JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Robert McCray V was in full force against East Tennessee State University on Saturday, leading the Dolphins to a 60-52 home win.

McCray tallied a game-high 22 points going 8-15 from the field. His defense was equally as impressive with the junior setting a career-high in single-game blocks with five. McCray grabbed all five of his rebounds on the defensive end and added a game-high five steals. 

Zimi Nwokeji joined in on the scoring action, dropping 15 points on 5-6 shooting. Continuing his hot-shooting from beyond the arc since his 4-5 against FAU, Nwokeji also went 4-5 from deep leading his team in 3-point connections.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Head coach Jordan Mincy threw a curveball into the contest before the game ever tipped off. Mincy replaced usual starters Kendall Munson and Stephon Payne III with Nwokeji and Donovan Rivers.

Mincy wanted to provide his team some spark, and the interjection of two new starters might have just done the trick.

"We wanted to be more explosive," Mincy said of the lineup shift. "We understood (ETSU) was going to be a challenge to lineup against. We knew they could rebound. But we felt like some things were getting stale, so we wanted to shake it up to get to an elite level. We wanted to attack the defense from a different look. It was really good for us."

In terms of rebounding, Mincy's lineup change helped put the Dolphins back on the right track. The 'Phins won the rebounding battle 33-29 after only winning the battle of the boards in one of their last two contests.

Rivers pulled down four rebounds while Nwokeji grabbed five, all coming on the defensive glass.

Coming off the bench, Munson was still massively effective adding eight points and a game-high nine rebounds. For the second time this season Munson came just shy of setting his first career double-double.

Payne helped lead the effort in the blocks category, posting two. JU finished with nine.

As a whole, JU largely dominated the game. The home squad had a lead as large as 17 points and led the contest for 33:47. A large part of that was due to McCray.

McCray had scored in double-digits just once in his past three games, dropping 17 against Florida Tech. Against UGA and FAU, the ASUN Preseason Player of the Year had a combined 11 points.

Saturday, it came together for McCray as he led his team back to the win category and kept JU's undefeated home streak alive. His 22 points were his second-highest total of the year.

Jacksonville will look to use that hot hand as it heads into its final non-conference regular season game of the season.

Coach's Comments


Game Notes

• The Dolphins held the Buccaneers to only 33.9 percent shooting from the field.
• Jacksonville never trailed in the second half on its way to victory.
• McCray, Nwokeji and Munson combined to account for 75% of the Dolphins points.
• The Jacksonville defense forced 14 turnovers.

Next Up
Jacksonville will conclude its final non-conference game of the year at the University of Central Florida. The Dolphins will battle the Knights on Saturday, Dec. 21 in Orlando with tipoff set for 6 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.