LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine University men's basketball team will close a stretch of five-out-of-six at home with Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday and Stetson on Saturday at Knights Hall.
 
The contest with FGCU will tip at 6:30 p.m. ET Thursday and the Stetson game will begin at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. Both games will be available on ESPN+ and ESPN 680/105.7.
 
About Florida Gulf Coast
Florida Gulf Coast (NET No. 162) enters Thursday's game at 10-9 overall and in a four-way tie for first in the ASUN at 5-1. The Eagles have won four in a row and on Saturday avenged their only ASUN loss to Queens by beating them 60-47 in Ft. Myers. FGCU started the season 0-4 and have gone 10-5 since. Their most notable nonconference win was an 80-78 triumph at Florida Atlantic (NET No. 119) in which they erased a 12-point halftime deficit and won on a Jevin Muniz buzzer-beating jumper.
 
Senior guard Dallion Johnson, in his second year at FGCU after transferring from Penn State, leads the team and is 13^th in the conference averaging 13.7 points. He is the top three-point threat for the Eagles at 33.5 percent, fifth in the league. Senior forward Keeshawn Kellman is second averaging 12.2 points, 19^th in the ASUN, and sixth in the ASUN averaging 7.1 rebounds in his second season in the program after coming down from Princeton. He leads the conference with his 60.6 field goal percentage, though he averages just 8.6 attempts. Senior guard Zavian McLean is averaging 11.6 points in his first year since transferring from Columbia and Muniz, a junior guard in his first season in Ft. Myers after two at Delaware State, is averaging 10.8 points.
 
As a team, FGCU ranks second in the ASUN in both scoring defense (67.8 PPG) and field goal percentage defense (41.6 percent). Offensively, they rank second in the ASUN in field goal percentage (41.6 percent).
 
Bellarmine won their first five matchups against FGCU dating back to the 2020-21 season, but the Eagles snapped that streak with a 63-52 win last season in Ft. Myers. Ben Johnson scored a game-high 21 points, hitting 8-of-19 from the field. Dallion Johnson and Kellman each scored 17 for FGCU and Kellman pulled down 11 rebounds for one of his nine double-doubles on the season.
 
Davenport on the Eagles
"Florida Gulf Coast is coming off a tremendous win over Queens, who was undefeated in ASUN play. A veteran team starting two graduates, one senior and a redshirt junior and a true junior, they are very balanced and veteran tough. Six games into league play, they have four starters averaging between 13 and 15 points per game. They are very impressive from a standpoint of they attack with great depth." –Head coach Scott Davenport
 
About Stetson
Last year's ASUN representative in the NCAA Tournament, Stetson (NET No. 352) this season is 5-14, but 3-3 in conference play, tied for sixth in the ASUN with Eastern Kentucky. The Hatters will visit EKU Thursday before coming to Louisville on Saturday. Stetson did not beat a Division I team in their nonconference schedule. Last week, they split home matches with Queens (L, 90-65) and West Georgia (W, 82-78). Their other two ASUN wins came at UWG and at home against Central Arkansas.
 
Stetson has three-point threats all over the floor. All six Hatters with at least 28 three-point attempts are averaging at least 34.0 percent: junior guard Mehki Ellison (41.8), sophomore guard Tristan Gross (40.4), freshman guard Jamie Phillips Jr. (39.3), junior guard Abramo Canka (37.5), senior forward Josh Massey (35.9) and senior forward Jordan Wood (34.0). Ellison leads the team averaging 15.9 points and 2.5 assists. Wood is second at 12.2 points and takes the most outside shots, averaging 5.0 three-point attempts. Massey, at 6-foot-6, leads the team averaging 5.0 rebounds.
 
The Knights are 3-3 against Stetson, but have lost three of the last four. The Hatters won 84-77 last season inside Freedom Hall. Johnson scored a game-high 28 points on 11-for-22 shooting, 6-for-15 from deep. All-ASUN First Teamer Jalen Blackmon scored 26 points for Stetson, hitting 8-of-14 threes. Blackmon, however, transferred to Miami for his senior season. In fact, among players who appeared for Stetson, just Gross and senior forward Treyton Thompson returned this season. Neither registered a field goal in last year's matchup.
 
Davenport on the Hatters
"Stetson had a magical run to win the 2023-24 ASUN Conference Tournament Championship and earn the trip to the NCAA Tournament. Coach [Donnie] Jones has been a winner throughout his career everywhere he has coached. This year's Hatters enter the week 3-3 in an incredibly balanced ASUN. From the beginning of ASUN play, they have shot the ball at a tremendous clip in conference play, 49 percent overall and 39 percent from the three. On the defensive end, Stetson has improved, holding their opponents to under 43 percent from the field."
 
Last Week
Bellarmine dropped a home game against Lipscomb 87-53 and at Eastern Kentucky 72-69.  The Knights were without Johnson for both games and without Billy Smith against Lipscomb. Bellarmine trailed Lipscomb by just four points at the break, but was victim of a 25-0 run by the Bisons to start the second half. Against EKU, the Colonels thwarted the Knights' play to try to get off a potential game-tying three-pointer in the game's final possession.
 
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