Men's Basketball | 2/26/2018 2:28:00 PM
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.—Usually, playing the No. 1 seed on its home floor seems like a daunting task.
The Southeastern University men's basketball team takes on St. Thomas tonight in The Sun Conference Tournament semifinals with some confidence going in against the seventh-ranked Bobcats.
SEU lost the two regular season meetings by a combined eight points.
In fact, the last time the two sides squared off at the Fernandez Family Center on the St. Thomas campus, the Fire led 62-54 with 11:44 left in the game. Unfortunately, SEU turned the ball over six times, and converted just three field goals the rest of the night.
"St. Thomas is a really good team with one of the better coaches in the country," said coach
R-Jay Barsh. "We just have to come out ready to play, I think our confidence has to be about what we do and not how they play us."
Between the two losses, SEU missed 19 free throw attempts.
In the two regular season matchups, the teams have near identical field goal percentages, with St. Thomas having made four more shots than the Fire. Southeastern has made one more 3-pointer on one less attempt.
The biggest advantage St. Thomas has had in the two games this season has been in rebounding, holding a 41 rebound advantage over SEU, grabbing 35 offensive boards. Raheem Bowman is averaging 25 points and 15 rebounds per game against the Fire this season.
"We need to come in with confidence and be ready to defend and rebound," said Barsh. "I think our guys want to go down there and make sure we hold our block outs and finish at the rim."
Look for
Grant Bryant, who did a solid job against Warner's Khalil Ozuna in the paint in SEU's quarterfinal win at Warner to try to lock down Bowman. Bryant had 18 points, seven rebounds, and a block in the 3-point win over the Royals Thursday night.
Ryan Atkins has been the go-to scorer, registering 40 points over his last three games, and has 35 against St. Thomas this season. Fellow First-Team All-Sun Conference selection
CJ Reese has had 15 assists over his last two games.
Jeremy Oppenheimer is another X-factor for the Fire, scoring 14 points against St. Thomas on Saturday, and had 13 on Thursday. SEU is 8-2 in games where the Zephyrhills native has 10+ points.
A win Monday night would send the Fire to The Sun Conference Championship game for just the second time in program history, and would give SEU its third season of 20+ wins since joining the NAIA in 2009.
Tip-off is at 7 p.m. with live video available on
The Sun Conference Network.
