This is where you have to make a move. The sun is coming up, normal people are starting to wake up; this is where you have to convince your body that you actually went to sleep last night. Get up, make some coffee, go about your morning routine as if everything is as usual.
College hoops tip-off marathon: Hartford at Florida Gulf Coast live blog
Another thing that will help in this process: the return of Dunk City.
Here’s hoping for at least a smidge of that gloriousness the Eagles treated us to last March.
7:19 - The Hawks are just putting it on the reigning darlings of the NCAA Tournament, 16-4 early on. Game is on ESPNU for now while the Hawaii/New Mexico State five-hour game wraps up on ESPN2.
7:27 - I’m enjoying the pace, I’ll say that. Hartford up 20-14 as the game switches to ESPN2 just in time for the under 8 timeout.
7:40 - Mark Nwakamma came to play this morning. He’s got 12 points and seven boards in 18 minutes. His Hartford team leads 26-21.
No one-handed alley-oop dunks to speak of so far.
7:42 - I despise any and all pre-Thanksgiving Christmas activities, and it breaks my heart that I’ve seen both the Hershey “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and the Corona “O Christmas Tree” commercials during the marathon. I must admit, however, that the new Heineken holiday spot that was just on is pretty bad ass.
7:45 - FGCU takes its first lead with a pair of free-throws in the first half’s final 10 seconds. The Eagles head into the break with a 27-26 lead. A very solid atmosphere in Fort Myers.
7:55 - Halftime fun:
8:07 - Seriously, the Fort Myers folks are giving Wichita State a run for their money in the race for best atmosphere. This is fun.
8:19 - Chase Fieler is absolutely unconscious right now. One of the few Dunk City holdovers has 21 points and has guided the Eagles to a 44-37 lead, their largest.
8:29 - Hartford scored 18 points in the first six minutes of this game and has just 23 since. Fieler now has 30 points on 12-of-15 from the field. It’s gut-check time for the Hawks.
8:33 - We’re just about done here.
8:45 - A plea to future tip-off marathon home crowds: don’t do the “na na na na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye” cheer. It’s not like you’re going to get an opposing player to cry at this point and it’s so played out.
8:55 - It goes down as a workmanlike effort from FGCU, which wins going away, 65-51. Chase Fieler is the star with a career-high 30 points.
Here’s how it looked on paper:
| Hartford Hawks | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Mark Nwakamma, F | 10-17 | 1-6 | 2-2 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 23 | ||
| Oren Faulk, F | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Corban Wroe, G | 0-4 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Yolonzo Moore II, G | 2-6 | 1-5 | 0-2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Evan Cooper, G | 1-7 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||
| BENCH | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Yasin Kolo, C | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Justin Graham, G | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Taylor Dyson, G | 2-5 | 0-3 | 2-3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| Wes Cole, G | 3-6 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| 21-51 | 4-23 | 5-12 | 5 | 25 | 30 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 15 | 51 | |||
| 41.2% | 17.4% | 41.7% | ||||||||||||
| Florida Gulf Coast Eagles | ||||||||||||||
| STARTERS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Chase Fieler, F | 13-18 | 2-3 | 2-2 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 30 | ||
| Nate Hicks, C | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | ||
| Jamail Jones, G | 3-9 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 8 | ||
| Brett Comer, G | 3-9 | 1-3 | 2-4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | ||
| Bernard Thompson, G | 3-8 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | ||
| BENCH | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Filip Cvjeticanin, F | 0-4 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Marcus Blake, F | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Dajuan Graf, G | 4-5 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | ||
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| 27-54 | 4-14 | 7-12 | 6 | 28 | 34 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 15 | 65 | |||
| 50.0% | 28.6% | 58.3% | ||||||||||||
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