North Alabama (10-5, 6-3) vs. Florida Gulf Coast (8-6, 3-4)
Alico Arena, Fort Myers, Florida; Saturday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Florida Gulf Coast goes for the season sweep over North Alabama after winning the previous matchup in Fort Myers. The teams last faced each other on Feb. 5, when the Eagles shot 46.6 percent from the field while limiting North Alabama to just 34.2 percent en route to a 26-point victory.
BIG MEN ON CAMPUS: Florida Gulf Coast’s Cyrus Largie has averaged 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds while Caleb Catto has put up 13.4 points and 4.3 rebounds. For the Lions, Mervin James has averaged 15.2 points and 7.4 rebounds while Emanuel Littles has put up 9.4 points and 10.1 rebounds.
DIALING IT UP A NOTCH: The Lions have scored 70.6 points per game against conference opponents thus far, an improvement from the 54.5 per game they put up over two non-conference games.MIGHTY MERVIN: James has connected on 31.7 percent of the 41 3-pointers he’s attempted and has made 5 of 12 over the last five games. He’s also converted 72.1 percent of his free throws this season.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Eagles have recently created buckets via assists more often than the Lions. Florida Gulf Coast has 39 assists on 81 field goals (48.1 percent) across its previous three outings while North Alabama has assists on 29 of 79 field goals (36.7 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: Florida Gulf Coast is ranked first among Atlantic Sun teams with an offensive rebound percentage of 32.2 percent. The Eagles have averaged 12.4 offensive boards per game and 13.6 per game over their last five games.
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