PHILADELPHIA — Florida Gulf Coast continued its improbable run in the NCAA Tournament Sunday, cementing its place in college basketball history as the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16.
The high-flying Eagles earned their Round of 16 date with No. 3 Florida with an 81-71 romp over No. 7 San Diego State before an enthralled, packed house at the Wells Fargo Center, where No. 2 Duke was to take on Creighton in the late game.
Competing in their first NCAA Tournament, the FGCU Eagles haven’t simply thrust their young, largely obscure school into the national spotlight. They’ve established themselves as the best show in college basketball along the way with their exuberant, almost acrobatic, uptempo style of play.
After trailing 35-34 at the half, the Eagles exploded for 47 points in the second half, thrilling the crowd with alley-oops and dunks while their bench cheered them on as fervently as their fans, whipping their towels and erupting into their dirty-bird dance with more than four minutes remaining.
It was the second game in which FGCU has toppled a higher seed by 10 points. No. 2 Georgetown was the Eagles’ opening-round victim, falling 78-68 in the biggest upset of the South Region.
If anything, FGCU played with more abandon and more athleticism Sunday against San Diego State despite the fact that history was on the line. Instead of tensing up, they started loose and got looser as the game unfolded, playing basketball as if it were a jazz session, each player riffing off another.
While spontaneous, they weren’t sloppy with their play. The Eagles shot a staggering 56 percent from the field and got a game-high 23 points from Bernard Thompson.
Orchestrating it all was their gritty point guard, sophomore Brett Comer, blessed with keen peripheral vision and terrific timing, who revels in hitting teammates with pinpoint passes midflight and streaking toward the basket only to deftly dish to an on-rushing Eagle several paces back. Comer finished with 14 assists and 10 points.
Reaching the final 16 represents a tremendous achievement for a school whose basketball team played its first season in 2002-03 and wasn’t even eligible for the NCAA Tournament until last year. And it was a personal triumph for second-year coach Andy Enfield, who soundly outcoached San Diego State’s Steve Fisher, who led Michigan to the 1989 NCAA Championship.
Eagles’ senior guard Sherwood Brown did it all early, hitting the team’s opening three pointer, grabbing the first two defensive rebounds, nailing a pair of free throws while handling the toughest defensive assignment, marking the Aztecs’ leading scorer Jamaal Franklin.
San Diego State missed seven of its first eight shots. But after trailing 7-2, they went on a 10-0 run.
The Eagles’ Christophe Varidel, who didn’t score a point in limited minutes against Georgetown, came off the bench and hit back-to-back three-pointers that reclaimed the lead.
The first alley-oop, finished with a fury by Eric McKnight, came 11 minutes in.
The first half unfolded at a torrid pace, with the teams trading three-pointers — four of them in succession — in one stretch. The lead changed hands four times in the first period, and San Diego State took a 35-34 lead to the break.
Shortly after the Eagles retook the lead, Brown picked up a third foul and sat with 17:54 remaining.
And the Eagles turned it into a track meet.
Fisher tried a more deliberate pace; the Eagles pushed the tempo every chance they got.
Back in the game, Brown (17 points) hit from long range to give the Eagles their first double-digit lead. And San Diego State didn’t have a chance of closing the gap.
The Aztecs, who shot 44 percent, were led by Franklin, with 20 points.
The high-flying Eagles earned their Round of 16 date with No. 3 Florida with an 81-71 romp over No. 7 San Diego State before an enthralled, packed house at the Wells Fargo Center, where No. 2 Duke was to take on Creighton in the late game.
Competing in their first NCAA Tournament, the FGCU Eagles haven’t simply thrust their young, largely obscure school into the national spotlight. They’ve established themselves as the best show in college basketball along the way with their exuberant, almost acrobatic, uptempo style of play.
After trailing 35-34 at the half, the Eagles exploded for 47 points in the second half, thrilling the crowd with alley-oops and dunks while their bench cheered them on as fervently as their fans, whipping their towels and erupting into their dirty-bird dance with more than four minutes remaining.
It was the second game in which FGCU has toppled a higher seed by 10 points. No. 2 Georgetown was the Eagles’ opening-round victim, falling 78-68 in the biggest upset of the South Region.
If anything, FGCU played with more abandon and more athleticism Sunday against San Diego State despite the fact that history was on the line. Instead of tensing up, they started loose and got looser as the game unfolded, playing basketball as if it were a jazz session, each player riffing off another.
While spontaneous, they weren’t sloppy with their play. The Eagles shot a staggering 56 percent from the field and got a game-high 23 points from Bernard Thompson.
Orchestrating it all was their gritty point guard, sophomore Brett Comer, blessed with keen peripheral vision and terrific timing, who revels in hitting teammates with pinpoint passes midflight and streaking toward the basket only to deftly dish to an on-rushing Eagle several paces back. Comer finished with 14 assists and 10 points.
Reaching the final 16 represents a tremendous achievement for a school whose basketball team played its first season in 2002-03 and wasn’t even eligible for the NCAA Tournament until last year. And it was a personal triumph for second-year coach Andy Enfield, who soundly outcoached San Diego State’s Steve Fisher, who led Michigan to the 1989 NCAA Championship.
Eagles’ senior guard Sherwood Brown did it all early, hitting the team’s opening three pointer, grabbing the first two defensive rebounds, nailing a pair of free throws while handling the toughest defensive assignment, marking the Aztecs’ leading scorer Jamaal Franklin.
San Diego State missed seven of its first eight shots. But after trailing 7-2, they went on a 10-0 run.
The Eagles’ Christophe Varidel, who didn’t score a point in limited minutes against Georgetown, came off the bench and hit back-to-back three-pointers that reclaimed the lead.
The first alley-oop, finished with a fury by Eric McKnight, came 11 minutes in.
The first half unfolded at a torrid pace, with the teams trading three-pointers — four of them in succession — in one stretch. The lead changed hands four times in the first period, and San Diego State took a 35-34 lead to the break.
Shortly after the Eagles retook the lead, Brown picked up a third foul and sat with 17:54 remaining.
And the Eagles turned it into a track meet.
Fisher tried a more deliberate pace; the Eagles pushed the tempo every chance they got.
Back in the game, Brown (17 points) hit from long range to give the Eagles their first double-digit lead. And San Diego State didn’t have a chance of closing the gap.
The Aztecs, who shot 44 percent, were led by Franklin, with 20 points.