Throughout the course of Tuesday night’s matchup with Rice, Pat Chambers stressed one message to his team.
One possession at a time.
As the clock ticked closer to triple zeroes in the second half, his Eagles continued to show fight. A double-digit deficit turned into 5, then 3, then 1, and by the time regulation ended, there wasn’t a deficit of any kind.
After forcing the game to overtime, FGCU flexed its muscles and took advantage of an emotionally drained Rice team, extending their win streak to four after a 78-63 come-from behind win to cap off the second day of Coconut Hoops at Alico Arena.
“I’m just proud of how we stuck together,” Chambers said. “We had good shots in the first half. They just didn’t go. That happens. Every day in practice, I talk about defending and rebounding, defending and rebounding, because there’s going to be nights like this where the ball’s not gonna go in the basket. Then what are you gonna do?
“I felt like we stuck together, we showed some grit, we showed some resiliency, and I’d give a freshman a lot of credit for taking a gutsy shot. Had a timeout, felt like they were on their heels a little bit. I chose not to call a timeout. Our guys trusted the concepts, he got to a spot, and he made a big shot. Really proud of everybody for how they handled not shooting well.”
The Eagles came out of the gates cold, starting 1 for 8 from the field while Rice built up a 7-2 lead on 3 of 4 shooting. That tenacious defense continued to bother FGCU, which started 3 of 21 from the field and trailing 16-7 at the under-8 media timeout.
J.R. Konieczny would snap the scoring drought at the 5:55 mark, which eventually kickstarted the FGCU offense. Gabe Tanner and Darren Williams would both nail 3-pointers inside the final 90 seconds of action, getting the deficit to 24-17 at the halftime break.
“Maybe at Penn State,” Chambers said of FGCU’s first-half output, thinking of a previous time when one of his teams scored 17 points in a half. “Just one of those nights. We scored 90 last night. Today, back-to-back, a good team from the American Conference with a good coach, you’ve got to play at a higher level. The chips get higher as you move on here. But it’s been a long time.”
The second half was slow and methodical for the Eagles, chipping away at what was a 34-21 Rice lead at the 16:43 mark of the second half. Despite not scoring a single point off a Rice turnover, the Eagles managed to level things thanks to timely shooting from Konieczny (11 second half points), freshman Jordan Ellerbee (16), and Isaiah Malone (5).
After not leading for a single second in regulation, the overtime period was all FGCU, outscoring Rice 19-4 in the frame. It was the second consecutive game the Owls failed to log a field goal in overtime, losing 89-84 to Kennesaw State in OT on Monday.
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday night’s game:
FGCU takeaways
Ellerbee’s coming out party. The freshman had a career game in what was his seventh collegiate game, logging 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting, adding 4 rebounds and a pair of assists in 28 minutes. Ellerbee’s been largely impactful with FGCU, registering five double figure games already, carving out a key role in the rotation.
“We were amped up not because of the win, but because we stayed together, that we grinded it out and trusted each other so much,” Ellerbee said. “We’ve built that trust throughout so much time with each other. The fact that we can come together and battle through any adversity is great.”
Tale of two halves. For much of the first half, many were wondering where the team that’s eclipsed 90 points three times this season was. There was a glimpse of the high-octane offense late in the first half, which ultimately carried over into the second half with FGCU starting the second making 6 of 9 field goals and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc to get within a single possession at the 13:01 mark of the second.
That fight would continue throughout the second half, trading baskets with the Owls before ending regulation shooting north of 56.5 percent from the field, and 5 of 7 from distance. The Eagles also got to the line 17 times in the final 20 minutes, making 11 free throws.
Big foul trouble early. Tristan Guillouette’s fourth start saw him log three fouls less than 13 minutes into the game, forcing Chambers’ hand and ultimately going small after Malone also couldn’t stay out of foul trouble. Rice would exploit FGCU’s smaller lineup without Guillouette and Malone on the floor, attacking the paint often. Rice’s first 18 points in the second half came in the paint, but Chambers switched to a zone defense after that, stymieing Rice’s offensive capabilities.
“We need our fives,” Chambers said. “We’re a good defensive team. We displayed really good defense today. If you look at the shooting numbers, 37-17-65, that’s gonna win you some games. However, I think for us to be an elite defensive team, we need our fives. We need Tristan. We need Isaiah Malone.
“I rolled the dice because we were really struggling, but Tristan’s been a great rim protector for us. He’s Ray Lewis out there, like a middle linebacker telling everybody what’s going on. For him to get three fouls, it was tough for us.”
Follow Sports Reporter Alex Martin on X: @NP_AlexMartin. For the best sports coverage in Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: FGCU mounts ferocious comeback against Rice in 78-63 overtime thriller
