Engles Pregame Comments (Video)

NJIT Men's Basketball Gameday Center
 

Game 18	NJIT (9-8; 0-1 A-Sun) at Florida Gulf Coast (10-7; 1-0 A-Sun)
Date/Time	Thursday, January 14, 2016/ 7 pm
Location/Venue	Fort Myers, FL/ Alico Arena (4,633)
Live Coverage	ESPN3 streaming telecast (WatchESPN app; www.watchespn.com)  Live audio: www.njithighlanders.com Matt Provence (play-by-play)
Live Stats	In-game statistics (free)
Social Media	@njithighlanders
All-Time Series	First meeting
Game Notes	NJIT notes / FGCU notes

 
The game will be shown live on ESPN3 (all remaining NJIT basketball games--home and away--will be live on ESPN3)
  
A simple way to find ESPN3 is on NJIT's official athletics website, www.njithighlanders.com. Near the middle of the home page NJIT TV section, click Upcoming Events for a list of scheduled NJIT contests. After finding the event, click the camera icon to the right of the event listing. That brings you to an ESPN3 portal where you can access the desired program.
 
For more details on how to watch NJIT on ESPN3, go to the section at the bottom of this page.
 
Matt Provence, voice of the Highlanders, will have the audio call of the game live on the Highlander Sports Network, which can be found on www.njithighlanders.com (no charge). Access the audio feed by clicking the speaker icon on the NJIT TV Upcoming Events listing for the FGCU game.
 
NJIT vs. Florida Gulf Coast (Thursday, 7 pm)
Coming off a painful defeat in their Atlantic Sun Conference debut (lost 80-78 vs. USC Upstate at home on a tip-in with 4/10 second left), the Highlanders will open their first A-Sun road weekend with a game at one of the top teams in the conference, Florida Gulf Coast, Thursday at 7 pm (NJIT will visit Stetson on Saturday at 3:15 pm).
 
NJIT and FGCU have never met in men's basketball, but both have achieved national acclaim in recent years.
 
Dubbed "Dunk City", the Florida Gulf Coast team became the darlings of March Madness in 2013 when the Eagles became the first #15 seed ever to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. They did it by beating #2 seed Georgetown and #7 seed San Diego State, before finally losing to #3 seed Florida.
 
FGCU has not gone back to the NCAA Tournament, but won 22 games and reached the National Invitation Tournament the following year and won 22 games again last year, while earning a berth in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT)
 
NJIT made its national name last season, defeating #17/#16 Michigan in Ann Arbor on December 6, 2014 and picking up more big wins along the way to the semifinals of the CIT, the deepest run in a national postseason tournament in program history.
 
A LOOK at FGCU (10-7; 1-0 A-Sun)
The Eagles come in having won their last four games, including an 82-53 home blowout win in the A-Sun opener over Stetson last Saturday. Indeed, FGCU is 9-3 this season in home games, where it draws large crowds in Alico Arena (the Stetson game drew 4,266).
 
Before this season, NJIT had never faced an A-Sun team in men's basketball, but FGCU's Joe Dooley in his third year as head coach, has known about NJIT for a long time. A native of West Orange, NJ, he is a graduate of NJIT's Newark neighbor St. Benedict's Prep, where he graduated as the school's all-time basketball scoring leader. Dooley had 21 years as a Division I assistant (most recently at Kansas before being named head man at Florida Gulf Coast). He was head coach at East Carolina for four seasons in the 1990s.
 
Florida Gulf Coast was picked second in the A-Sun coaches' preseason poll, one spot ahead of NJIT. Julian DuBose (6-4, R-Sr.) was a unanimous selection on the coaches' preseason All-Conference team, as was NJIT's Damon Lynn.
 
Marc-Eddy Norelia (6-8, R-Jr.) has been A-Sun Player of the Week twice this season, while Reggie Reid (5-11, Fr.) and Rayjon Tucker (6-5, Fr.) each have an A-Sun Newcomer of the Week award.
 
FGCU team stats and leaders:
Scoring (team 77.5 ppg; +8.2 ppg): Marc-Eddy Norelia (6-8, R-Jr; 15.9 ppg); Christian Terrell (6-5, So; 13.6 ppg); Zach Johnson (6-2, R-Fr; 8.9 ppg); Julian DuBose (6-4, R-Sr; 8.5 ppg)
Rebounding (team 41.9 rpg; +4.1 rpg): Norelia (6-8, R-Jr; 8.6 rpg); Demetris Morant (6-9, R-Jr.; 6.0 rpg); Antravious Simmons (6-9, R-So; 5 rpg)
Assists: Reggie Reid (5-11, Fr; 68); Zach Johnson (6-2, R-Fr; 53)
Blocks: Norelia (19); Morant (18)
Steals: Terrell (25)
3-pt FGM: Filip Cvjeticanin (6-9, R-Sr; 31)
 
A LOOK at NJIT (9-8)
After posting a pre-conference record of 9-7, their best mark after 16 games in program history at the Division I level, the Highlanders lost the A-Sun opener last Saturday, 80-78, on a tip-in with less than half a second to play. It was the second loss this season for NJIT where the winning points came in the final second (lost 74-73 at UAlbany on November 27).
 
Coupled with a January 6 loss at Yale in the final non-conference game, the loss to Upstate gave NJIT back-to-back defeats. The Highlanders have not lost 3 in a row since November 19 through November 24, 2014, when the fell in succession against UAlbany, UMass Lowell, and Marquette.
 
NJIT lost back-to-back games earlier this season (83-76 to now-#12 Providence and then UAlbany), but won three of the next four.
 
NJIT team stats and leaders:
Scoring (team 75.8 ppg; +0.6 ppg): Damon Lynn (5-11 Jr; 17.8 ppg); Tim Coleman (6-5, Jr; 14.4 ppg); Ky Howard (6-4, Sr; 13.5 ppg);
Rebounding (team 34.4 rpg; -3.0 rpg): Coleman (7.2 rpg); Howard (4.8 rpg);
Assists: Howard (76)
Blocks: Coleman (17)
Steals: Coleman (26); Lynn (25)
3-pt FGM: Lynn (60)
 
How to watch NJIT sports programming on ESPN3
ESPN3 is the live platform for at least 23 NJIT men's basketball games this season. Every NJIT game in the Atlantic Sun Conference throughout the regular season and into the A-Sun postseason tournament will be covered on ESPN3. 
 
ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network.  It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. 
 
The network is currently available to more than 99 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. 
 
ESPN3 is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks. That means devices served by NJIT's on-campus computer network can link directly to ESPN3.
 
Others can access ESPN3 through WatchESPN if they receive ESPN programming from an affiliated service provider. Those users need to provide the username and password they use in online communication with their regular service provider (can usually be found on regular billing material from the service provider).
 
Here is a link to Frequently Asked Questions about WatchESPN.