Dominant Dolphins: JU routs UNF to remain unbeaten at home, clinches No. 2 seed in ASUN tournament

The message delivered by Jacksonville University on Wednesday should be audible throughout the ASUN footprint, from Florida to Virginia.

The Dolphins scored the first 12 points of the game, limited the University of North Florida to 1-of-21 from the 3-point arc and bullied the Ospreys on the boards in a 71-39 statement win that clinched second place in the ASUN East and earned JU a first-round bye in next week’s conference tournament — to be followed by a quarterfinal game at Swisher Gym, where they are unbeaten in 14 home games.

The victory in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 1,500 fans at Swisher — and seven members of the Jaguars, including Shaq Griffin, DJ Chark, Jamal Agnew and Laviska Shenault — was the most lopsided for the Dolphins (19-8, 11-4) in the River City Rumble since a 78-38 victory at UNF in 2009 and gave them their first Rumble sweep in men’s basketball since 2018.

Jacksonville's K-Factor: Kevion Nolan finds ways to win games with big shots, subtle plays, strong leadership

UNF's constant: UNF guard Jarius Hicklen has been the constant during season of lineup shuffles, injuries

JU clinched its first unbeaten season at home since 1971.

“We came out locked in for the whole 40 minutes,” said junior guard Kevion Nolan, who led JU with 17 points and five assists. “That was really a point of emphasis from the coaching staff. It’s our week — coming and lock in for 40 minutes and play our game.”

Junior forward Osayi Osifo, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds, said the message is clear.

“We’re getting better as the season goes on,” he said. “Hopefully we can max out to the end.”

JU won its fifth game in a row, its eighth in nine games and derailed the Ospreys (10-19, 6-9), who had bounced back from an early six-game losing streak in the ASUN to win five of six.

Both teams struggled offensively in a 54-51 Dolphins victory on Jan. 15 at UNF Arena but JU turned back any notion of another nail-biter by storming to a halftime lead of 39-20 and going up by as many as 36 points in the second half.

“They had a certain level of focus from the time they stepped on the court,” said JU coach Jordan Mincy, who said he noticed an air of confidence during the team’s pregame shootaround. “They understood the magnitude of this game. They understand you have to have a certain level of toughness and throughout the course of the year they’ve shown that.”

There’s also a bit more at stake on Saturday, the final day of the regular season.

With Liberty’s 82-72 overtime loss to Florida Gulf Coast, the Dolphins are tied with the Flames for first in the East. But JU would have to win at Gulf Coast and hope Kennesaw beats Liberty in Lynchburg, Va., on Saturday to win the division, because the two teams split during the regular season and Liberty is likely to have a huge lead on the next tie-breaker, the NCAA Net index.

The Flames are 115th on the NCAA Net and JU is 159th.

The Ospreys are likely to be the fifth seed in the East and have to win at Stetson to avoid dropping to sixth.

UNF coach Matthew Driscoll said it’s up to his team to do some soul-searching and bounce back on Saturday in DeLand, then in the tournament where they will have to start out on the road.

“When you come out on the floor tonight you could see a team [JU] that was playing for first place and a team that wasn’t sure exactly where they were and what they were doing,” Driscoll said. “They proved they wanted to be undefeated at home and I told Jordan after the game that was a really, really difficult thing to do. Please be proud. They had more want. They had more fight. Now we’ve got to see what this group has as far as the ability to wash it out and then Saturday get an opportunity.”

JU put on a clinic of man-to-man defense and deliberate, old-school offense. While Nolan was controlling the tempo (the Dolphins had only nine turnovers), Osifo and Mike Marsh (10 points, nine rebounds) dominated the inside and combined to make 11 of 17 shots. JU out-rebounded the Ospreys 40-25 and outscored them 14-5 on second-chance points.

UNF failed to get a player in double figures — which ended an 11-game streak for guard Jarius Hicklen (seven points) — and was led by Jadyn Parker with nine. The Ospreys shot .273 overall and scored the fewest points in the Driscoll Era.

JU’s biggest home victory over UNF had been a 22-point margin, 72-50, on Feb. 12, 2009.

Had it not been for the lone 3-pointer by Hicklen with 8:38 left in the game, the Ospreys would have failed to connect from beyond the arc for the first time in 777 games. JU’s perimeter defense was once again the key to beating UNF, with the Dolphins holding the Ospreys to 4 of 46 in the two games this season.

Teams are now shooting .291 from beyond the arc against JU, which means the Dolphins are likely to crack the top-10 in the nation – where they already resided in scoring defense, now yielding an average of 58.0 per game for fourth.

“That’s what they do … they wear it on a shirt,” Nolan said of the Ospreys “Birds of Trey” brand. “Everybody knows they try to get the 3-ball up. So that was a point of emphasis again, taking away the 3-ball. Great job by the coaching staff having us prepared.”

And the JU fans, especially in the student section, shook the ancient beams in the storied barn. When Mincy was asked how many points the fans were worth, he didn’t hesitate.

“They were worth 71 points,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Dominant Dolphins: JU routs UNF to run home winning streak to 14 games