Two weeks remain for ASUN men's and women's teams to jockey for post-season position

It’s almost tournament time.

Two weeks are remaining in the ASUN men’s and women’s regular-season schedules and while tournament seedings are starting to come into somewhat clearer focus at the top and bottom it’s still a bit blurry in the middle for the most part.

The top 10 will qualify for the conference tournament and through that, the only path to the NCAA Tournament for the eventual champions.  a

Men’s and women’s tournament games will be played at the campus venues of the higher-seeded team.

The men’s and women’s teams have either three or four games remaining. The final weekend of the regular season will be March 1-2.

UNF men tied for third place

The North Florida Ospreys had perhaps their best week of the season in beating Queens 93-79 and Kennesaw 82-81, both games on the road.

UNF (8-5) is tied with Lipscomb and Austin Peay for third place. The Ospreys, who clinched a spot in the tournament by beating Kennesaw, hold the tiebreaker over the Bison based on a victory in their only regular-season meeting. But Austin Peay has the edge over UNF, winning the only time they will meet.

Lipscomb beat Austin Peay earlier this month. The two play again on Saturday. Three-way ties will be broken using the NCAA Net rankings.

Eastern Kentucky (10-2) is in first place, followed by Stetson (9-3). As it currently stands (and using head-to-head results as the first tiebreaker and the NCAA Net standings as the second) EKU would play the winner between No. 9 Queens (5-8) and No. 10 Central Arkansas (5-8), while Stetson would face the winner between No. 7 FGCU (5-7) and No. 8 Kennesaw (5-8).

The four teams behind EKU and Stetson – UNF, Lipscomb, Austin Peay and North Alabama – are either tied or a game apart so it’s a bit too convoluted to project the seedings.

UNF plays at JU in the second River City Rumble game on Friday at 7 p.m., then plays host to Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson next week.

The JU men are in 11^th place with a 4-9 record, one game behind Queens and Central Arkansas (tied for ninth at 5-8) with three games to play.

FGCU in the driver’s seat

Florida Gulf Coast is 13-0 and the clear favorite to win a seventh women’s ASUN title in a row. If the Eagles beat Stetson at home on Feb. 24, they will clinch the regular-season championship and the top seed in the tournament.

Stetson and Central Arkansas (10-3) are tied for second, but Stetson will have the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Hatters beat the Sugar Bears in their only regular-season meeting.

Based on the current standings, FGCU will play the winner between No. 9 JU and No. 10 Bellarmine. Stetson would face the winner of No. 7 Austin Peay and No. 8 Kennesaw.

The other matchups, based on this week’s standings, would be No. 3 Central Arkansas vs. No. 6 North Alabama and No. 4 Eastern Kentucky vs. No. 5 Lipscomb.

The UNF women (2-10) are in 11^th place, a half-game behind Bellarmine (3-10).

Men: Chaz Lanier goes for 20 two more times

Player of the week: North Florida junior guard Chaz Lanier scored 54 points and added 15 rebounds and six assists in the Ospreys’ two victories last week. He hit the game-winning 3-point play to beat Kennesaw with 25 seconds left. Lanier has scored 20 or more points 14 times this season and in 10 of the 13 ASUN games.

Stat line of the week: Edward Waters junior forward Kristian Ford, coming off the bench, had 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting (4 of 6 from the 3-point arc), six rebounds and four assists in the Tigers’ 84-82 loss to Clark Atlanta.

This week’s games

Wednesday

Columbus State (Ga.) at Flagler, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday

Trinity Baptist at Pensacola Christian (NCCAA South Region tournament), game time TBA.

Friday

North Florida at Jacksonville, 7 p.m.

Saturday

Flagler at USC-Beaufort, 3:30 p.m.

Fort Valley State (Ga.) at Edward Waters, 5 p.m.

Noting UNF (15-13, 8-5 ASUN): Friday’s victory over Kennesaw marked the first time since the 2019-20 season that the Ospreys won 15 or more games. They were 21-12 that year. Coach Matthew Driscoll had guided UNF to 15 or more victories in eight of his first 11 seasons. ... Graduate senior guard Nate Lliteras has scored in double figures in all 13 ASUN games and is shooting 51.9. ... Sophomore guard Jah Nze played eight minutes and failed to score in three conference games before last Wednesday when he put up a career-high 22 in the victory over Queens.

Noting JU (13-14, 4-9 ASUN): The Dolphins shouldn’t rely on any tiebreakers in making the conference tournament. The only teams they can hope to overhaul to get within the top 10 are Florida Gulf Coast, Central Arkansas, Kennesaw and Queens. JU lost the first meeting to Florida Gulf Coast, was swept by Kennesaw and split with Queens. The only team they will hold the tiebreaker is against UCA, beating them in the only regular-season meeting they will have. ... Since returning from his hand injury, graduate forward Bryce Workman is averaging 9.7 points and 7.7 rebounds. He’s been rusty from the floor, shooting 33.3 percent.

Noting Edward Waters (10-15, 9-9 SIAC): The Tigers had a 13-point lead over Clark Atlanta with 10:53 left in the game but Clark cut it to one point. After a Tigers’ turnover, Andrew Stewart hit the game-winning 3-pointer with seven seconds left. Goliath Mitchell had 14 points and R.J. Noord 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists. ... No EWC players scored in double figures in Saturday's 72-42 loss at Savannah State. The Tigers shot 31.8 from the floor, 16.7 percent on 3-point attempts and had 22 turnovers.

Noting Trinity Baptist (10-10, 6-6 NCCAA South Region II): The Eagles play at Pensacola Christian on Thursday in the first round of the NCCAA South Region tournament. They split during the regular season, both winning on the road. TBC sophomore guard Diego Fernandez scored 40 points in those games combined, making 11 of 20 shots.

Noting Flagler (14-10, 7-7 Peach Belt): The Saints broke a four-game losing streak on Saturday when junior guard Omar Figueroa hit a 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left to beat Clayton State on the road, 76-75. Figueroa led Flagler with 19 points and junior guard Destin Clark had 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. ... In Wednesday’s 84-68 loss at Augusta, Figueroa and junior guard Jalen Barr had 18 points each.

Women: Edyn Battle paces sweep of UNF

Player of the week: Jacksonville University’s Edyn Battle stayed on top of the ASUN scoring leaders at 19.4 points per game by scoring 19 points on Thursday and 22 on Saturday in the Dolphins’ two victories over North Florida. Battle added 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Stat line of the week: UNF sophomore guard Sarah Taub had eight points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists in the second game against JU.

This week’s games

Wednesday

Columbus State (Ga.) at Flagler, 5:30 p.m.

Thursday

Kennesaw State (Ga.) at Jacksonville, 6:30 p.m.

Queens (N.C.) at North Florida, 7 p.m.

Trinity Baptist at Pensacola Christian (NCCAA South Region tournament), game time TBA.

Saturday

Flagler at USC-Beaufort, 1:30 p.m.

Queens (N.C.) at Jacksonville, 2 p.m.

Kennesaw (Ga.) at North Florida, 2 p.m.

Fort Valley State (Ga.) at Edward Waters, 3 p.m.

Noting UNF (8-18, 2-10 ASUN): The Ospreys are likely in a must-win situation in each of their final four games to make the ASUN tournament. They beat Thursday’s opponent, Queens 76-57 in January in Charlotte, N.C., and lost to Saturday’s opponent, Kennesaw, 52-43. UNF lost to Queens 68-53 at home last season and split the series (they were the first-ever meetings between the two teams) and before the loss to Kennesaw last month, had beaten the Owls in nine of the previous 11 meetings.

Noting JU (8-17, 4-8 ASUN): Before their 59-57 loss to Kennesaw last month, the Dolphins had beaten the Owls in 18 of 19 games. ... The Dolphins are 2-0 against Queens. ... In the two games against UNF, Sandalwood graduate Jada Jones, a freshman forward, had 16 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Noting Edward Waters (8-17, 6-11 in SIAC): After winning four of five games, the Tigers dropped two in Georgia last week, losing to Clark Atlanta 73-58 and to Savannah State 66-59. Sophomore guard Sha’Kawanza Brown had 14 points and four rebounds and junior center Imani Harris had 12 rebounds against Clark; and junior guard Tatum Hayes led with 20 points against Savannah State, making 6 of 13 from beyond the arc.

Noting Trinity Baptist (8-14, 4-6 NCCAA South Region II): The Eagle closed the regular season with a 69-51 loss to Denmark Technical. Freshman center Madlyn Touze had her 18^th double-double of the season with 14 points and 18 rebounds and Caroline Smith had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Emma Parrish added 18 points. ... TBC plays at Pensacola Christian on Thursday in the first round of the South Region tournament. The Eagles lost both games to PCC during the regular season. ... Touze is averaging 18.0 points and 14.4 rebounds per game.

Noting Flagler (10-14, 5-9 in Peach Belt): The Saints lost a season-high third game in a row on Saturday, 79-61 at Clayton State. Destiny McClendon led with 20 points and Sharale McCormack had 17 points and 10 rebounds. ... McClendon led with 18 points in a 73-59 loss at Augusta. ... Bishop Kenny graduate Amuk Tong got her first two starts since the 2022 season. She had a career-high 16 points against Augusta and added eight rebounds.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JU men, UNF women face must-win situations to reach ASUN tournaments