GAMEDAY PREVIEW: Indians and Commodores look for first Panhandle win

MARIANNA, Fla. – Longtime rivals will meet for the first of at least three times this season when Gulf Coast State College enters the Milton H. Johnson Center on Wednesday night. It will also be the first meeting between Chipola head coach Donnie Tyndall and his top assistant coach the last two season, Lane Below, who is now the head coach for the Commodores. The 20^th ranked Chipola men (15-4; 0-1) will look to rebound following their conference opening loss last Saturday to Pensacola. The Commodores (14-4; 0-0) will be playing their first conference game after being off on Saturday.

GAME INFORMATION

Time: 7:30 PM CST

Location: Milton H. Johnson Health Center – Marianna, Florida

Streaming: #20 Chipola vs. Gulf Coast

RANKINGS

Despite a 4-1 record since the last NJCAA Rankings were published on December 16, Chipola fell six spots to #20 in Monday's release of the NJCAA Rankings. The Indians dropped just one spot to 4^th in the FCSAA Coaches' Poll.

Daytona State jumped six spots in the NJCAA to #6 and Northwest Florida moved up five to #8. One other FCSAA team, Eastern Florida State, gained three spots to #21.

Chipola is behind the Falcons, the Raiders, and the Titans in the FCSAA. Gulf Coast comes in at 6^th and Pensacola is sandwiched between the Indians and the Commodores at 5^th and Tallahassee is 7^th.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT

The Commodores sport a 14-4 record coming into their conference opener. Gulf Coast was forced to forfeit two of its wins on the last two days of 2024 after inadvertently playing an ineligible player. In their last game on Saturday, January 4, the Commodores squeaked by Albany Tech at home, 74-72, after trailing by six at halftime.

Sophomore Christian Harmon leads the Commodores with 15.9 ppg. He scored a season-high 25 points in the win against Albany Tech. 114 of his 192 shots come from behind the arc and he has connected on 52.6% of them this season.

GAME NOTES

• The Indians have won the last eight games in the series with the Commodores which includes a season sweep the last two years. As the head coach of Chipola, Tyndall is 12-2 against Gulf Coast. The last time the Commodores defeated the Indians was in Panama City on January 17, 2022. Gulf Coast took down the Indians, 79-74, after the game had been postponed five days due to COVD protocol within the Commodores' program.
• Chipola is currently on a 8-game win streak at home. The last time the Commodores upended the Indians at the Milton H. Johnson Center was five years ago to the day. On January 15, 2020, first-year coach Phil Gaffney and the Commodores defeated Chipola, 76-68. The Indians have not lost to Gulf Coast at The Milt under Coach Tyndall.
• Before tonight's game, the 2023-2024 Panhandle Conference and FCSAA/Region VIII Championship team will be recognized. Along with Head Coach Donnie Tyndall, Assistant Coach Willis Mackey, Student Assistant JJ Walton, and players Markel Freeman, Antonio Baker Jr, Dean Coleman-Newsome, Grace Aluma, and Miles Ndalama, three members of the current Gulf Coast team were slo on the championship team: former Indians Assistant Coach and current Commodores Head Coach Lane Below and players Christian Valarezo and Prince Johnson.