ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd basketball teams tip off the 2016-17 Sunshine State Conference schedule tonight hosting Florida Tech in the McArthur Center.
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ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Florida Tech presented a difficult matchup for the Tritons last season, winning both regular-season contests and eliminating Eckerd in the quarterfinals of the Sunshine State Conference tournament. Â There are expectations that the Panthers will be as strong as last season's team which advanced to the NCAA South Regional as FIT was picked to finish third in conference. Â The team returns nine players from that squad including Shequana Harris and Julie McCarthy. Â Florida Tech comes into the game with a 73-50 win over LeMoyne-Owen (Tenn.) and a 66-59 win over Saint Michael's (Vt.).
STOLEN PROPERTY: Senior guard
Victoria Vine enters the game leading the SSC with an average of 5.0 steals per game. Â She opened her final season with a career-high six steals on Friday against West Florida. Â Vine has also led the team in scoring in the first two games, scoring 16 against both UWF and Valdosta State.
KEY MATCHUP: Florida Tech used a combination of offensive rebounding and turnovers in all three wins over Eckerd last year, and will likely rely on the same strengths in tonight's game. Â FIT pulled a total of 46 offensive rebounds and forced a total of 57 turnovers in last season's series.
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ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Florida Tech recorded its first win of the season on Monday night, breezing past Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, 110-84. Â FIT opened the year with a pair of losses at the South Region Classic in Atlanta, falling 79-68 to Morehouse (Ga.) and 87-78 to Clark Atlanta (Ga.). Â Junior Sam Daniel has been tough to stop so far, averaging 25.3 points per game while shooting better than 50 percent from 3-point range.
BALANCING ACT: In last year's record-setting season, the Tritons relied on a balanced offensive effort. Â Through two games this season, Eckerd looks to have the same balance again with four players averaging between 9.0 and 13.5 points per game. Â Junior
Trevon Young leads the way so far with 13.5 points per game and is coming off his fourth career double-double on Saturday, going for 16 points and 10 rebounds against Delta State (Miss.).
KEY MATCHUP: On Saturday, the Tritons saw a big lead slip away against Delta State behind a 37-point outburst from DSU's Devin Schmidt. Â With another dominant scorer in FIT's Sam Daniel on the floor tonight, Eckerd will need to keep him in check and not allow a hot hand to build momentum.
