Siena at Florida Gulf Coast, 8:00 PM Eastern, espn3
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The Under the Radar Game of the Day today comes from Fort Myers, Florida where the Atlantic Sun’s FGCU Eagles will be hosting the MAAC’s Siena Saints. Florida Gulf Coast enters the game tonight at 5-3 on the season. Their three losses (Florida, Baylor and Michigan State) have all been very respectable, and they really could have won the Michigan State game. They also have already scored a home win over Texas-Arlington, a win which is even more impressive after Arlington pretty much dominated 12th-ranked St. Mary’s on the road last night. Brandon Goodwin is coming off of one of his best games of his career last time out, when he put up a double-double in a win over Georgia Southern, with 12 points and 10 assists. Also keep an eye on Zach Johnson who has averaged over 18 points per game in his last three.
Siena enters play tonight at only 3-6 overall, a record we are somewhat disappointed in given that they had been our preseason pick to win the MAAC, despite the returning depth and talent at Monmouth. The Saints have already fallen once in early conference play, losing last time out at Rider. Brett Bisping was held to only 9 points in that loss, though he did pull down an impressive 15 rebounds. Nico Clareth, who had scored 33 against Fairfield, only had 12 points, but did add 9 rebounds of his own to just miss the double-double. The Saints will need to find more scoring if they want to pick up the win tonight on the road over the team that has emerged as the clear favorite to win the Atlantic Sun.
LAST NIGHT’S GAMES
– As alluded to earlier, Texas-Arlington got a huge win at Saint Mary’s last night by a 65-51 score. The Mavs led almost the entire game and the Gaels never got closer than 11 points in the 2nd half. It’s a slight blip on the Gaels’ profile, but it was a huge win for Arlington after beating Texas earlier in the year and missing opportunities at Minnesota and Arkansas.
– We’ve said before that Iowa is an alligator hole (or snake pit as Griggs calls it), but they were able to rebound and avenge their Cy-Hawk loss from last year with a 78-64 victory over Iowa State. The Hawkeyes are reloading this year, but it definitely gives them a boost going into the upcoming holiday season and B1G season.
– Middle Tennessee is threatening to leave UTR territory and enter the Top 25 with a thrashing of Vanderbilt last night. The Blue Raiders are now 9-1 and will have an upcoming road trip to Belmont and VCU where they can add even further to their profile.
HIGHLIGHTED BUY GAMES (in a manner of speaking)
– Hartford at Boston College
– Wake Forest at UNC-Greensboro (bizarro buy game)
– Longwood at Creighton – If you’re looking for polar opposites in the RPI, this is your mismatch of the night!
– Georgia Southern at Minnesota