The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles were the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament champions, meaning they would receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. However, first they would need to defeat the Northeastern Conference tournament champion, Fairleigh Dickinson Knights in Dayton. The winner would get a date with the number one seeded North Carolina Tar Heels on Thursday March 17, from Raleigh, North Carolina. A home game for the Tar Heels.

The Eagles jumped all over the Knights early, starting the game with an 11-0 run and they never looked back. At the end of the first half, the Eagles had a 21-point lead. The closest the Knights would get to tying “Dunk City” was 15 points. The final score ended up being 96-65. The Eagles broke the record for most points scored in a “First Four” game.

FGCU was led in points by junior forward Marc Eddy Norelia who had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Eagles used their depth to take the game with four of their five starters scoring 10 points or more and two of their bench players scoring 8 and 9 points, respectively.

The Knights never really got out of the starting blocks. They were led in points by sophomore guard Earl Potts, Jr., who had 16 points.

Like I said earlier, FGCU will now move on to play the number one-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels in Raleigh, NC, 27 miles from their home campus in Chapel Hill. Never before has a number-16 seed defeated a one seed in the NCAA tournament. Three years ago, however, Florida Gulf Coast’s resumé only heightened when they went on a Cinderella run, defeating #2- seeded Georgetown and #7-seeded San Diego State en route to the Sweet 16, where they would eventually lose to in-state rival, Florida 62-50. That made them the first #15 seed to make it to the Sweet 16.

FGCU will take on #1-seeded North Carolina on Thursday March 17 in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.  Can they be the first 16 seed to take down a 1 seed?