Dunk City: Gulf Coast Showcase Preview

The FGCU men's basketball team (2-2) will be featured as the nightcap Monday when the Eagles open up their first game of the Gulf Coast Showcase taking on Toledo (2-1) at Hertz Arena.

With an Eagles' win, they will play Tuesday night at 7:30 pm against the winner of the Colorado State/Louisiana matchup. A loss will have the Eagles playing the loser of Colorado State/Louisiana game Tuesday at 1:30 pm. With another victory on Tuesday, FGCU would play in the championship game Wednesday at 7:30 pm.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles handed South Dakota State – who came in ranked #3 in the Collegeinsider.com Mid Major Top 25 Poll – its first loss of the season Friday night. Down seven at the break (37-30), FGCU used a 54-point second half performance to come out on top, 84-78. Tied at 66-66 with a little under four minutes remaining in regulation, redshirt senior Dinero Mercurius drained a three-pointer to break the tie before the Jackrabbits knotted the affair once again with under 2:30 left on the clock.

The momentum shifted into FGCU's favor in a six-second stretch with under 1:30 to go as redshirt senior Schadrac Casimir scored on a drive to the bucket as he would intercept the following inbound pass for an easy layup to give the Eagles a 76-74 lead. SDSU would get within one (79-78) with 19 seconds left but five points from Mercurius – three from the free throw line – in the closing seconds would seal the deal for the Eagles as he capped off his night with 14 points.

This will mark the second appearance in the Showcase tournament for FGCU, the first one coming back in 2014. In that year, the Green and Blue collected wins over Marist (58-43) and San Francisco (62-47) before falling in the championship game to Green Bay (59-49).

Since its inaugural in 2013 – which caters to Mid-Major programs – this year's tournament looks to be one of the most competitive fields in the past six years. Including FGCU, eight teams will be competing Monday through Wednesday. Out of the eight teams, four are currently ranked in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll – #3 SDSU, #12 Louisiana, #13 Toledo, and #23 UC Irvine.

On one side of the bracket, you have SDSU (3-1), Tulane (1-1), UC Irvine (4-0), and UTSA (0-3) while the other draw features FGCU, Toledo, Louisiana (1-2) and Colorado State (3-0).

Scouting Toledo:
The Rockets are ranked #13 in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, Toledo comes into Southwest Florida with an overall 2-1 record, led by head coach Tod Kowalczyk who's in his 9th season with the program. Over the last five seasons, he's guided the Rockets to a trio of 20-win campaigns. Toledo ended last year with a 23-11 record, going 13-5 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) as they claimed the MAC West Division crown.

Forward Willie Jackson is close to averaging a double-double through three games as the 6-6 junior is dropping 13.3 points per game while grabbing nine rebounds a contest and 1.3 assists per game. Behind him, junior Luke Knapke is averaging 12.3 points, pairing that with 6.3 boards per contest while senior Nate Navigato is third on the team in scoring with 12 points per game. The Rockets are shooting 49 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc.

Toledo's first two wins of the season came against Oakland (87-86) and Wilberforce (Ohio) (99-58). Their first loss came last Wednesday at the hands of Wright State (84-74).   

Series History:
This will be the fourth all-time meeting between the Eagles and the Rockets Monday night as FGCU leads series 2-1. Both teams faced off against each other in three-straight years from 2010-12. After dropping the first meeting, 73-65 on the road, the Eagles won the following two contests in Alico Arena (83-80, 2011 and 72-66, 2012).

How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be available and will air on the Gulf Coast Showcase livestream. The livestream will cost $24 to watch.

Fans can also keep up on Twitter:
FGCU: @FGCU_MBB

Livestats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=240958

Livestream Link:  https://bdglobal.inplayer.com/gulf-coast-men/item.html?id=40393