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The defending Atlantic Sun Conference Champion FGCU men\u2019s basketball team has added two more television games to its 2013-14 season, announced Tuesday as part of the league\u2019s CSS (Comcast Sports Southeast) package.<\/p>\nThe defending Atlantic Sun Conference Champion FGCU men\u2019s basketball team has added two more television games to its 2013-14 season, announced Tuesday as part of the league\u2019s CSS (Comcast Sports Southeast) package.<\/p>\n
The Eagles \u2013 who burst onto the national stage last year by becoming the first-ever No. 15 seed to advance to the Sweet 16 \u2013 will have both of their games against Stetson broadcast on CSS. The two teams will square off at Stetson on Sunday, Jan. 5, at 1 p.m. before the Hatters make the return trip to SWFL at the end of the month on Friday, Jan. 31, for a 7 p.m. tip.<\/p>\n
With the CSS additions, FGCU now boasts seven TV games in the \u201913-\u201914 season, including four that are nationally televised. The Green and Blue opens its year at Nebraska (Big Ten Network) on Nov. 8, hosts Hartford (ESPN2) on Nov. 12, travels to USF (ESPNU) on Dec. 17, entertains ETSU (WINK-CBS) on Jan. 18 and wraps up its regular-season TV slate with a contest at home against Mercer on Feb. 21 on ESPNU.<\/p>\n
FGCU and Stetson split the season series last year with each team winning on its home court. The Hatters and Eagles were the top-two scoring teams in the A-Sun last year, with FGCU leading the league at 72.9 points per game and Stetson at 70.3. Stetson was the last team to defeat FGCU, 80-71, before the Eagles ran through the A-Sun Conference Championship and dunked their way to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament with victories over second-seeded Georgetown and seventh-seeded San\u00a0 Diego State.<\/p>\n
In addition to the pair of FGCU matches, the A-Sun returns to the network for 10 games that include the 2013-14 A-Sun\/CSS Friday Night Game of the Week and A-Sun championship coverage. The partnership enters its 12th season and will feature some of the best rivalry games in the conference while continuing its superb tournament coverage. Once again the A-Sun\u2019s Friday Night Game of the Week broadcasts will also be available via ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app.<\/p>\n
\u201cCSS is pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with the A-Sun conference,\u201d said CSS Vice President and General Manager Mark Fuhrman. \u201cWe look forward to bringing viewers another great season of A-Sun basketball on Friday nights.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team of Matt Stewart and Sonny Smith returns to handle play-by-play duties and color commentary, respectively, for the Friday night broadcasts. Stewart is in his seventh season calling A-Sun basketball, while Smith returns for his 12th season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe A-Sun\u2019s longstanding partnership with CSS, and in particular our involvement with the Friday Night Game of the Week, has become a valuable tradition that enables us to consistently showcase our outstanding conference basketball,\u201d stated A-Sun Commissioner Ted Gumbart. \u201cIt is always good to have such a quality announce team back again with Matt Stewart and Sony Smith, and I am pleased to continue shining this spotlight on the outstanding student-athletes and institutions of the A-Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Postseason coverage of the A-Sun Basketball Championships will include the Men\u2019s Semifinals on Thursday, March 6.<\/p>\n
With FGCU season-ticket sales at record levels and having more than doubled from a year ago, additional Priority 2 reserved seats in Alico Arena have been created to meet the growing demand. In turn, a limited number are still available for the season; Club Level is sold out, while mid-court Priority 1\u00a0are nearly gone and remaining Priority 2 options are disappearing\u00a0quickly.<\/p>\n
In addition to the limited season tickets left, general admission\u00a0single-game tickets\u00a0and new\u00a0mini-plan packages for the year are currently on sale. With the exception of FGCU\u2019s home-opening \u201cBreakfast at the Beach\u201d nationally televised contest on ESPN2 against Hartford on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7 a.m., all men\u2019s games have been packaged into four\u00a0tiers\u00a0to provide added options and savings for fans,\u00a0in addition to single-game purchases.<\/p>\n
FGCU returns four starters from a team which went 26-11 last year, knocked off eventual ACC Champion Miami and earned an ESPY for \u201cBest Upset.\u201d Junior\u00a0Brett Comer (Winter Park, Fla.\/Winter Park HS)<\/strong>\u00a0has been named by Bleacher Report as one of the Top-10 Most Exciting Players for the 2013-14 season, while senior\u00a0Chase Fieler (Parkersburg, W. Va.\/Parkersburg South HS)<\/strong>\u00a0has been tabbed as one of the Top-20 Mid-Major Stars for the upcoming year by the same outlet. Junior Bernard Thompson (Conyers, Ga.\/Rockdale County HS)<\/strong> is also the defending A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year after finishing second in the nation in total steals (102).<\/p>\n 2013-14 Atlantic Sun\/CSS Basketball Broadcast Schedule<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Date <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Game<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Time (EST)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Jan. 5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n FGCU<\/strong> at Stetson<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 1 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Jan. 10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Kennesaw State at Mercer<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Jan. 17<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Jacksonville at North Florida<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Jan. 24<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Lipscomb at Northern Kentucky<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Jan. 31<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Stetson at FGCU<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Feb. 7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Mercer at Kennesaw State<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Feb. 14<\/p>\n<\/td>\n North Florida at Jacksonville<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Feb. 21<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Northern Kentucky at Lipscomb<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n Feb. 28<\/p>\n<\/td>\n ETSU at USC Upstate<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n March 6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n A-Sun Men\u2019s Semifinals<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 6:30 p.m. \u2022 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n March 16<\/p>\n<\/td>\n A-Sun Women\u2019s Final<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 3 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the men\u2019s basketball program, follow @FGCU_MBB on Twitter and Instagram, and \u201cLike\u201d us on Facebook at \/FGCUMBB<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2013-14 men\u2019s basketball season tickets are selling quickly, and only a limited amount remain. N<\/em>ew this year are mini-plan packages for all games, with the exception of \u201cBreakfast at the Beach,\u201d and individual-game tickets are now on sale. Fans can reserve their seat(s) by visiting the Alico Arena Ticket Office, calling 239-590-7145 or logging on to<\/em>\u00a0FGCUAthletics.com\/Tickets<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The defending Atlantic Sun Conference Champion FGCU men\u2019s basketball team has added two more television games to its 2013-14 season, announced Tuesday as part of the league\u2019s CSS (Comcast Sports… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26828"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
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