The season opener finally arrived as the FGCU men's basketball team opened with a game at home against Illinois State. For me, personally, it was a matter of home ground because I'm from Illinois, so you can say I would be in a fix, but honestly, it didn't really matter.
Normally, basketball games at FGCU don't start until around 7 pm, but because volleyball has a game at 7 pm, the game was pushed to 1 pm, but that didn't stop the day.
In the beginning, the lineup threw me off-guard. FGCU's starting lineup was as listed: redshirt senior Brandon Goodwin, redshirt junior Zach Johnson, senior Christian Terrell, sophomore Christian Carlyle and redshirt junior Ricky Doyle.
Honestly, this was a tough game for the season opener because the men were playing the #1 team in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) but in the end, The Eagles managed to clip the Redbirds 98-87.
"When you play a team this early in the year that's as skilled as Illinois State, you're going to put yourself in harm's way defensively," said FGCU head coach Joe Dooley of giving up 87 points. "There will definitely be some teachable moments when we look back at the tape. But there's certainly some good things that we can take from this. We had really good performances up and down the lineup, and almost everyone contributed – especially at the offensive end."
Goodwin had 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals. He was 9-for-12 at the free throw line.
Johnson led with a team-high 27 points with four rebounds, four assists, four steals and one block. Johnson was 8-for-9 at the free throw line.
Terrell finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, one assist, two blocks and a steal.
Carlyle, who was a wildcard for starting the game, scored 11 points with nine rebounds, one assist, two blocks and was 7-for-10 at the free throw line.
Doyle, who sat out last season as part of the NCAA transfer rule after transferring from Michigan, made his official debut and despite fouling out and playing only nine minutes, he scored eight points and had one rebound.
Players that contributed off the bench included redshirt senior Antravious Simmons, redshirt sophomore Brady Ernst and redshirt junior Dinero Mercurius. Ernst and Mercurius were making their season debut.
Simmons had five points, eight rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Ernst, a double transfer from Iowa State and Indian Hills Community College, had two points and three rebounds.
Mercurius, a triple transfer from USF, Texas-Rio Grande Valley and NJCAA Daytona State College, scored 11 points, including two back-to-back three pointers, two rebounds and one assist.
In front of 4,335 basketball fans, students and Dirty Birds, the game was really intense, but a lot of energy was intact.
The Eagles will be on the road for their second game as they face Siena College on November 13.
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