January 15, 2011

Bears Close Out Three-Game Road Swing at Florida Gulf Coast

 

FGCU Pre-Game Notes

FT. MYERS, Fla. – Many head to Florida for vacations, but the Mercer men’s basketball team will be all business as it looks to get back on track in the Atlantic Sun Conference race.

 

The Bears (3-14, 1-5 A-Sun) are coming off of a loss at Stetson University on Friday evening in which they scored the first two points of the game and never led again the rest of the game. After standing toe-to-toe versus foes like Georgia, Charlotte, Georgia Tech and East Tennessee State in recent games, as well as an overtime loss at Campbell, being controlled by the Hatters was atypical.

 

Florida Gulf Coast is a team which has struggled, as well, with a 3-12 record on the year and is winless in A-Sun play at 0-6. The Eagles are ineligible for A-Sun post-season play still this season as they are in the final year of their reclassification period from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I.

 

The Bears will be hoping for a repeat performance from its senior-freshman backcourt tandem of Jeff Smith and Langston Hall. The duo each scored 20 points (Smith with 21 and Hall with 20) in the loss at Stetson.

 

Smith tops the Bears in scoring at 14.5 points per game and also averages 3.5 assists per game. Hall averages 8.9 points per game and 3.4 assists per contest, as well.

 

Senior Brian Mills added 10 points to extend his double-digit streak to 10 games. On the year, Mills averages 14.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

 

Senior forward Brandon Moore is third on the squad in scoring at 12.1 p.p.g. and leads the Bears in rebounding at 6.7 caroms per contest. He pulled down a game and MU season-high 13 rebounds at Stetson.

 

SCOUTING FLORIDA GULF COAST:

FGCU is led by the tandem of Anthony Banks and Reed Baker, who average 14.8 and 14.4 points per game, respectively. Banks deposits nearly 52 percent of his shots from the field (85-165) and is one of just two Eagles to have started all 15 games (Marlon Rivera, 7.3 p.p.g. and 5.8 r.p.g., is the other). Banks is also FGCU’s top rebounder at 6.3 p.p.g.

 

Baker had played in all of the Eagles games until Friday evening’s loss to Kennesaw State, when he did not play and no explanation was available.

 

In its setback to Kennesaw, Christopher Varidel tallied 18 points – better than double his season average of 8.3 p.p.g. – while Banks and Rivera added 15 and 10 points, respectively. The Eagles were out-rebounded by KSU (36-30) and allowed the Owls to hit nearly 51 percent (29-57) from the floor.

 

GAME NOTES:

*Prior to Smith and Hall’s 21/20 point games versus Stetson, the last time a Mercer tandem accomplished a 20-20 scoring game was on January 4, 2010 at Jacksonville when Daniel Emerson had 29 and James Florence added 26.

 

*Mercer leads the overall series versus Florida Gulf Coast by a 5-1 margin.  However, that lone loss occurred last season, 71-70, in Ft. Myers as the teams split meetings in 2009-10.