FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast men's basketball cruised to a 96-60 season-opening victory over New College of Florida on Monday behind 14 points from junior guard Rahmir Barno and graduate guard Brandon Dwyer's first collegiate points.

Dwyer ended his "Road to One" by drilling a wing 3-pointer after curling around a screen and catching a pass from freshman guard Gabe Tanner with 2:49 to play. The crowd had chanted the FGCU social media star's name for several minutes before he entered the game and missed the first shot he took.

"It's been a long journey, it's my fifth year in college and my teammates call me 'Unc'," Dwyer said after the game. "It's definitely nice to have that weight lifted off my shoulders."

"It's pretty surreal, especially when coach calls me in and I go to the table and all the fans are going crazy. It gets my adrenaline going, it gets my blood pumping, it gets me feeling good. I know all my teammates, they want to see me succeed. They're always telling me 'I'm looking for you.' The first shot, I missed a little bit left, but they all told me back at the free throw line 'shoot the next one, you've got it'"

"When the first one went through, it definitely felt pretty cool. I don't really know how to describe that feeling, I don't even know what celebration I did, but it was really cool. Then when the second one went in, (freshman guard) Matt McCarthy gave me a great extra pass, unselfish guy. He was open but he wanted to see if I could make another one and I did. That shows a lot about him and that shows a lot about our team, that we all want to see each other succeed.

Junior forward Isaiah Malone dominated the first half in his FGCU debut, posting a ten point, seven rebound, four block stat line in 13 minutes. Notre Dame transfer JR Konieczny contributed well, grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out a team-best five assists.

New College of Florida hit a few early shots, but the Eagles' defense settled in and held the Mighty Banyans to six made field goals in the last 12 minutes of the first half before going on a 13-0 run to begin the second half and put the game comfortably out of reach.

"It felt amazing," Barno said. "We've been waiting six months to do this. We had a nice crowd, salute to the fans. It felt great to give the fans the first win of the season and to go to war with these guys."

FGCU also got double-digit outings from Rory Stewart and George Washington III, who posted 11 and 10, respectively. Washington III added three steals, a career best mark for the Richmond transfer.

Dwyer wasn't the only Eagle to record their first collegiate points on the evening. Freshmen guards Jordan Ellerbee and Tanner both scored in their first collegiate outing. Ellerbee had seven points on 3-for-5 shooting with two steals and assist, and Tanner buried FGCU's final 3-pointer and basket of the game to set the final margin at 96-60.

The Eagles moved to 5-0 all-time in season openers at Alico Arena, as head coach Pat Chambers won his first season opener played at home after three road openers to begin his tenure at FGCU.

Next, FGCU heads to No. 17 Illinois for its first power conference game of the season at 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 7.

For more information on FGCU men's basketball, follow @FGCU_MBB on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook, and visit fgcuathletics.com.