FGCU MBB vs Florida Tech Preview

After a tough night offensively in a 78-48 loss at No. 19 VCU,  one of the top defenses in the Atlantic 10, the FGCU men's basketball team returns to action on Tuesday night as Florida Tech visits Alico Arena. The game is set for a 7 PM tip and will be streamed live on ESPN+.

The game will be a White Out with a 'FansGiving' promotion. There will also be a Food Drive by the Department of Athletics collecting non-perishable items to be donated to the FGCU Food Pantry and the Harry Chapin Food Bank as part of #FeedFGCU which helps provide resources for those in need - particularly around the holidays. This Friday, Nov. 29, FGCU will also be accepting toy donations through Dec. 21 to benefit the Golisano Children's Hospital and Toys For Tots.

The match-up with Florida Tech will be the seventh meeting all-time with the Eagles holding a 6-0 record in the series. It will also mark the beginning of the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic this week with games against North Dakota, Campbell and Georgia Southern set for Friday (7 PM), Saturday (7 PM) and Sunday (5 PM).

The FGCU Classic will also feature non-conference games during the Thanksgiving weekend. On Friday, Campbell will face Georgia Southern at 4:30 PM, while Saturday will see North Dakota take on Georgia Southern. North Dakota and Campbell will then play on Sunday at Noon.

In Saturday's loss at No. 19 VCU, the Rams defense was the key to the game converting 27 FGCU turnovers into 37 points. A 20-2 run by VCU closed out the first half. The Eagles made strides to cut into the lead in the second half, but were unable to bridge the gap.

FGCU's opening stretch of road games to begin the year has racked up the frequent flyer mileage. The Eagles have traveled to the Midwest, covered nearly 95 percent of the Eastern Seaboard with the trip to Dartmouth and still have a cross country flight (2,650 miles) to USC later this season. The trip to Mercer was the shortest (510 miles), while the Eagles trip to Richmond to face VCU was 928 miles.

Sophomore Zach Scott continues to lead the Eagles with a career-best 14.0 points per game with Catto just behind with 12.7 points per outing - also a career-best mark. After leading the way in the win over FAU, Warren is now averaging 9.7 points per game which is third-best on the team.

After a slow start to the year, freshman Dakota Rivers had a breakout stretch in the Mercer and FAU games where he averaged 12 points after scoring seven total in the first three contests. Junior Sam Gagliardi averaged 10.5 points in those two games as well thanks to a combined 7-of-17 shooting from deep. Gagliardi opened the first three games going 3-of-16 and averaging 4.3 per game.

Of the five loses, UMBC and Dartmouth were by a combined 10 points  with the Eagles in a spot to lead or tie the game late. In each of those games, FGCU played solid defensively overall holding each team to a combined 34.8 percent from the floor which would have ranked 37th nationally going into the Mercer game.

Florida Tech is 2-3 on the year after wins over Johnson and Puerto Rico-Bayamon before taking a loss at Saint Leo on Saturday night.

Sesan Russell leads the Panthers with 25.0 points per game followed by 14.4 per night from Runako Ziegler. Mehil Noble rounds out the top scorers with 10.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per night.

Livestats Link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=285699

ESPN+ Link: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=f412cda3-6e61-45c0-a910-034feb8949c8