College basketball: Plummeting FGCU men look to get back up at tough UT Arlington

The Eagles are even more surprised and ticked off than you are. 

Florida Gulf Coast University's two-time defending Atlantic Sun men's basketball team was expected to be a well-oiled cruise ship, not this rowboat full of leaks, 10 games into this season.

The Eagles returned three starters -- including best-ever Division I scorer Brandon Goodwin -- and added important pieces to the group that last season dominated its conference, won 26 games, and as a 14 seed gave third-seeded Florida State quite a few fits before finally falling 86-80 in an NCAA tournament first-round game in Orlando. 

FGCU's game at UT Arlington on Saturday afternoon was one of an armful of mid-major matchups that had gurus salivating in the preseason. But so were the two games against Middle Tennessee, which easily swamped FGCU at home, then built a 16-point lead and held off the Eagles, 81-76, in Alico Arena last Saturday. 

Fourth-year FGCU starting guard Christian Terrell minced no words after Tuesday night's stunning 92-88 home loss to Florida Atlantic dropped FGCU to a pedestrian 6-4. 

"Honestly, we suck right now," Terrell said. 

An exasperated fifth-year FGCU coach Joe Dooley said, "Clock's ticking."

Indeed. Another alarm could very well go off at very good UT Arlington (7-2) late Saturday afternoon. 

The Eagles have been fine offensively, although the outfit that led the nation in paint points last season is getting just 26.6 points from its bigs. Led by Goodwin's 17.7, FGCU averages 83.9 points per game. 

College basketball: FGCU men blow big halftime lead vs. FAU; lose second straight at home

Thanks to some games against pretty inferior teams -- including the NAIA's Webber International -- most of the numbers bely how bad the defense and rebounding have been. FGCU is giving up 71.8 points, the most in Dooley's tenure. The 42.5 field-goal percentage by foes isn't terrible, and the Eagles have outrebounded opponents by an average of 40.6-32.4. 

But in the two losses against Middle Tennessee, the shocking setback at Bowling Green and Tuesday night's loss, the Eagles came up way short in most of those areas. Wide-open lanes and 3-pointers were plentiful for foes. And get this: FGCU has given up a whopping 47 second-chance points in just its last two games. 

Asked how to shore up the defense after the FAU game Dooley got deadpan.

"My first year in coaching, I thought there were all these theories on adjusting," he said. "I heard a great halftime adjustment. It's called guard your man. That's what we need to do. Whether it's a man or a zone, you've got to guard your man."

A senior guard and the Preseason ASUN Player of the Year, Goodwin took responsibility. 

College basketball: FGCU men blow big halftime lead vs. FAU; lose second straight at home

"I think it starts with me, (junior guard) Zach (Johnson) and CT (Terrell's nickname)," Goodwin said. "It starts with our guards. We've got to set the tone. I take the blame for not being that leader on the defensive end. We're going to figure it out. I'm going
to try my best to help my team. It's something that's going to come from within. It can't be the coaches; it's got to be us. The players have to guard and play for each other moving forward."

UTA has been about as consistently good as FGCU has been bad. The Mavericks were ranked second in Monday's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, 14 spots ahead of the Eagles. The Mavs' lone losses were by a point at then-No. 25 Alabama on Nov. 21 and 62-58 at Northern Iowa, 12th ranked by CollegeInsider.com, on Tuesday night. 

College basketball: FGCU men surging ahead with new players in this second summer session

The Mavs opened the season with a win at Oklahoma and are led by 6-foot-9, 230-pound senior forward Kevin Hervey, the Preseason Sun Belt Player of the Year who averages 22.6 points and 8.0 rebounds. Senior guard Erick Neall averages 13.7
points, and UTA has added 7-foot graduate student Johnny Hamilton from Virginia Tech. He had 15 rebounds at Northern Iowa and averages 13.4 points and 9.3 boards. 

"(Hervey) looks like a pro," Dooley said. 

In one of its best nonconference games of last season, FGCU beat UTA, 85-72, at home last season. But Hervey was working his way back in after knee surgery and had only 13 points and five rebounds in just 24 minutes. The Mavs had just six second-chance points. 

Both teams are playing much differently now. 

"They're a very good team," Dooley said. "They play hard."

Florida Gulf Coast University men (6-4) at UT Arlington (7-2)
When: 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: College Park Center, Arlington, Texas
Online: ESPN3
Series: FGCU leads 1-0
3-Point Shots
1) Help with help defense. With Demetris Morant graduated and with freshman Brian Thomas sidelined with a broken hand, the Eagles don't have rim protection for the first time in several seasons. There's been no one to clean up when foes blow by guards. But the Eagles have plenty of big bodies who should be able to help and to clog the lane and seal off the baseline. They really need to start doing that here. 
2) Crash the glass, particularly while on defense. FGCU has given up an incredible 47 second-chance points in its last two games. Not coincidentally, those were losses. To have a shot here against a very strong rebounding team on its home floor, the
Eagles had best get this under control. 
3) Handle Hervey. Mavs senior Kevin Hervey is a 6-9, 230-pound bull of a player who averages 22.6 points and 8.0 rebounds. He wasn't fully healthy the last time these teams met -- a 13-point FGCU home win last season -- but he sure is now. Not only is
Hervey extremely strong, but he shoots 37.9 percent from behind the 3-point line. If Hervey has his way, FGCU likely will drop its third straight game. 

-- Dana Caldwell