BASKETBALL GAMEDAY: Eckerd Travels to Florida Tech to Open Final Month of Regular Season

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd basketball teams open the final month of regular season play with a visit to Florida Tech for a pair of Sunshine State Conference contests.
 

#16/18 Eckerd (17-3, 10-1 SSC) at Florida Tech (9-9, 4-7 SSC)
WHEN	Wednesday, February 1 | 5:30 PM
WHERE	Melbourne, Fla.
WATCH	Live Video | Live Stats
SOCIAL MEDIA	Twitter (@ECTritons) | Instagram (@EckerdTritons)
LAST MEETING	Eckerd 65, Florida Tech 53 (11/16/16)

ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Florida Tech has been quite a different team at home versus on the road.  The Panthers are just 1-6 away from the Clemente Center but are 6-1 in their own gym, meaning tonight's matchup for Eckerd will likely be tougher than FIT's overall record would indicate.  Though they aren't an efficient shooting team (39.3 percent), the Panthers make up for it with aggressive offensive rebounding.  Eckerd will need to keep players like Julie McCarthy (8.1 rebounds per game) off the glass and take care of the basketball against FIT's physical defense.

LAST TIME THEY MET: The Tritons slowly pulled away from FIT on November 16 to open conferencce play with a 65-53 win in the McArthur Center.  Eckerd's defense caused problems for the Panthers, holding them to 25 percent shooting and forcing 23 turnovers.  Victoria Vine led EC with 17 points and seven steals while Anna Deegan added 12 points.

RISING IN THE RANKINGS: The Tritons moved up nine spots in the D2SIDA national rankings and five spots in the WBCA rankings this week, coming in at No. 16 in the media poll and No. 18 in the coaches poll.  Eckerd is the only team from the SSC ranked in either poll.
 

Eckerd (14-6, 7-4 SSC) at Florida Tech (11-9, 4-7 SSC)
WHEN	Wednesday, February 1 | 7:30 PM
WHERE	Melbourne, Fla.
WATCH	Live Video | Live Stats
SOCIAL MEDIA	Twitter (@ECTritons) | Instagram (@EckerdTritons)
LAST MEETING	Florida Tech 86, Eckerd 84 (11/16/16)

ABOUT THE PANTHERS: While FIT finds itself in the bottom half of the conference, the Panthers have still been tough at home with a 9-2 record in the Clemente Center.  Florida Tech boasts one of the SSC's most potent offenses, averaging 88.0 points per game behind Jordan Majors and Sam Daniel.  Majors averages 20.9 points per game while Daniel scores 21.0 per game; the duo ranks first and second respectively in the SSC in scoring.  Daniel trails only Eckerd's Kevin Walsh in 3-pointers made in the SSC, having knocked down 67 on the season.

LAST TIME THEY MET: Eckerd held a 15-point lead in the second half but a 28-3 run by FIT turned the game around as the Panthers scored an 86-84 win in the McArthur Center on November 16.  Majors led the FIT comeback with 20 second-half points and 35 in the game.

TIGHT RACE: While Barry has built a 2.5 game lead in the SSC standings, the race for second is incredibly tight entering the regular season's final month.  Eckerd holds a narrow half-game lead for that spot over Tampa and Rollins with Florida Southern a game behind.