The week ahead in First Coast college basketball
Recapping the past week and a look ahead to this week for First Coast NCAA college basketball teams.
Men
Records: Flagler 4-2, Jacksonville 3-2, Edward Waters 4-5, North Florida 1-7.
Player of the week: Edward Waters senior guard/forward Elias Harden scored 49 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and made 9 of 21 3-point shots in the Tigers' two games in the Keiser Holiday Classic. He had 25 points and five 3-pointers in an 80-71 loss to Florida Memorial, then came back the next day with 24 points and six rebounds in an 84-81 victory over Keiser University. Harden opened the game with a 3-pointer and made three of his four in the first half.
Game of the week: Flagler blew an eight-point lead with 27 seconds left against 15th-ranked Embry-Riddle but senior guard Jaizec Lottie slipped past the Eagles' defense and scored on a running layup with .08 seconds left for a 78-76 victory.
Stat line of the week: Lottie scored 40 points on 15 of 26 shooting, with four rebounds and four assists.
This week’s schedule
Tuesday
Fort Lauderdale at Flagler, 7 p.m.
Thursday
Edward Waters at North Florida, 7 p.m.
Jacksonville at Charleston Southern, 8 p.m.
Friday
Flagler at Spring Hill (Ala.), 8 p.m.
Saturday
Edward Waters at Paine College (Ga.), 4 p.m.
Sunday
North Florida at Florida Atlantic, 2 p.m.
Notable: After playing at Kentucky and Florida International in Miami last week, North Florida has accumulated 5,854 miles of air travel in seven road games, playing in three time zones (Central, Mountain, Pacific) ... UNF forward Carter Hendricksen needs 38 points to become the 18th player in program history with 1,000 points and needs 31 rebounds to reach 500. He will be the 10th player in school history to reach both of those milestones. ... UNF coach Matthew Driscoll needs three victories to move into third place all-time among ASUN coaches with 196 victories and is seven away from 200. ... In Jacksonville's 83-54 victory over Coastal Georgia on Saturday, the Dolphins outscored the Mariners 52-18 in the paint and had a season-low 11 turnovers. It was the lowest number of giveaways for the Dolphins since Feb. 13 of last season when they had eight in a 71-69 loss to Lipscomb. ... UNF and Edward Waters will play on Thursday for the 23rd time, with the Ospreys holding a 19-3 edge. UNF has won the last 11 meetings and has scored 90 or more points in the last seven, averaging 98.3 points. The Tigers' last victory over UNF came on Nov. 17, 2001, 65-60.
Women
Records: Edward Waters 7-4, North Florida 5-2, Flagler 5-3, Jacksonville 2-2.
Player of the week: Playing two games in her native state -- the second in her hometown of Charleston, S.C. -- UNF graduate senior guard Rhetta Moore scored 44 points and collected 10 assists and six rebounds in an 84-72 loss at Clemson and an 86-76 victory over the College of Charleston. Moore shot 17 of 29 from the floor (.586) and 8 of 14 on 3-point shots (.571). She had 29 points against Clemson and against Charleston she made two 3-pointers with less than two minutes to go to put the game away.
Game of the week: Flagler College didn't forget the team that put the Saints in a mini-slump. Flagler beat Florida Tech 76-63 at home on Saturday, avenging an 82-73 loss on Nov. 16 at Melbourne that started a streak of three losses in four games. Flagler blitzed Florida Tech 23-11 in the third quarter to rally from a 32-30 deficit, with senior guard Jaziana Mathis scoring 11 of her 25 points in that quarter. Three of her baskets came off feeds by senior guard Tori Pearce, who had 28 points. The two combined for 53 points on 20 of 36 shooting (.555).
Stat line of the week: Pearce scored 28 points and had 10 assists, eight rebounds, six steals in the Saints' victory over Florida Tech. Pearce made 10 of 20 shots from the floor and 8 of 8 from the foul line.
This week’s schedule
Monday
Ave Maria at Edward Waters, 6 p.m.
Tuesday
Jacksonville at Florida International, 7 p.m.
North Florida at Auburn, 8 p.m.
Saturday
North Florida at Florida International, 12 p.m.
Florida A&M at Jacksonville, 2 p.m.
Edward Waters at Paine College (Ga.), 6 p.m.
Notable: Moore wasn't the only South Carolina native to show off in front of home fans when the Ospreys beat the College of Charleston. Coach Darrick Gibbs won his 80th career game with UNF near his hometown of Pawley's Island, S.C. UNF is off to its best start since the 2004-05 season. ... The Ospreys' game at Auburn on Tuesday is the second meeting against the Tigers. Auburn won 94-81 on Dec. 17, 2020. The Ospreys are 0-12 vs. SEC schools, half of the games coming against Florida. … Jacksonville plays at Florida International on Tuesday, a team it once had a five-game winning streak against. The Panthers broke that in the last meeting, winning 64-59 on Dec. 5, 2020. JU holds a 6-4 lead in the series. ... Surprisingly, JU’s home game against Florida A&M on Saturday at 2 p.m. is only the third meeting all-time between the two schools separated by only 175 miles of I-10. They have split two prior meetings, both in Tallahassee, the Rattlers winning 69-64 in 2013 and the Dolphins romping 88-54 in 2019. ... Senior guard/forward La'Quanza Glover of Edward Waters had 16 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three steals in an 81-69 loss to Claflin College, the fifth double-double of the season for the Ribault graduate.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: The week ahead in First Coast college basketball
