FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast men's basketball (10-14, 4-7 ASUN) returns to action in Kentucky at 2 p.m. Saturday against Bellarmine (10-13, 5-6).

The last time out, Isaiah Malone led FGCU with 18 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Rahmir Barno had a 12 point, 10 assist double-double, Jordan Ellerbee added 15 points and JR Konieczny scored 14.

FGCU lost for just the second time this season when allowing less than 80 points. The Eagles outshot the Colonels 46% to 40% from the field, and both teams knocked down 10 3-pointers, but EKU hit 20 free throws to FGCU's 10.

Malone added two blocks on Thursday to move into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time FGCU blocks leaderboard. His next three blocks will tie him for fifth, fourth & third in program history, respectively, and he's six blocks away from the second-best blocking season in FGCU history.

Bellarmine enters at 10-13 and 5-6 in ASUN play. The Knights have won three straight and four of their last five after starting out 1-5 in conference action. Bellarmine earned back-to-back wins over West Georgia and Queens by three points each before blowing out Stetson, 92-71, on Thursday night. Jack Karasinski scored 26 points on 6-for-8 3-point shooting to lead the Knights, who shot 56% from beyond the arc as a team, over the Hatters.

As a team, Bellarmine leads the ASUN in 3-point percentage at 36.9%. The Knights are also atop the conference in turnovers per game (10.5), field goal percentage (51.7%) and effective field goal percentage (59.1%). The 51.% shooting mark from the field ranks fifth nationally; the 59.1% effective field goal percentage is eighth in the country.

The Knights have three players averaging double-digit scoring, led by Karasinski's 19.6 points per game on 55.6% shooting from the field and 39.0% shooting from 3-point range. Karasinski is the second-leading scorer in the conference, only behind North Florida's Kamrin Oriol. He also grabs a team-best 4.9 rebounds per game. Brian Waddell adds 15.3 points per game and 0.5 blocks per game for the Knights; Kenyon Goodin scores 12.8 points per game on 42.9% shooting from 3-point range and tallies 0.9 steals per game. Goodin is the best free throw shooter in the conference and 11th best nationally at 91.8% from the foul line. Tyler Doyle dishes out 3.2 assists per game for Bellarmine.

FGCU swept the 2024-25 series against Bellarmine, but trails in the all-time series 3-5. The Eagles won 80-61 at home and 77-61 on the road. In the last matchup, Michael Duax had an eight point, eight rebound outing; the last time the teams met in Louisville, Duax had a 12 point, 10 rebound double-double with six assists.

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.