Toledo to Face FGCU in Opening Round of Gulf Coast Showcase

Monday, November 19

Estero, Fla.

7:30 p.m.

University of Toledo

Florida Gulf Coast

Senior Chris Darrington is averaging 10.7 ppg in his first season with the Rockets.

Toledo to Face FGCU in Opening Round of Gulf Coast Showcase

11/17/2018 11:06:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Game Notes (PDF)

TOLEDO, Ohio - The University of Toledo men's basketball team (2-1) is heading to southwest Florida this week to compete in the Gulf Coast Showcase at Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla.

       The eight-team tournament, which starts on Monday, Nov. 19 and continues through Wednesday, Nov. 21, features four schools in this week's collegeinsiders.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll — No. 3 South Dakota State, No. 12 Louisiana, the No. 13 Rockets and .No. 23 UC-Irvine — as well as Colorado State, Florida Gulf Coast, Texas-San Antonio and Tulane.

       Toledo opens tournament play on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. vs. Florida Gulf Coast (2-2) and will play either Colorado State or Louisiana on Tuesday. The Rockets will be looking to bounce back from Wednesday's 84-74 setback at Wright State, while the Eagles posted an 84-78 victory over SDSU in their most recent outing on Friday evening.

       The tournament will be webcast at gulfcoastshowcase.com for a fee of either $9.95 per game or $24.95 for the entire tournament. Fans can also listen to an audio broadcast on utrockets.com or the Rocket Radio Network.

POST TOUCHES
• Toledo is 1-2 vs. FGCU with the home team emerging victorious in the three previous meetings that occurred in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
• Senior guard Jaelan Sanford leads the Rockets and is tied for fifth in the MAC with 20.0 ppg. The Evansville, Ind. native tallied a season-high 30 points at Oakland in UT's season opener and ranks 17th on UT's all-time scoring list with 1,336 points.
• Junior forward Willie Jackson opened the season with two double-doubles and has six in 22 career games in a Rocket uniform. Jackson, who is averaging 13.3 ppg and a team-high 9.0 rpg, also tallied double-doubles in last year's MAC Tournament vs. Eastern Michigan (career-high 18 pts.-10 reb.) in the semifinals and Buffalo (11 pts.-10 reb.) in the championship game.
• Senior forward Nate Navigato knocked down three treys at Wright State on Wednesday to move into third place on UT's career three-point field goal list with 228 treys.
• Junior center Luke Knapke is perfect from the field in the Rockets' first three games. He is 11-of-11 from two-point range and 7-of-7 from behind the three-point arc.
• Sophomore guard Marreon Jackson leads the MAC with 6.7 assists per game and is tied for first with a 4.0 assist/turnover ratio.

REGULAR-SEASON TOURNAMENT TIME UNDER COACH KOWALCZYK
• The Rockets have participated in five three-day regular-season tournaments since Coach Kowalczyk took over UT's program in 2010.
• UT won the 2K Sports Classic Sub-Regional in 2013 hosted by Detroit Mercy by posting wins over Stony Brook, Florida Atlantic and the host Titans.
• Toledo also won the Texas-Pan American Tournament in 2012 with victories over Texas State, USC-Upstate and UTPA.
• The Rockets finished second at the Great Alaska Shootout in 2015 by defeating San Jose State and Loyola Chicago before falling to Middle Tennessee in the championship game.
• Toledo posted a 1-2 mark at the Challenge in Music City in 2016 with a double-overtime win over Evansville followed by losses to Middle Tennessee and UNC-Wilmington.

SOME TEAM STATISTICAL TIDBITS
• At least four Rockets have scored in double digits in each of UT's first three games with five scoring in double figures in two contests.
• Toledo has five players scoring in double digits with senior Chris Darrington coming off the bench with a 10.7 scoring mark.
• Toledo leads the MAC with an 80.5 free-throw percentage.
• Toledo has six different players shooting 80 percent or better from the free-throw line with each of those individuals making at least five trips to the charity stripe.
• Toledo is 8-2 in games decided by five points or less since the start of last season