Men's Basketball | 1/13/2015 2:05:00 PM
Game Notes (pdf)JACKSONVILLE -- The North Florida basketball team faces a tough challenge in their Atlantic Sun Conference home debut Wednesday night at the Ospreys welcome preseason favorite Florida Gulf Coast to UNF Arena at 7 p.m. The game is sponsored by Pepsi and will be carried on ESPN3.The Ospreys (9-9) hope to extend their current win streak to three games following victories last week over Trinity Baptist and crosstown rival Jacksonville. Wednesday's game will be the only home game for UNF in their first five conference contests.
The game pits the top two ranked squads in the preseason A-Sun Coaches poll against each other as the nearly unanimous favorite Florida Gulf Coast (11-6, 1-0) visits UNF for the Eagles first road league game of the year.
Against JU on Saturday, sophomore Dallas Moore collected his conference leading 9th 20-point performance finishing with 20 points in helping the Ospreys to their largest victory over the Dolphins. Junior Beau Beech added 17 points and seven rebounds in the win while fellow junior Demarcus Daniels chipped in 16 points, six boards and three blocked shots. FGCU took their league opener with a 72-50 win over Stetson. The Eagles have won two of their last three after dropping four out of five games in late December. Florida Gulf Coast is 7-1 at home this year but are just 1-4 on the road having lost four straight. Preseason Player of the Year Bernard Thompson leads the FGCU attack scoring 14.3 ppg while backcourt mate Brett Comer ranks among the nation's leader in assists at 7.2 per game.
As part of the Atlantic Sun's ESPN3 on Campus initiative, Wednesday's game will mark the inaugural broadcast for the Ospreys. Local TV sports director, Brent Martineau, will handle the play-by-play duties while former UNF assistant coach Lee Moon, Jr., will provide color analysis. The game will be available online at ESPN3 as well as on the WatchESPN app.
After hosting FGCU, North Florida tips off a three-game road stetch with a game at Stetson on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. SERIES NOTES* Wednesday's game marks the 19th all-time meeting between the Ospreys and Eagles on the hardwood* FGCU holds an11-7 lead in the series having won the last 5 meetings
* Series has been highlighted by streaks: FGCU won first 6 / UNF claimed the next 7 / Eagles have captured last 5* Ospreys are 4-4 vs Eagles at UNF Arena
TIDBITS* Ospreys are 3-1 at home this season
* Game features the league's top two 3-point shooters -- UNF's Trent Mackey and FGCU's Bernard Thompson
* UNF is averaging 90.5 PPG at home this season while allowing just 65.5 PPGTEAM LEADERSScoring: Dallas Moore (UNF) 16.6 | Bernard Thompson (FGCU) 14.3Rebounding: Chris Davenport (UNF) 6.6 | Jamail Jones (FGCU) 6.3Assists: Dallas Moore (UNF) 59 | Brett Comer (FGCU) 123 | Team-by-Team Comparison |
| North Florida | FGCU |
| Record | 9-9 (1-0 ASun) | 11-6 (1-0 ASun) |
| Points/game | 74.4 | 65.6 |
| Rebounds/game | 33.4 | 38.3 |
| Assists/game | 14.9 | 15.1 |
| FG Percentage | 47.7 | 43.7 |
| 3PT Percentage | 38.8 | 36.9 |
| FT Percentage | 67.9 | 68.3 |
