Moccasin Game Notes vs. Tampa
MOCCASIN QUICK NOTES
* - This is the 88th season of Moccasin basketball.
* - The Moccasins began the 2014-15 campaign by posting an 86-75 home win over Warner in an exhibition contest on Nov. 12.
* - FSC opened the 2014-15 season with a 93-76 win over West Alabama in the SSC/GSC Challenge in Lakeland. It marked the third consecutive season and the 13th time in the last 15 years that FSC had opened the season with a victory.
* - The Mocs opened the season with an 11-0 record for the second consecutive season and 10th time in school history. Last year, FSC opened the season by winning its first 18 games.
* - FSC finished the 2013-14 campaign with a 26-5 record. The Mocs took home the regular season SSC title for the second straight year and won its third consecutive SSC Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time consecutive season.
* - The Mocs were tabbed to repeat as the SSC Champions in the Preseason SSC Coaches' Poll and was ranked sixth in the Preseason Division II Bulletin Poll.
* - The Mocs were ranked ninth in the Preseason NABC/D-II Coaches' Poll and it marked the 13th time since the NABC began a preseason poll in 1996-97 that FSC has been preseason ranked and the second consecutive year they were ranked in the Top 10 as FSC was ranked ninth in 2013-14 preseason poll.
* - The Mocs are ranked third in this week's eighth regular season NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll. The Mocs have been ranked in the Top 10 for 22 of the past 24 regular season polls.
* - FSC returns two starters and five key players from last season's squad, including senior guard Kevin Capers, who averaged 21.5 points per game last season en route to earning consensus All-America honors.
* - Over the past seven-plus seasons, FSC is the second winningest NCAA men's basketball program in the state of Florida as they have won 188 games. Only Florida has won more games (200) over that same span than the Mocs.
* - FSC stands 18th all-time in wins in NCAA Division II with 1,354 wins and is one of 23 D-II programs to record more than 1,300 all-time victories.
* - The Mocs have won 20 or more games for seven consecutive seasons. FSC is one of just three Division II schools (West Liberty and Findlay) to post 20 win campaigns the past seven seasons.
* - FSC has won an SSC-best 21 regular season titles and 22 SSC Tournament titles and made its 28th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance last season, which is third-most all-time in Division II.
* - The Mocs have advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament the past seven seasons and are one of just two Division II schools to play in the NCAA Tournament the past seven seasons, the other one being Seattle Pacific, who earned its 10th consecutive tournament berth in 2013-14.
* - Moccasin head coach Linc Darner is in his ninth season in Lakeland and he has won five SSC Coach of the Year honors and is second on the school's all-time win list with 197 all-time victories.
FOURTH-RANKED MOCS BEGIN TWO-GAME ROAD SWING WEDNESDAY AT TAMPA
Fourth-ranked Florida Southern (15-1 overall, 4-1 SSC) is set to begin a span of playing four of its next five games on the road when they open a two-game road swing on Wednesday, Jan. 21 with a 7:30 p.m. Sunshine State Conference contest against Tampa (10-5 overall, 3-2 SSC) at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center (3,400) on the UT campus. Wednesday's game will mark the sixth conference game of the season for the Mocs and its fifth game away from home on the year as FSC is 4-0 on the road, including a 2-0 away mark in SSC play. The game will also be the second of a doubleheader at the Martinez Athletics Center as the Moccasin women (8-6, 2-3 SSC) face Tampa (10-5, 3-2 SSC) at 5:30 p.m.
FSC, who is ranked fourth in this week's eighth regular season NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll, enters Wednesday's game looking to extend its win streak to five straight games after collecting two home wins last week over Eckerd (80-62) and Florida Tech (109-96) and two straight road wins the previous at Saint Leo (71-66) and at Nova Southeastern (77-74). The four wins have came after the Mocs suffered its first loss of the season on Jan. 3 at home in its SSC opener to then 11th-ranked Barry, 107-102. The loss to Barry was FSC's first loss of the season after opening the year by winning its first 11 games and was also its first home setback after winning its first nine home contests of the year. The loss to Barry to open league play was its first since falling 84-78 at Rollins to open the 2011-12 SSC slate.
With its four straight wins in SSC play, the Mocs have now won five of its last eight conference games dating to last season. FSC comes into this week's action sporting a 15-1 overall record and are sitting in third place in the SSC standings with a 4-1 record.
WEDNESDAY'S GAME IS MATCH-UP OF TWO OF THE HOTTEST TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE
Wednesday's game will be a match-up of the two of the hottest teams in the SSC as both teams have four straight games since dropping their first game of the 2015 calendar year. Currently, only Barry and Lynn have a longer current winning streak than FSC and Tampa as Barry has won seven straight games and Lynn has reeled off six straight wins. Like FSC and UT, Barry and Lynn play each other on Wednesday night in Boca Raton.
CAPERS BECOMES NO. 2 SCORER IN SCHOOL HISTORY
Moccasin senior guard Kevin Capers is continuing his climb up the school's all-time scoring chart as he enters Wednesday's game with Tampa having scored 1,883 points, which is second on the all-time chart as he passed both Kris Kearney (1986-89) and Rion Rayfield (2007-11) on the school's career scoring chart after scoring 19 points in the Mocs win this past Saturday over Florida Tech.
Through 16 games this season, Capers, who is the second leading active scorer in Division II, has scored 349 points and is averaging 21.8 points per game, which leads the SSC and is 15th nationally in the latest Division II statistics.
He has scored in double figures in 14 of 16 games this season and had a streak of 13 consecutive games of scoring 10 or more points, including tallying a career-high and an FSC NCAA Tournament record 46 points in FSC's South Regional Tournament game last season against Tuskegee, snapped after scoring a season-low six points against Miles in FSC's final game of the 2014 calendar year. In addition, he has scored 20 or more points in 13 of his last 18 outings, including 11 times this season.
FSC-TAMPA SERIES
Wednesday's game with Tampa will mark the 164th meeting all-time meeting between the two schools as FSC holds a 92-71 edge in the series. The Mocs have won 14 of the last 15 games in the series with UT's only win coming in Tampa last season, 71-69. The win by the Spartans last season snapped a 13 game winning streak by the Mocs in the series, which was the longest streak for any team in the series that dates to 1933. Since Tampa reinstated men's basketball in 1983-84, the Mocs have gone 61-36 against the Spartans.
FSC holds a 49-23 edge in the series in Lakeland and they have won six straight on its home court since UT collected a 78-72 win on Feb. 27, 2008, while the Mocs also hold a 13-11 advantage on neutral courts. UT leads 37-30 in Tampa, but the Mocs have won six of seven games on UT's home court. Darner is 15-4 all-time against the Spartans, including being 6-3 in Tampa.
SCOUTING TAMPA
Tampa comes into Wednesday's game having won four straight and seven of its last eight games overall with the only loss being a 69-63 home setback on Jan. 3 against Lynn. UT's latest win in this streak was a 63-55 home non-conference victory last Saturday over Palm Beach Atlantic. The PBA win followed a 63-48 home win over Saint Leo last Wednesday. UT's other two wins in SSC play came on the road against both Eckerd (73-71) and Florida Tech (85-66), while its other league loss came in its SSC opener on Dec. 6 at Nova Southeastern (86-82). The current hot streak for the Spartans came on the heels of UT opening the season by winning three of its first seven games. Tampa, who were tabbed to finish tied for fourth in the Preseason SSC Coaches' Poll, is looking to record back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since posting 10 consecutive winning seasons from 1999-08. UT returns one starte and six lettermen from last season's 20-10 squad that finished tied for second in the SSC standings with a 10-6 mark and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
The Spartans are coached by Richard Schmidt (Western Kentucky, '64). Schmidt is currently the second-longest active coach in the SSC as he is in his 32nd season with the Spartans. In 32 years at UT, Schmidt has compiled a 620-303 record and has a career mark of 651-330 in 34 years as a collegiate head coach as he spent two seasons (1979-81) as the head coach at Vanderbilt before coming to Tampa. He was inducted into the UT Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004 and has led the Spartans to 29 winning seasons and 16 NCAA Division II Tournament appearances. In 2011-12, Schmidt became just the fourth active Division II coach to win 600 career games.
UT, who has three players averaging in double figures this season, are led by the play of senior forward/center Eugene McCrory. McCrory, who is a transfer from UCF and played junior college basketball with Spartan guard Jordan Davis, is fourth in the SSC in scoring (17.1 ppg) and leads the league in both rebounding (10.0 rpg) and field goal percentage (67.7 percent). He has scored in double figures in 14 of 15 games and has recorded six double-doubles and has pulled down seven or more boards in 14 of 15 games. In addition to McCrory, senior guard Jordan Davis is averaging 16.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game and is shooting 38 percent from the field, 38 percent from the 3-point line and is third in the SSC in free throw percentage (91.5 percent). In addition, he has a 2.1 assist/turnover ratio as he has dished out 101 assists and committed 47 turnovers. Davis, who was a Second-Team All-SSC Team a year ago and is the reigning SSC Player of the Week, has scored in double figures in 14 games and has recorded four double-doubles, including a triple-double of 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against Cedarville, while UT's third double-digit scorer is sophomore guard/forward Austin Rettig, who is averaging 14.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and is shooting 45 percent from the field, 35 percent from the 3-point line and 82 percent at the free throw line. Rettig has scored in double figures in 12 games and has posted three double-doubles. Other key performers for the Spartans are sophomore guard Matt Johnson, senior guard Tyler Zacur and freshman forward Othniel Shelton. Johnson is averaging 7.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game and is shooting 33 percent from the field, 33 percent from the 3-point line and 64 percent from the free throw line and has reached double figures in six games, while Zacur is averaging 5.6 points per game and is shooting 48 percent from the floor and is second in the SSC in 3-point field goal percentage (47.2 percent) and Shelton is averaging 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and is shooting 53 percent from the field.
As a team, the Spartans are one of the top defensive teames in the league as they are fourth in scoring defense (68.5 points per game) and second in field goal percentage defense (41.8 percent) and is third in rebound margin (+4.1). UT has held its last three opponents and six of its last seven foes under 70 points. In addition, UT is fifth in scoring margin (+5.7) and sixth in both steals (6.9 spg) and blocks (2.5 bpg). On offense, the Spartans are averaging 74.1 points per game and have scored 70 or more points in 10 games and are shooting 44 percent from the field and 35 percent from the 3-point line and is fourth in the league in free throw shooting (74.4 percent).
