College basketball week ahead: Deadlocked UNF, JU face the same road to ASUN tournament
The University of North Florida swept Jacksonville University in the River City Rumble last week and the two teams have identical tasks in the final three weeks of the regular season.
They’re tied for ninth in the ASUN with 5-7 records and play the same schedule over the next six games: they’re home against Stetson, Florida Gulf Coast, Bellarmine and Eastern Kentucky, and are on the road against Austin Peay and Lipscomb.
The good news is that both have a chance to make a decent run at getting inside the top-10 to qualify for the ASUN tournament and perhaps move up a few notches. The combined conference record of their remaining opponents is 36-36 and half of them, Austin Peay (2-10), FGCU (4-8) and Bellarmine (6-6) are .500 or worse.
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River City Rumble, Game 1:North Florida proves to be River City road warriors as they topple Jacksonville 76-63
River City Rumble, Game 2:Jose Placer, Carter Hendricksen deliver clutch shots for UNF to beat JU
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UNF has had recent success at home against both of this week’s opponents, winning the last three at UNF Arena against FGCU and winning four in a row at home against Stetson before last year's 68-66 overtime loss.
JU has won five of its last six at home against Stetson. The Dolphins beat Gulf Coast at home last season but that snapped a five-game home losing streak against the Eagles.
UNF beat Austin Peay to open the ASUN season, 90-85 in overtime, and JU beat Lipscomb 51-44.
Men
Player of the week: North Florida junior guard Jose Placer scored 51 points and shot 11 of 22 from beyond the three-point arc to lead the Ospreys to their sweep over Jacksonville. In both games, Placer scored two key baskets after the Dolphins cut a double-digit lead to a one-possession game, and Placer scored 12 of UNF’s final 16 points in Saturday’s 65-58 victory. He had 30 points in Thursday’s 76-63 decision.
Stat line of the week: Flagler College sophomore guard Omar Figueroa had 28 points, shot 11 of 18 from the floor (with four of nine on three-pointers) and added six rebounds and three steals in the Saints’ 89-88 loss to Georgia college. It was his fifth game of 20 or more points off the bench this season.
This week’s games
Monday
Clark Atlanta at Edward Waters, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday
Trinity College (Fla.) at Trinity Baptist, 8 p.m.
Wednesday
Georgia Southwestern at Flagler, 7:30 p.m.
Morehouse at Edward Waters, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Florida Gulf Coast at North Florida, 7 p.m.
Stetson at Jacksonville, 7 p.m.
Toccoa Falls (Ga.) at Trinity Baptist, 7 p.m.
Saturday
Stetson at North Florida, 2 p.m.
Savannah State at Edward Waters, 3 p.m.
USC-Aiken at Flagler, 3:30 p.m.
Florida Gulf Coast at Jacksonville, 4 p.m.
Bob Jones College (S.C.) at Trinity Baptist, 4 p.m.
Noting UNF (10-14, 5-7 ASUN): Placer finished the week one point away from scoring 1,000 points in a UNF uniform. … Jadyn Parker blocked his 100th career shot for UNF in the second game against JU. … The Ospreys led Jacksonville for nearly 67 of the 80 minutes in the two games.
Noting JU (12-11, 5-7 ASUN): The Dolphins have taken the fewest three-point shots in the ASUN with 20 per game and are last in the conference in scoring with 64.7 per game. … The flip side is JU leads the ASUN in three-point percentage defense (30.1) and field-goal percentage defense (40.1).
Noting Edward Waters (4-17, 3-13 SIAC): The Tigers have lost three in a row and six of seven, with five of the losses by single-digit margins. They fell 56-50 on Saturday to Morehouse State and 70-67 earlier in the week to Benedict. Graduate center Larry Kuima had 17 points and nine rebounds against Benedict and 16 points and eight rebounds against Morehouse.
Noting Trinity Baptist (12-8, 4-3, NCCAA II South Region): Bartram Trail graduate Fausto Alvarez scored in double digits in three games last week, averaging 13.3 per game. The sophomore center had 15 points and 11 rebounds in an 80-79 victory over Johnson University (Fla.), 14 to lead 10 players in the scoring column in beating Southeastern Baptist (Miss.) and 11 in a 67-63 loss at Pensacola Christian. … Sophomore guard Xavier Rose had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists against Johnson and junior guard Zach Kiadii, a Westside graduate, had 10 points and six rebounds vs. Johnson and 17 to lead the Eagles against PCC. … Trinity closes the regular season with five consecutive home games, three this week.
Noting Flagler (11-12, 5-7 Peach Belt): The Saints followed their loss to Georgia College with a 75-66 setback against Columbus State on Saturday, dropping their record to 3-5 in games decided by single digits. Sophomore guard Jaylen Lemons had 27 points and Figueroa had 13 points and eight rebounds. Kyle Young added 12 points and nine rebounds. … The Saints trailed Georgia College by nine points with 5:24 left but Figueroa scored 11 points during a 16-6 run that gave them the lead. Figueroa hit a three-pointer with 10 seconds left for an 88-87 edge but Brendon Rigsbee drove the lane, was fouled with one second left and made both foul shots for the victory.
Women
Player of the week: Flagler sophomore guard Sharale McCormick scored 49 points in two games, shooting 20 of 40 overall and five of 11 from beyond the 3-point arc. She added 11 rebounds.
Stat line of the week: Flagler sophomore guard Taylor Gardner of Jacksonville had 11 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in an 80-74 loss to Columbus State, coming one rebound away from a triple-double.
This week’s games
Monday
Clark Atlanta at Edward Waters, 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Georgia Southwestern at Flagler, 5:30 p.m.
Thursday
North Florida at Austin Peay, 7 p.m.
Jacksonville at Lipscomb, 7 p.m.
Saturday
Savannah State at Edward Waters, 1 p.m.
USC-Aiken at Flagler, 1:30 p.m.
Jacksonville at Austin Peay, 2 p.m.
Bob Jones College (S.C.) at Trinity Baptist, 2 p.m.
North Florida at Lipscomb, 3 p.m.
Noting UNF (6-15, 3-8 ASUN): The Ospreys failed to sustain any momentum by beating Jacksonville on Jan. 28 and lost by double-digits at home to Stetson 65-51 and Florida Gulf Coast 106-51. … Kaila Rougier had 14 points and five assists against the Hatters and Lyric Swann led with nine points and seven rebounds against Gulf Coast. … The last time UNF gave up 100 points in an ASUN game was to FGCU (105-66) on Jan. 12, 2019. Gulf Coast is the only conference team to score 100 points against the Ospreys.
Noting JU (9-12, 3-8 ASUN): The Dolphins had second-half troubles in two losses last week. They trailed Florida Gulf Coast 33-20 at the break and were outscored 44-11 in the second half in a 77-31 loss and led Stetson on Saturday 32-27 but were outscored 30-16 in the second half as the Hatters escaped Swisher Gym with a 57-48 victory. … Graduate senior point guard Seraphine Bastin had 19 points and seven rebounds, shooting eight of 12 from the floor. In her last five games she’s averaging 12.6 points and is shooting 56 percent.
Noting Edward Waters (9-12, 5-10 SIAC): The Tigers played only one game last week and fell to Benedict in Columbia, S.C., 78-67. The Tigers trailed 52-51 after three quarters but were outscored 26-16 in the final period. Junior guard Anissa Tuitt led EWU with 17 points off the bench, junior forward Khadija Smith had 14 points and senior forward Molly Ragle of Fleming Island had 12.
Noting Trinity Baptist (6-13, 3-6 NCCAA II South Region): The Eagles went 2-1 for the week, breaking a four-game losing streak with a 75-72 victory over Johnson University (Fla) and then topping Southeastern Baptist College in Mississippi 73-57. … Junior forward Oceane Tabbak scored 11 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter and scored the go-ahead basket with 1:06 left, freshman forward Autumn Vineyard of Middleburg had 16 points and sophomore forward Caroline Smith of Lake Butler had 12 points and 12 rebounds. … Junior guard Emma Parrish scored 25 points with seven three-pointers in beating SE Baptist. … Freshman forward Katia Bogun had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in an 82-56 loss at Pensacola Christian.
Noting Flagler (6-16, 3-9 Peach Belt): McCormack scored 25 points in the loss to Columbus State, and had 24 in a 59-53 victory over Georgia College. … Freshman forward Jessica Dowdy has posted her first three career double-digit scoring games in the last three games, and had a career-high 17 points against Columbus State. … Senior forward N’Mya Pierce logged her eighth double-double of the season against Columbus with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: The week ahead in college basketball: Door is open at home for UNF, JU
