FGCU season stats | FGCU-Drexel box score


ESTERO, Fla. – FGCU men's basketball coach Pat Chambers calls senior guard Isaiah Thompson (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville HS/Purdue) "I.T." And in Tuesday night's 67-59 victory over Drexel, Thompson most definitely was "IT" for the Eagles. 
 
Thompson dropped a career-high 27 points on the Dragons, including 17 in the second half, as the FGCU outlasted Drexel and advanced to the championship game of the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase Wednesday. 
 
"That is a Big Five battle, and we knew it was going to be a drag-it-out, scratch-and-claw effort to take the lead and keep it," Chambers said. "We shot the ball great (Monday) with 12 3-pointers, and (tonight) only made five. I tell my guys that we practice every single day for the nights we don't make shots. Can we still get enough stops and rebounds to win by a point? We just kept going to the next possession, next possession, until we finally got it done. 
 
"I was super proud of Isaiah. I've been on him, because he is our point guard and I played the spot – so I am really hard on my point guards. We called some plays that he was able to make some big-time shots off floaters and pull-ups and 3-pointers once he started seeing the ball go in." 
 
The Gulf Coast Showcase championship at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday will feature FGCU and Kansas City, which edged Indiana State 63-61 in Tuesday's early semifinal. Drexel faces Indiana State in the third-place game at 5 p.m., East Carolina takes on UT Arlington in the fifth-place game at 1:30 p.m., and Toledo takes on Northern Kentucky for seventh place at 11 a.m. 
 
Junior guard Chase Johnston (Boca Raton, Fla./Westminster Academy/Stetson) delivered 18 points and five rebounds for FGCU (4-2), and sophomore center Andre Weir (Hollywood, Fla./Chaminade-Madonna College Prep/Richmond) tied his career high in rebounds (11) for the game's top total and scored nine points. 
 
FGCU's defense confounded Drexel throughout the first half, pushing the Dragons to the brink of shot-clock violations on several possessions and limiting them to 34.6 percent shooting from the floor. On the other end, Weir went after 6-foot-10 Drexel forward Amari Williams with physicality and finesse to get the big man out of position for inside buckets. 
 
And when Weir wasn't wearing out Williams, it was senior forward Dakota Rivers (Windermere, Fla./Windermere HS) flashing incredible hops with a highlight-reel, alley-oop dunk over the Drexel forward at the 4:00 mark of the half. Still, the Eagles and Dragons battled for seemingly every possession – with neither team leading by more than four points in the first 20 minutes of play and FGCU carrying a slim 31-29 lead into halftime. 
 
Even with Drexel going heavy to Williams to start the second half, FGCU was able to offset the big man with what Chambers called the "three-headed monster" of Weir, Rivers, and freshman center Sam Onu (Malvern, Pa./The Phelps School/Memphis).  
 
FGCU's inside presence on defense also paid off with explosive offense as Thompson drained two treys and drove for another bucket. Then senior guard Dahmir Bishop (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter/Xavier/St. Joseph's) went strong to the hoop and Johnston rebounded his short miss for a 43-36 lead. 
 
Drexel kept whittling away at FGCU and even took a one-point lead midway through the second half before Thompson delivered another shot of magic – pulling up on a fast break for a 3-pointer that made it 58-52 with 6:52 to play. 
 
And when Drexel pulled to within two in the final 2:30, Thompson was there again with a clutch fadeaway jumper at the 2:10 mark to extend FGCU's lead back to four points. That forced Drexel into fouling, and the Eagles were able to lock down the win at the free-throw line for the second straight game. 
 
Williams finished with 20 points, the lone Dragon in double figures, and grabbed nine rebounds for Drexel (3-2). Graduate guard Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, Fla./Southwest Florida Christian Academy) moved into FGCU's all-time Top 10 scoring list with 1,085 points as an Eagle. 
 
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 people – making a memorable evening for families, businesses, or other organizations.
 
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 194 career victories in that span 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-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 46 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an 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 & 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 six 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.
 
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