CONWAY, Ark. – Florida Gulf Coast men's basketball will begin 2026 on New Year's Day at Central Arkansas at 2 p.m. ET.

FGCU snapped a five game losing skid with a 84-43 home win over Fort Lauderdale. Chambers holds a 3-1 mark against UCA during his time at FGCU. The Eagles also began the 2022-23 ASUN campaign with a trip to Conway, winning 84-79 in overtime. In the last FGCU-UCA tilt, Rahmir Barno scored 12 points, had five rebounds and three assists in the 77-71 FGCU win.

FGCU is 11-7 all-time in ASUN openers, and is 9-9 in road ASUN openers. The Eagles haven't lost their first ASUN game since 2021 (four straight wins). Chambers is 3-0 ASUN openers, but is 2-1 in ASUN road openers. The 2023 ASUN opener is the only time prior to 2026 that UCA and FGCU have met in the first game of conference play.

Against Fort Lauderdale, Isaiah Malone starred and led all scorers with a 15 point, 14 rebound double-double. The 6'8 junior forward added a career high six blocks, falling two shy of the single-game FGCU record. It's the most blocks in a game by an Eagle since Kevin Samuel recorded seven at Stetson on Feb. 12, 2022.

The Eagles grabbed 54 total rebounds for their third 50+ rebound game of the year. It's already the second most 50 rebound games in a season for FGCU, only behind the 2015-16 NCAA Tournament season. The plus-31 rebound margin is the largest of the Chambers era and the second largest in a single game ever for FGCU.

FGCU leads the all-time series with UCA 4-1 since the Bears entered the ASUN ahead of the 2021-22 season, and the Eagles are 3-0 in Conway. 

UCA is led by Camren Hunter, who averages 16.5 points per game. Ty Robinson is the Bears' other double-digit scorer at 13.4 PPG, he also tallies 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. Luke Moore notches 3.4 assists per game and Malchiah Marable averages 0.7 blocks per game. 

The Bears navigated a difficult nonconference slate at 5-8. The lone common opponent is Samford – FGCU earned a road win over the Bulldogs, while Samford beat UCA 84-77 at the Farris Center. The Bears have three ranked losses – Vanderbilt, North Carolina, and Arkansas – along with a power conference loss to SMU to end nonconference play. Notable wins for UCA include Eastern Washington and Eastern Illinois.

Tickets are on sale now for ASUN action at https://fgcuathletics.evenue.net/list/FGCU. 

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