Moccasins Back at Home to Face Florida's Newest College Basketball Team

Florida's newest college basketball team will be making its first trip to Lakeland, when the Moccasins host Ave Maria University on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. Ranked No. 3 in this week's NABC national rankings, Florida Southern looks to remain undefeated while facing a team in only its second year of existence.

Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #15, John Thompson (17.5 ppg., 8.7 rebs., .642 fg%)
F, #32, A.J. Hawkins (5.2 ppg., 3.8 rebs., .706 fg%)
G, #1, Brandon Jenkins (14.0 pts., 5.2 rebs., 5.5 asts., .560 3-pt.%)
G, #2, Terry Jenkins (15.7 pts., 3.0 rebs., 3.3 asts., .667 3-pt.%)
G, #20, Rion Rayfield (14.0 pts., 2.7 rebs., 6.2 asts., .412 3-pt.%)

Ave Maria Probable Starters:
UNAVAILABLE

SERIES HISTORY... This is the first meeting between the two schools, and the first time Ave Maria has ever faced a Division II opponent in a regular season game.

ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... After starting the season with three straight home games, the Moccasins have been on the road for their last three games, but the end results were all the same. Florida Southern has won its first six games by an average of 23.3 points per game, is shooting 51 percent overall and 50 percent from 3-point range. The Mocs have four of the league's top 14 individual scorers, which is no surprise considering Florida Southern ranks first in the SSC in team scoring average with 94.8 points per game. With brothers Terry Jenkins and Brandon Jenkins each shooting better than 50 percent behind the 3-point arc, and Rion Rayfield ranking second in the SSC in assists, the Mocs have received excellent play from their starting guards, but the post players have been just as impressive. John Thompson is the reigning SSC Player-of-the-Week after scoring 19 points with 12 rebounds in the win at Barry on Saturday, and is the only Moccasin to score in double figures in every game this season. A.J. Hawkins has seen his numbers rise too in the last three games, averaging 7.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks during that stretch, while Preston Fredrick came up with a big performance off the bench against Barry, with six points and nine rebounds.

ABOUT AVE MARIA... Ave Maria opened its doors in August of 2003, as the first Catholic university founded in the United States in the last 40 years. Located near Naples, the school moved into its permanent home in 2007, and began its intercollegiate athletic program last year. The Gyrenes (a term sometimes used to describe members of the United States Marines) played a limited 15-game schedule last year, going 7-8, and this year joined the Sun Conference, an NAIA league that also includes Warner, Webber International, and Southeastern. AMU brings a 5-3 record to Lakeland, and is averaging just over 70 points per game, a figure boosted by its 103-62 win over Florida Christian on Tuesday. The Gyrenes also have two wins over Trinity College, one against the College of the Bahamas, and one against Florida College; they also dropped a 82-63 decision to Florida Tech in an exhibition game. Dylan Fugate has been the team's leading scorer with 12.3 points per game and is also tops with a 5.5 rebounding average. Chris Jordan is the Gyrenes' second leading scorer with 8.4 points per game, while point guard Danny Vivas (a member of the Mexican junior national team in 2007 and '08) averages 7.4 points and 3.4 assists.