Fun Facts: North Florida-Iowa

What better way is there to tip off Christmas Week than to play a basketball game against the North Florida Ospreys?

It may not be North Carolina or Northern Iowa, but wouldn't you rather watch North Florida than wear a Christmas sweater, or read a Christmas family newsletter, or eat a Christmas fruitcake?

You're darn right. So, happy holidays. If you do the Festivus thing, more power to you. Especially in the Feats of Strength.

Now, some Fun Facts:

1. North Florida beat Purdue. Yes. It happened Dec. 6 in West Lafayette, Ind. The score was 73-70.

UNF won despite making just 13 of 25 free throws. It helped that the Boilermakers made only 8 of 16 themselves.

2. The Ospreys (more on that name later) have lost to two of Iowa's other common opponents, 69-67 at Northwestern and 66-49 at Northern Iowa.

3. North Florida lost to Tennessee Tech last Monday, 82-80. The margin of victory? Two free throws Tech made because the Ospreys got a technical foul for dunking during pregame warmups.

4. UNF's leading scorer is sophomore guard Dallas Moore, who has scored 20 points or more in six games. He has a brother named Dakota. I assume if there had been more boys in the family, they'd be named Denver, Delaware and Detroit.

5. North Florida is a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. If that doesn't ring a bell, maybe this well: That league's Florida Gulf Coast went to the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16 two seasons ago. That was the first No. 15-seed to ever go that deep in the tourney.

6. North Florida is located in Jacksonville. That's where Iowa's football team will play in the TaxSlayer Bowl. Alas, the Ospreys are on the road on TaxSlayer Bowl Week, playing at Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay and Alabama in a five-day span.

7. The last time Iowa faced a team from Jacksonville was in 1970, when the Hawkeyes lost an NCAA tournament game to the Dolphins in Columbus, Ohio. The score was 104-103. The winning basket came when Jacksonville 7-footer Pembrook Burrows III scored off a rebound with two seconds left. Jacksonville went on to the national-title game, where it lost to UCLA.

8. Burrows served for over 30 years with the Florida Highway Patrol. One of his Jacksonville teammates, fellow 7-footer Artis Gilmore, is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

9. Jacksonville hasn't won an NCAA tourney game since 1970. Its record this season is 4-9.

10. An osprey is a fish-eating bird of prey.

11. North Florida has an assistant coach named Bobby Kennen. His name is somewhat similar to that of former pro wrestling manager Bobby 'The Brain” Heenan, who insulted the University of Wisconsin in this video.