Men's Basketball Returns, Tips-Off Saturday
The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) basketball season officially begins today, and the No. 22 nationally ranked Florida State College at Jacksonville Men's Basketball Team travels to Barnesville, Georgia to tip-off their regular season vs Gordon State College on Saturday afternoon.
FSCJ returns nine players from last year's national title contender that include 1st Team All-Conference guard Alex McCray and Region 8 All-Tournament Team guards Aiden Fletcher and Jordan Smith. Size, athleticism, and experience were added with 10 newcomers: four sophomore transfers, and six true freshmen—four of whom will sit-out and redshirt the 2024-25 season. To view the complete 2024-2025 men's basketball roster, click here.
"We're excited for the season to finally start," says Smith. "We've been working all summer on our individual development, and since August we've been coming together and improving as a team. We know our attention to detail and togetherness brought us far last season, so we've been focusing on doing even better with that now."
In the preseason, FSCJ got an introduction to top competition, playing six NJCAA DI opponents—Chattanooga State (TN), Central Georgia Tech, Chipola (FL), Southern Union (AL), Itawamba (MS), and USC-Salkehatchie (SC)—one NJCAA DII opponent—Coastal Alabama-North—and ending the preseason competing at NCAA Division II Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. FSCJ finished the preseason 5-2 vs NJCAA opponents with its two losses each being by 1 possession to Division I nationally ranked Chipola and Itawamba.
In the non-conference season, FSCJ is slated to play 12 NJCAA DI opponents and three NJCAA DII opponents. Two of those three are ranked ahead of FSCJ in the DII national poll. With junior college opponents from all over the Southeast, the men's basketball team is facing off against some of the best competition in the country at both the NJCAA DI and DII levels.
"We have a very challenging schedule in year 2," says Head Coach John Putyrski. "In our end of season individual player meetings last spring, each returner asked for me to schedule tough. As a coach, you want to hear that from your team, and as a competitor you want play the best. With that, your preparation needs to align with your goals, and that's what we've been building towards."
After Gordon State, FSCJ travels down to Fort Pierce, Florida for two games at Indian River State College's Veterans Classic. They'll face some of the best Florida's junior colleges have to offer in games versus Miami Dade and Indian River before heading back to Jacksonville to host their own FSCJ Classic.
The FSCJ Classic will host No. 17 nationally ranked Chandler-Gilbert Community College (AZ), Marion Military Institute (AL), No. 20 nationally ranked Snead State Community College (AL), Florida Gateway College, and USC-Salkehatchie (SC). Afterwards, the men's basketball team continues its tour versus Division I Florida and Georgia opponents with home and away matches versus Santa Fe College, St. Petersburg College, and East Georgia State. At the East Georgia State Classic, they'll play a neutral site game versus Polk State College. FSCJ hosts national powerhouse Florida Southwestern on December 6th. The nonconference season concludes on January 6th when FSCJ hosts Andrew College (GA). Conference play opens on January 15th when the Region 8 champions begin defense of their Region 8 title.
View the team's complete schedule here and follow us on Instagram and X @FSCJMBB for more exclusive updates.
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