Off to a 3-0 start, including back-to-back wins on Tuesday and Wednesday, Florida Southern takes to the road for Thanksgiving weekend to play a pair of games against the Peach Belt Conference. The trip will provide the Moccasins with not one, but two major tests, as both South Carolina-Aiken and Armstrong Atlantic State played in last year's NCAA Tournament, with USC-Aiken advancing to the Southeast Region championship game. It will be the Mocs' first trip to the state of South Carolina since playing the University of South Carolina in 1979.
Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #15, John Thompson (20.0 ppg., 9.0 rebs., 2.0 asts., .694 fg%)
F, #32, A.J. Hawkins (2.7 ppg., 2.0 rebs., .667 fg%)
G, #1, Brandon Jenkins (10.0 pts., 6.0 rebs., 6.7 asts.)
G, #2, Terry Jenkins (14.3 pts., 1.7 rebs., 2.3 asts., .667 3-pt.%)
G, #20, Rion Rayfield (12.0 pts., 2.3 reb., 6.3 asts., .535 3-pt.%)
South Carolina-Aiken Probable Starters:
F, #2, Seth Leonard (11.0 ppg., 8.3 rebs., .600 fg%)
F, #21, Casey McMasters (12.3 pts., 3.3 rebs., 1.7 asts., .438 3-pt.%)
G, #1, Byron Faison (13.3 ppg, 1.7 rebs., 1.7 asts., 1.7 steals)
G, #3, Re'mon Nelson (13.0 pts., 3.7 rebs., .7.7 asts., 2.0 steals)
G, #5, Mark Brown (4.7 pts., 1.7 rebs., .500 3-pt.%)
Armstrong Atlantic State Probable Starters:
F, #25, Marquise Duvall (5.3 pts., 5.0 rebs.)
F, #32, Arris Brundidge (9.3 pts., 4.0 rebs., 2.0 steals)
G, #12, Patrick Shokpeka (15.7 ppg, 8.7 rebs., 2.3 asts., 2.7 steals)
G, #23, Gabriel Robinson (7.7 pts., 2.7 rebs., 4.0 asts., .526 fg%)
G, #33, Keron McKenzie (13.7 pts., 4.7 rebs., 1.7 asts.)
SERIES HISTORY VS. USC-AIKEN... This will be only the second meeting between Florida Southern and South Carolina-Aiken, with the Moccasins winning last year in Lakeland, 83-75. The Pacers were ranked #2 in the country at the time. It will be a new look for the Pacers this year, however, as only four players who played in that game are on the roster this year, and they combined for just seven points. John Thompson scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds for the Moccasins, who went 5-for-6 from the line in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.
SERIES HISTORY VS. ARMSTRONG ATLANTIC STATE... Florida Southern leads the series with Armstrong Atlantic State, 5-2, having last met twice in 2006-07. The Pirates won that November, 61-58, in Savannah, but the Mocs won in December on their home court, 93-81. That was a memorable night for the Moccasins, who went 12-for-16 on 3-point attempts, a .750 percentage that ranks as the second highest in team history in a game with at least 10 attempts. Rion Rayfield and Cameron Wooten are the only current Moccasins who were here that season, with Rayfield scoring 11 in the first game against AASU, and Wooten scoring 12 in the re-match.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... For only the second time in school history, the Moccasins have scored over 100 points three games in row. It's the first time they've done that in a single year, however. The last time the Mocs reached triple digits in three consecutive games came 38 years ago when they ended the 1971 season with a 111-85 win over Chicago State, and started the following year with 119 points against Florida Tech, and 104 against Saint Leo. This year's team is averaging just over 106 per game, and the Mocs have been scorching the nets to the tune of 57 percent field goal shooting, and 51 percent shooting from long range. They're coming off a gamne against St. Ambrose in which they went 16-for-27 from 3-point distance, including 12-for-16 in the second half when they blew open a five-point game. The Mocs have six players shooting at least 40 percent from behind the arc, with Terry Jenkins 12-for-18 in the early going. Jenkins scored 19 of his career-high 21 points in the second half against St. Ambrose, helping the Mocs pull away. Rion Rayfield also had a big night, scoring 17 points and breaking the school's career 3-point record with 197. He did that in a little over two years time.
ABOUT USC-AIKEN... After back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament, the Pacers are re-building a roster that lost all five starts from last year's team that earned the #2 seed in the South Atlantic Region and advanced to the regional championship game where they lost to Augusta State. So far, the Pacers are 2-1, and like the Moccasins, have been scoring plenty of points (85.7 per game). Unlike Florida Southern, however, they've also given up even more, as their first three opponents have averaged 90.7. The Pacers are coming off a 97-78 loss to Pfeiffer after winning each of their first two games by two points. They're averaging 24 turnovers per game, but have somewhat offset that by shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range, and better than 75 percent from the line. Aiken has been helped by Division I transfers Byron Faison (Winthrop) and Michael Technow (American), with Faison leading the team in scoring with a 13.3 points per game. Technow has started one game and played as a reserve in the other two, and is coming off a big game against Pfeiffer, where he scored 16 points (going 7-for-7 from the floor) with six rebounds and two blocks.
ABOUT ARMSTRONG ATLANTIC STATE... Like their conference rival, USC-Aiken, Armstrong Atlantic went to the NCAA Tournament last year, but lost many of its key players. Even so, they're still a veteran team with six seniors on the roster. The Pirates' only returnng starter is point guard Gabriel Robinson, who averaged just 5.8 points per game last season, but led the Peach Belt Conference with 142 assists and shot 50 percent from the floor. The Pirates even have a new coach in Jeremy Luther, who spent two years as head coach at Newberry (SC) and led the Indians to a school-record 21 wins in 2009. He has his new teams off to a 2-1 start, which includes an overtime win against St. Augustine's (NC), and an 81-74 victory over Brewton-Parker in their most recent game. Only seven players have seen significant playing time for AASU, led by senior Patrick Shokpeka, who's seen his scoring average go from 1.8 points per game as a junior to 15.7 this year. Another new senior starter is Keron McKenzie, who is scoring 13.7 points per game. He came off the bench last year, and was third in the PBC in 3-point shooting percentage.
