College basketball: FGCU men rebound from two road losses with win against Denver

The head scratching continued Friday night. 

Florida Gulf Coast University's men's basketball team began pushing past a really disappointing and surprising two-loss road trip with a much-closer-than-most-imagined 79-71 home win against Denver in the Eagles' Homewood Suites Shootout in front of 3,517 in Alico Arena. 

"We didn't get off to the best start just from an energy standpoint," said fifth-year FGCU coach Joe Dooley, who pulled his starters less than three minutes in. "We've got to get our defense tightened up quickly. That's one of the things we've talked about. I did think that the ball moved a little bit better today -- 16 of our 26 field goals were assisted, which is good. 

"We made some winning plays."

College basketball: FGCU men fall at Middle Tennessee State to drop second straight

FGCU (3-2) hosts Navy (4-1) in another Shootout game on Saturday at 7 p.m. before taking on St. Francis Brooklyn (1-3) on Sunday at 6 p.m. Navy shot 53.6 percent from the field and made half of its 12 3-pointers to beat St. Francis Brooklyn, 85-76, Friday afternoon.

The Eagles started the season strong with an 11-point home win against defending Missouri Valley co-champion Illinois State and a 33-point win at Siena. But they were stunned, 83-80, at average Bowling Green on a last-second 3-pointer last Saturday, then were thoroughly beaten, 85-72, at Middle Tennessee in a matchup most thought would be a barn-burner between mid-major powers. 

"This was a great win, even though we didn't get out to a good start," said FGCU senior guard Brandon Goodwin, the Preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year who had 16 points. "Losing two in a row is tough on any team. I think our guys bounced back. We came out and had enthusiastic practices."
 

Ranked No. 13 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, FGCU gets another shot against Middle Tennessee in Alico Arena on Dec. 2.

Friday night, FGCU again had two of the three struggles the Eagles had on the road -- rebounding and defense, usually the strengths of Dooley teams -- against Denver (1-3) of the Summit League. 

In an often quiet and fidgety atmosphere, FGCU was out-rebounded 34-28 and gave up 50.9 percent from the field, including 54.2 percent in the first half. 

Dooley said foul problems on the bigs have really hurt his team. 
 

"When your five men combine for 45 minutes and four rebounds, that's not a good stat," Dooley said. "Our guards are rebounding at a higher rate than our big guys, which is not a good thing. We'll get that solved quickly."

Stopping dribble drives and better help defense from the frontliners are the focus.

"We've got to have it where we have our big guys on a string more often," Dooley said. "We don't have a defensive mindset yet, which we're going to get."

The Eagles -- who were led by 20 points from junior guard Zach Johnson -- were much better from behind the 3-point line than they were in the road losses. FGCU made 9 of 24 (37.5 percent) of its trey tries against the Pioneers.

"We've just got to step in the same way when we step into our shots," said Johnson, who made 3 of 5 3-pointers. "We're good shooters. It's the same shot as it was all last year. We've just to be consistent with our form and everything and good things will happen."

College basketball: FGCU men at Middle Tennessee a rare clash of mid-major big-timers

Fueled by 18 points from 6-foot-10 senior center Daniel Amigo, Denver was right in this almost all the way through. FGCU held just a 35-32 halftime lead and a 3-pointer by Jake Pemberton tied this at 60-60 with 5:22 left to play. 

Johnson hit a 3-pointer for a 63-60 lead. A reverse by senior guard Christian Terrell pushed FGCU's lead to 67-62 with 3:02 left to play and Goodwin's steal and score made it 71-65 with just 1:29 remaining.

The Eagles held on from there. 

College basketball: FGCU's Brandon Goodwin, Zach Johnson already getting rave reviews

FGCU was without freshman power forward Brian Thomas, who broke his left hand during a practice. Thomas has played in two games, averaging 2.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in 9.5 minutes. He'll be re-evaluated next week. 

Junior shooting guard Dinero Mercurius, one of FGCU's best 3-point shooters, suffered a shoulder injury soon after he checked in Friday night. He averages 10 points in 21.8 minutes. The injury is not thought to be serious. 

"It was a great win tonight, now we've got to figure out how we're going to build on this win and how we're going to be better for the next game," Goodwin said. 

FLORIDA GULF COAST 79, DENVER 71

DENVER (1-3)

Krafka 3-5 0-0 6, Amigo 7-13 3-6 18, Pemberton 5-8 2-2 15, Rosga 4-11 0-0 9, Murkey 1-3 0-0 2, Akintola 2-4 0-1 4, Mackey 5-6 0-0 10, Holtzmann 0-1 0-0 0, Rodriguez 1-4 5-7 7. Totals 28-55 10-16 71.

FLORIDA GULF COAST (3-2)

Simmons 2-4 0-0 4, Doyle 0-0 1-2 1, Goodwin 5-12 3-4 16, Johnson 5-9 7-9 20, Terrell 5-11 4-5 16, Scott 7-8 1-1 15, Ernst 1-2 2-2 4, Mercurius 0-0 0-0 0, Carlyle 1-5 0-0 3, Rogers 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-54 18-23 79.

Halftime_Florida Gulf Coast 35-32. 3-Point Goals_Denver 5-18 (Pemberton 3-4, Amigo 1-3, Rosga 1-7, Holtzmann 0-1, Rodriguez 0-1, Krafka 0-2), Florida Gulf Coast 9-24 (Johnson 3-5, Goodwin 3-9, Terrell 2-6, Carlyle 1-2, Rogers 0-2). Fouled Out_Amigo. Rebounds_Denver 31 (Amigo 10), Florida Gulf Coast 24 (Scott 8). Assists_Denver 14 (Murkey 5), Florida Gulf Coast 16 (Terrell 5). Total Fouls_Denver 22, Florida Gulf Coast 17. A_3,517 (4,633).