After their brief move to St. John Arena, the Buckeyes return to the Schott on Wednesday to play host to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. The academic quarter has now concluded at Ohio State, but hopefully there will be a solid fan turnout at the game to support the Bucks. Who are the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles you ask? Well, let’s find out.
| School: | Florida Gulf Coast University |
| Location: | Fort Myers, Florida |
| Founded: | 1991 |
| Student Population: | 11,115 |
| School Type: | Public |
| Division: | NCAA |
| Conference: | Atlantic Sun Conference |
| Stadium: | Alico Arena |
| Seating: | 4500 |
| Built: | 2002 |
| Head Coach: | Dave Balza |
| Year: | 9th |
It has been rough going thus far for the Eagles in the 2010-2011 season. FGC’s record coming into Columbus is 2-5, with the first loss of the season being to fellow Big Ten team Indiana. Despite their record, the Eagles should be given credit for scheduling tough opponents, as they have also visited Arkansas and hosted Miami (FL) at home.
Florida Gulf Coast is a very new university, especially when compared to historic programs like Indiana and Ohio State. Coach Dave Balza has been at the helm for the program’s entire history, and has led the team to an overall positive winning percentage in his nine seasons, although the team has only played at the Division I level since the 2007-08 season. Balza’s task is to successfully transition the program to Division I, and next season will mark the first time the Eagles are eligible for post-season play and a possible NCAA Tournament bid.
The Eagles are clearly still a program being built up to compete against both the other teams in the Atlantic Sun and strong non-conference opponents like Ohio State. This season may produce significant strides forward for FGC, as they returned eight players from last season’s squad, including the team’s two leading scorers. Those two players, Reed Baker and Anthony Banks, are once again taking charge for the Eagles, scoring around 17 and 15 points per game, respectively. The Eagles play an up-tempo style that may produce an early scoring surge, but likely will follow suit with other opponents we’ve faced in not having an answer for Jared Sullinger in the post over the course of the game.
The Buckeyes will need to be focused on the Eagles on Wednesday and avoid looking ahead to this coming weekend’s feature matchup with South Carolina. While anticipation for the game against the Gamecocks is high, a weekend victory would be greatly soured with a mid-week loss. Likely Ohio State will simply be too much for FGC to handle, but hopefully the game will give us an opportunity to sharpen our playmaking and defense further as we continue to move forward in the season.
The game against FGC will tip-off at 6:30pm and can be seen on the Big Ten Network. Here are the pre-game stats:
| Florida Gulf Coast | GP | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TPG | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Reed Baker | 7 | 27.9 | 17.7 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 0 | 2 | 0.39 | 0.87 | 0.27 |
| Anthony Banks | 7 | 28.7 | 15.4 | 7.4 | 0.3 | 1 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 0.51 | 0.63 | 0.00 |
| Christophe Varidel | 7 | 26.3 | 7.9 | 2.4 | 1 | 0.6 | 0 | 2.4 | 0.27 | 0.65 | 0.32 |
| Marlon Rivera | 7 | 28.6 | 7.9 | 5.7 | 4.4 | 1.9 | 0 | 4 | 0.40 | 0.49 | 0.00 |
| Tim Snyder | 6 | 19.2 | 7.3 | 3.8 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 0.43 | 0.39 | 0.00 |
| Ohio State | GP | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TPG | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Jared Sullinger | 8 | 28.9 | 18 | 9.3 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 0.60 | 0.69 | 0 |
| David Lighty | 8 | 31.9 | 12.5 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 2 | 0.4 | 2 | 0.47 | 0.60 | 0.39 |
| William Buford | 7 | 27.7 | 11.7 | 5.1 | 4 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 0.43 | 0.71 | 0.37 |
| Jon Diebler | 8 | 32.5 | 11.3 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.49 | 0.77 | 0.45 |
| Dallas Lauderdale | 8 | 19.6 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 0.70 | 0.57 | 0 |
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
