Florida Southern has dropped its last two games in conference play, but the Moccasins (8-5, 2-3) have a chance to take a big step forward on Saturday when they host Barry University at 7:30. The Buccaneers (8-7, 3-1) are tied with Rollins for first place in the Sunshine State Conference, and eight of the nine schools in the league have either three SSC wins or two wins at this point in the season.
Live stats will be available at: http://www.flsouthern.edu/athletics/mens/livestats/xlive.htm
A live audio/video webcast will be available at: http://fscmocs.nmtvsports.com
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GAME SPONSORS
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Global Produce Sales & Community Southern Bank
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CATERING FOR SIXTH MAN CLUB PROVIDED BY
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Chipotle Mexican Grill
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Florida Southern Probable Starters:
F, #23, Garrett Putman (7.1 pts., 6.1 rebs.)
F, #40, Brett Bailey (13.8 pts., 7.2 rebs., .586 fg%)
G, #5, Dominic Lane (11.8 pts., 5.5 rebs., 2.2 asts.)
G, #14, Tyler Kelly (4.8 pts., 1.5 rebs., 3.4 asts.)
G, #21, Seth Evans (16.2 pts., 2.2 rebs., 3.2 asts.)
SERIES HISTORY... Florida Southern is 40-14 all-time against Barry, which includes a 7-5 mark under current head coach Linc Darner. The Mocs have won four straight at home against the Buccaneers, but overall, the teams have split six meetings over the last two years, with Barry defeating Florida Southern twice during the 2010 postseason. Last year each team won on its home court, with the Mocs winning 61-44 in Lakeland. The 44 points are the fewest allowed by Florida Southern in Darner's six years as head coach, though the Moccasins have not scored more than 61 in their last four games against the Buccaneers.
ABOUT FLORIDA SOUTHERN... Florida Southern has dropped its last two games, both of them on the road in conference play to Nova Southeastern and Saint Leo. However, the Moccasins have not lost a home conference game since late in 2009, and will be looking to set a new team record on Saturday with their 20th straight SSC home win. They last time they won 19 straight SSC home games was from 1984-88. Though Florida Southern was held to 57 points on Wednesday at Saint Leo, the Mocs are still averaging 81.0 per game, which ranks second in the SSC. They haven't scored less than 75 at home since last year's 61-44 win over Barry in early February. Seth Evans continues to lead Florida Southern in scoring with a 16.2 average that is third in the SSC, while Brett Bailey (13.8 ppg.) and Kevin Capers (13.8 ppg.) rank seventh and eighth respectively. Evans and Bailey have each scored in double figures in all but two games this year, while Capers is the highest scoring freshman in the SSC and is tied with Evans for the team lead with three 20-point games. Evans also leads Florida Southern in 3-pointers (35) and 3-point percentage (.393). Bailey leads the Mocs in total field goals (78) and field goal percentage (.586), and Capers is tops in assists (45) and steals (29). Dominic Lane gives Florida Southern a fourth player scoring in double digits, and has done so in eight of the last nine games. Garrett Putman joins Bailey in the post, and is coming off a season-high 12-rebound performance at Saint Leo. The Mocs may have to look to Bailey and Putman even more on Saturday after reserves Andre Hawkins and Jon Gardner were felled with injuries.
ABOUT BARRY... The Buccaneers are riding a 4-game winning streak, and since returning from Christmas break are 3-0 with conference wins over Lynn, Tampa and Florida Tech. The Bucs lost their SSC opener at Nova Southeastern back on December 3 by a score of 65-64, leaving them two points short of being undefeated in conference play. Overall, 10 of Barry's 15 games have been decided by eight points or less. Barry though has been a different team at home, going 7-2 and averaging 82.0 points per game, while the Bucs are 1-5 on the road (including neutral sites) and averaging 57.7 points. The Bucs have also used a variety of starting lineups, with only one player starting more than 11 games, and only two players on the current roster averaging more than 23 minutes per game. Three of their top four scorers are junior college transfers, led by Chad Renfro, who averages 14.7 points per game and is shooting 42 percent from 3-point range (31-for-74). He also leads the team in steals and is second in assists with 29 in 13 games. Evan White is the Bucs' top returning scorer from last year and is second to Renfro this year with an 11.5 scoring average and is also second to Renfro in 3-pointers (27). He led Barry with 22 points in its Wednesday night win over Florida Tech, going 6-for-14 from behind the arc while the Bucs were 14-for-35 as a team. Two other JC transfers follow White in the scoring column, with Jermaine Edwards (9.6 ppg.) also the team's top rebounder (7.1 avg.). Justin McCoy scores 8.9 points per game and leads Barry with 54 assists in 14 games, and also scored 400 points for Seton Hill University two years ago in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
