JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Bellarmine men's basketball team will look to get off the schneid this week against a pair of teams in the bottom third of the ASUN standings this week in Florida. The Knights head to Duval County to face Jacksonville on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET before heading 12 miles southeast to face North Florida Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
 
Bellarmine (6-12, 1-5 ASUN, NET No. 300) has dropped three ASUN games in a row since their 84-78 overtime win over Central Arkansas on January 8. That win, though, is holding up as UCA is sitting alone in fourth place in the conference at 4-2. This end of their trip to the northeast corner of the Sunshine State will also mark the end of the Knights' four-game road swing, which precedes four straight home games at Knights Hall between January 28 and February 7.
 
About Jacksonville
Jacksonville (7-12, 2-4 ASUN, NET No. 285) dropped their first three ASUN games, but has won two of their last three, a stretch that includes drubbings of West Georgia (75-43) and North Alabama (90-68) and a close loss at Central Arkansas (62-60). In the nonconference, they earned wins over VMI (69-67), Bethune-Cookman (69-64) and Florida A&M (85-82 in overtime).
 
Scoring is spread around for Jacksonville as they have six players averaging between seven and 10 points per game, but none in double digits. JU is led in scoring by junior guard Jaylen Jones and his 9.8 points. Behind him is Hayden Wood (9.5 points per game), the Dolphins' top three-point threat at .417, followed by Chris Lockett Jr. (9.4) and Chris Arias (8.9). Lockett and Arias routinely come off the bench, contributing to JU's 32.6 bench points per game, good for 27th nationally and best in the ASUN.
 
Overall, the Dolphins rank 9th in the league averaging 73.1 points, but second in allowing just 72.7.
 
Jordan Mincy guides the Dolphins in his fifth season (76-69). Last year, JU went 19-14, 12-6 in the ASUN, and appeared in the first round of the CBI.
 
Versus the Dolphins
Bellarmine is 6-2 all-time against Jacksonville, but was swept by them last season, 74-59 at Knights Hall and 73-64 at Swisher Gymnasium. Jack Karasinski averaged 13.0 points against JU and Tyler Doyle went for 17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 0 turnovers in the game at Swisher. Arias averaged 11.5 points in two games against Bellarmine. Junior forward Donovan Rivers is the only other Dolphin who appeared against Bellarmine last year to return this season. The Knights had won six straight against the Dolphins to begin their series before last year, including a 77-72 decision in the championship game of the 2022 ASUN Tournament. Bellarmine's last win at Swisher was a 63-61 victory on February 22, 2023.
 
About North Florida
North Florida (3-16, 1-5 ASUN, NET No. 345) owns just one win over a Division I opponent, a 105-91 shootout victory over North Alabama last Thursday in Florence. Sophomore guard Kent Jackson, who jumped ships of the River City Rumble rivalry and came from JU to UNF this season, dropped 35 points in that game, drilling 8 of 13 treys. Senior guard Kamrin Oriol added 21 points on 8-for-18 shooting, 5 of 11 from three. Outside of the win over UNA, however, UNF has lost their other 16 games against D1 teams by an average of 20.0 points.
 
As has been the case with UNF in past years, they will shoot a ton of threes. North Florida ranks 8th nationally and 2nd in the ASUN behind Eastern Kentucky with averaging 32.8 3-point attempts. The Ospreys connect at a .351 clip, 3rd in the conference and 122nd nationally—slightly worse than their .357 percentage from deep last season when they led the nation in both attempts and makes.
 
Bobby Kennen is in his first season at the helm of the Ospreys and his first season as a head coach. After 16 seasons at UNF as an assistant—and the last 13 as associate head coach—he was elevated to head coach following the departure of Matthew Driscoll in May. Driscoll took the associate head coach role under Jerome Tang at Kansas State.
 
UNF hosts EKU on Thursday before the Knights visit Saturday.
 
Versus the Ospreys
Bellarmine fell to 2-4 all-time against North Florida after dropping both games last season, 98-83 in Knights Hall and 95-88 at UNF Arena. Karasinski dropped in 27 points in the first matchup in Knights Hall to set a new career high and then topped it with 28 against the Ospreys in Jacksonville. Overall, he was 22 for 33 from the floor. Bellarmine has only won once in three tries at UNF Arena, a 73-70 triumph in the teams' first-ever matchup on February 9, 2022.
 
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