. and 18 from Marcellus Earlington. 

"I was proud of the way we hung in there and competed," FGCU coach Pat Chambers said. "We looked a step slow at times, and give San Diego credit because they played tough and physical." 

FGCU (1-1) hung tough with San Diego throughout the back end of a two-game West Coast road trip. Two days after upsetting the Andy Enfield-coached Southern Cal Trojans by a score of 74-61, though, the Eagles were ultimately unable to complete the business trip with a win.

FGCU struggled to contain San Diego's forward tandem of Earlington and Williams Jr. (10 points each) for much of the first half, and the Toreros engineered an 8-0 run to take a 28-21 edge with 5:34 remaining. But FGCU clawed back – with Catto drilling a 3 and senior guard Cyrus Largie (Miramar, Fla.) banking home a layup to pull to within three points before another late San Diego flurry dealt FGCU a 32-27 halftime deficit. 

Whatever sluggishness FGCU displayed in the first 20 minutes quickly evaporated after senior guard Isaiah Thompson (Zionsville, Ind.), Anderson and Catto each canned 3s to make it 36-36. The long-range barrage continued minutes later, as Johnston spun down a 3 to give FGCU a 41-40 lead with 15:27 remaining. 
Johnston again negated a 5-0 Toreros burst with a long-range 3 at the 13:23 mark in the second half to make it 46-46, and then made two more treys just inside the halfway point of the second half to tie it at 55. 

A 3:13 FGCU scoring drought allowed San Diego to open up a 65-55 lead with 7:19 to play, but the Eagles weren't ready to board the flight home quite yet. A 3 from senior guard Dahmir Bishop (Philadelphia, Pa.) whittled the deficit to 70-67 at the 3:18 mark and Weir drove the lane for a layup 24 seconds later to make it 70-69. FGCU had two chances to tie it up in the final two minutes, but a blocked shot and a turnover proved too much to overcome.

"The last seven minutes we could have packed it in, and we didn't," Chambers said. "We had a couple chances there in the last minute or so, and that was the difference. We have experienced a lot of learning, growing, and teaching on this trip – and it will benefit us when we get to conference play. I'm excited about it all and about this group." 

The Eagles return to Southwest Florida for the 2022-23 home opener, playing Ave Maria at 6 pm Sunday at Alico Arena. Sunday's home opener is FGCU's only game at home in the month of November. 

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. 
  
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS, MINI PLANS AVAILABLE 
Tickets for the 2022-23 FGCU Basketball season are on sale now and can be purchased by going online to www.FGCUTickets.com or calling 866-FGCU-TIX. Group tickets can also be purchased for 10 or more -- making a memorable evening for families, businesses, or other organizations. 

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.
 
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 CHAMBERS
Pat Chambers was officially introduced as the fifth FGCU men's basketball head coach in March 2022 bringing a wealth of experience in college basketball highlighted by head coaching stints at Penn State and Boston University. Chambers spent nine years leading the Penn State (2011-20) program and two years as head coach at Boston University (2009-11). He has 191 career victories including four 20-plus win seasons. Part of his career as a head coach was highlighted by leading the Nittany Lions to a No. 9 national ranking in 2019-20 which tied the program's best-ever ranking set in 1996. Prior to becoming a head coach, he spent five seasons as part of the Villanova staff helping the Wildcats to a Final Four (2009), two Elite Eight, and three Sweet Sixteen appearances during his tenure.
 
#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 93 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 45 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn at at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four 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 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 26 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative 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.