Dunk City is looking to make another magical run through the NCAA Tournament. The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles were the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Sun conference tournament and have looked the part thus far, with double digit wins against Kennesaw State and Stetson. Their opponent for the conference’s automatic bid is a bit of a surprise as the North Florida Ospreys knocked off the Lipscomb Bison in an upset on Thursday night. FGCU will be a big favorite, but can UNF pull off the upset and go dancing for just the second time ever?
This was on the floor will go down Sunday, March 5, 2017, at 3 p.m. ET at Alico Arena. The game will be televised live on ESPN. We will have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Sunday schedule.
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UNF was a 9.5-point underdog when it went into Lipscomb and shocked the No. 2 seed. The Ospreys have been pretty bad on the road, with losses to Kennesaw State and Stetson, but for whatever reason have had Lipscomb’s number. UNF beat them on the road just two weeks ago before beating them when it mattered.
FGCU is thankful that UNF knocked out Lipscomb. The Bison were the last team to defeat the Eagles this season and they did it in Fort Myers. It was one of the few games that FGCU lost in the A-Sun this year.
Last Meeting
It was close through the first half the last time these teams met. UNF and FGCU battled to a virtual deadlock, but the Eagles started to pull away in the second half as Brandon Goodwin just couldn’t miss. Goodwin sunk 11 of 19 shots from the floor when these two sides met in late January and led all scorers with 29 points on the evening.
Interestingly enough, UNF attempted 10 more field goals than FGCU did when these teams squared off previously. Digging into the numbers, that was because the Eagles went to the foul line considerably more often than the Ospreys did. FGCU shot 26 free throws on the day, making 19 of them, and that was the major difference aside from Goodwin’s big game.
Key Stat
North Florida has lived and died by the three this season, and used a hot night to knock off Lipscomb. The Ospreys hit an amazing 16 of their 24 three-point attempts on the evening and shot much better from behind the arc than they did from two-point range. From two, UNF hit just 12 of 25 shots, a percentage that would have been awesome most nights, but paled in comparison on Thursday.
UNF is going to likely come back down to Earth against FGCU in this one. The Ospreys are hitting 35.5 percent of their three-point attempts on the season and face one of the stingiest defenses from distance that there is. The Eagles allow opponents to hit just 31.2 percent of their three-point attempts.
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A UNF win would almost assuredly send the Ospreys to Dayton. The Ospreys are sitting below .500 on the season and the unlikely upset would still put this team at just 16-18 on the year. They beat no one of consequence in out of conference play and were pasted by almost every real team they faced, except Syracuse.
FGCU should be a double-digit favorite and will likely cover that number with ease. It’s hard to imagine another lights out shooting performance from UNF when that has been so uncommon for the team this season. The Eagles are also going to have home court advantage as this is one of the tournaments that has the better seed play each round on its home floor. FGCU wins big here and stamps its ticket with authority.
College Basketball Odds: Florida Gulf Coast 81, North Florida 64
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