FGCU WBB/MBB vs. NJIT Preview

With conference underway in the A-SUN, the FGCU men's and women's basketball team prepare for another conference game as they face NJIT to continue conference play.

Last Time Out for the Women:
The Eagles (15-3, 1-0 A-SUN) defeated Stetson 80-40 to open conference. The Eagles scored 12 3-pointers in their victory and continue to lead the nation in 3-pointers made (216) and 3-pointers made (610) as well as being #1 in the nation of the Collegeinsiders.com Top 25 Mid-Major Poll.

Player(s) Recognition(s):
Sophomore Tytionia Adderly and redshirt junior Lisa Zderadicka were recently earned weekly awards in the A-SUN.

Adderly was named A-SUN Player of the Week after her game against Stetson. The Jupiter-native had a double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds. This was her sixth career double-double, 20th career double-digit rebounding performance and second career 20-point game. Adderly was one point shy of tying her career-high point record (22 vs Northern Colorado, Nov. 18, 2016). Adderly is averaging 7.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

Zderadicka, a native of Vienna, Austria and grad student from Houston Baptist, was named A-SUN Newcomer of the Week for the second time (first time: December 12, 2017). During the game against Stetson, Zderadicka had 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. Zderadicka is averaging seven points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

Impactful Players:
Senior Rose Julien currently leads in points per game (12.8). Julien had 12 points and four rebounds against Stetson.

Redshirt senior Taylor Grandijan did not score in the game against Stetson. Grandijan is scoring 10.2 points per game. Grandijan did contribute with two rebounds and sits seventh all-time in career rebound (435) and third all-time in career 3-pointers made (258). Grandijan is 69 points away from surpassing former player and current video coordinator Stephanie Haas (1,135) for seventh all-time in career points.

Sophomore Nasrin Ulel is averaging 10.1 points per game. She had eight in the game against Stetson.

Bench Role:
Along with Zderadicka, redshirt seniors Jessica Cattani and China Dow are still effective off the bench.

After scoring a career-high 23 points against Florida Memorial, Cattani's points per game skyrocketed from 5.9 to 7.1. In Cattani's last game, she scored seven points with one rebound, one assist and one steal.

Dow is averaging 9.6 points per game. In her last two games, Dow has scored five points in each game.

Another player that has been a big factor is redshirt freshman Chandler Ryan. Ryan is averaging averaging 4.9 points per game and, in her last game, scored 11 points (4-4 FG, 3-3 3FG) against Stetson in five minutes.

Scouting NJIT:
The Highlanders (2-14, 0-1 A-SUN) are hoping to shake off a three-game losing streak. NJIT hosted the NJIT Highlanders Christmas Tournament where they would beat Long Beach State (73-57) before losing to Penn in the championship game (38-77). After their tournament, NJIT would lose to Cornell (46-61) to end non-conference before losing to USC Upstate (57-95) to open their conference portion.

Key Players:
Redshirt junior Tatianna Torres leads the team offensively. Torres is averaging 11.7 points per game and is second on the team in rebounds per game (5.6). In Torres' game against Upstate, she scored 10 points with seven rebounds.

Freshman Ellyn Stoll is also effective on the starting rotation. Stoll is averaging 9.7 points per game. In her game against Upstate, she scored seven points with three assists.

Series History:
The Eagles are 5-0 against NJIT. Last series, FGCU swept NJIT winning 73-53 at home and 77-46 at NJIT last season.

Last Time Out for the Men:
The men's team (10-8, 1-0 A-SUN) also competed against Stetson after the women's game. They would win 90-52.

Impactful Players:
Still leading the way is the duo of redshirt senior Brandon Goodwin and redshirt junior Zach Johnson.

In the game against Upstate, Goodwin finished with seven points while Johnson led the way with a game-high 17 points. Goodwin averages 17 points per game while Johnson averages 13.7 points per game.

Senior Christian Terrell has also remained a key factor to the team. Terrell is averaging 12.3 points per game after finishing with seven points against Upstate.

After starting the last game, redshirt junior Dinero Mercurius is averaging nine points per game after finishing with a 13 point game against Upstate.

Bench Role:
Going back and forth between rotations, the main factors from the bench role include freshman Brian Thomas, redshirt junior Michael Gilmore, sophomore RaySean Scott Jr, sophomore Christian Carlyle and redshirt senior Antravious Simmons.

Thomas recently came back after being unable to play in 15 straight games due to a broken hand. Thomas, whose last game was against Bowling Green, made his home game debut where he had four points, eight rebounds, one block and one steal. In the game against Upstate, Thomas finished with four points and six rebounds.

Scott has been on and off between being a starter and playing the bench role. the Compton, California native is averaging 5.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Against Upstate, Scott had seven points and six rebounds.

Carlyle is averaging 6.3 points per game. Against Upstate, Carlyle had two points, one rebound and three steals.

Simmons missed the previous game against Upstate due to a foot injury. Simmons is averaging 6.8 points per game.


Scouting NJIT Men's Team:
NJIT (8-9, 1-1 A-SUN) defeated Upstate 98-87 before falling to Stetson 67-80.

Sophomore Anthony Tarke paces the NJIT offensive attack at 15.2 points per game. Tarke led the way with 23 points against Stetson.

Junior Diandre Wilson averages 11.1 points per game. Wilson had 10 points against Stetson.

Junior Abdul Lewis is at 9.9 points per game. Lewis did not play against Stetson nor Upstate


Series History:
FGCU holds a 3-1 edge in the all-time series with NJIT. The Highlanders joined the A-SUN in 2015-16, and the Eagles split with them that first year as each team protected its home court. However, FGCU swept both matchups last year. Three of the four meetings have been decided by single digits, with the lone exception coming as part of FGCU's 84-71 win at Alico last January.

Both gamez on Saturday, January 13 and are dubbed as a pink out, so marketing is encouraging fans that attend the game to wear pink to support the stop of breast cancer. Game time is set to start at 4 PM for the women and 7 PM for the men. Both will air on ESPN3.

Link: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3244964/njit-vs-florida-gulf-coast-w-basketball