The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause modifications to the NCAA Division I basketball schedule and Franco Miller Jr’s Florida Gulf Coast Eagles became the latest programme to experience a setback.

Due to a positive COVID-19 result and contact tracing within the Eagles’ Tier-1 group, the team is now on a two-week pause. They are expected to return to the court in the final weekend of the regular season against the Jacksonville University Dolphins on February 26.

The Tier-1 group is defined as student-athletes, coaching staff members, athletic training staff, and communications staff associated with the men’s basketball programme.

“We are extremely disappointed to miss games the next two weeks, especially since we were regaining the confidence and rhythm we played with prior to our last shutdown,” said head coach Michael Fly.

“However, we are going to focus on the things that we can control and a global pandemic is not one of those. We will be doing all that we can to prepare for our return so that we can put ourselves in the best position possible for the postseason. As always, we appreciate all that our Athletics Sports Medicine unit, the University medical staff, and the Florida Department of Health have done, and continue to do, in their work to keep our student-athletes safe.”

FGCU is currently 9-6 overall and 4-4 in the ASUN, with wins in four of their last six appearances. Following the weekend series against Jacksonville, the Eagles will prepare for the ASUN Championship Tournament, March 3-7 in Jacksonville, Florida.

In his first season with the Eagles, Miller, the redshirt sophomore guard, is averaging 6.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

In his best game of the season, Miller finished just three rebounds shy of a triple double with 12 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds - all career highs - in the Eagles’ 112-39 win over Webber International Warriors in December.

He also had eight points and seven assists against Lipscomb in January, nine points against North Alabama and finished with 10 points, and had a career-high 3 three-point makes in a 76-57 loss to South Florida.

He transferred to FGCU after two years at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi.

Miller had his true freshman season in 2018-19 cut short due to a stress fracture in his kneecap that eventually led to surgery. He was granted a medical redshirt.

In the 2019-20 campaign, he played sparingly as a redshirt freshman and appeared in just 13 games. In those few appearances, he reached double figures in minutes just three times.

He was granted an NCAA waiver for immediate eligibility and did not have to sit out this season following his transfer.