The Game
Looking to stay in the hunt for an Atlantic-Sun regular season crown, Jacksonville (12-12; 7-4 A-Sun) travels to Mercer (14-9; 7-3 A-Sun) on Thursday night for a 7:00 pm contest.  The Dolphins enter this weekend’s action tied for third in the league and one game behind Florida Gulf Coast (8-3 A-Sun).

JU is coming off a highly competitive 81-78 loss to FGCU last Saturday.  Freshman Jarvis Haywood led the way for the Dolphins with 16 points and six rebounds.  His performance, coupled with an 11-point, 7-rebound outing in last Thursday’s win over Stetson, earned him A-Sun Newcomer of the Week honors for the second time in four weeks.  Haywood ranks second on the team with 10.2 ppg this season and sits fifth in the league connecting on 77 percent from the foul line.

Another freshman Kordario Fleming is also coming off a strong week in which he produced 11.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.  Fleming ranks second on the team with 42 assists this season and leads JU with 26 offensive rebounds in A-Sun play.   

Mercer is coming off a 66-42 win over Kennesaw State last Friday.  The Bears have won four of the last five and own a 9-0 record at home this season.  Travis Smith leads the team with 13.4 ppg.  
 
Series History
Jacksonville leads the all-time series 31-19.  The teams have split the series the last two years with each team defending their home court.

TV / Radio
A-Sun TV/92.5 FM (Terry Norvelle)

Next Up For Jacksonville
The Dolphins travel to Kennesaw State on Saturday.

‘Fin Facts

• The Dolphins have had a player earn A-Sun Newcomer of the Week honors in each of the past four weeks (Jarvis Haywood, 1/15, 2/5; Javon Dawson, 1/22, 1/29)
• Jacksonville won the first meeting 49-47 and is seeking a season sweep of Mercer for the first time since 2008
• Jacksonville has won A-Sun games this year when both teams have scored in the 90s, 80s, 70s, 50s and 40s
• JU’s two seniors Glenn Powell & Russell Powell are the only Dolphin players to have started all 24 games this season
• Glenn Powell made his 100th career start on Saturday
• The Dolphins compiled a 2.87 team GPA for the fall 2012 semester