James Florence

Height:
6-1
Weight:
0
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Marietta, Ga.
High School:
Wheeler

2009-10
Finished career as Mercer's all-time scoring leader with 2,287points (also ranks second in Atlantic Sun Conference history incareer scoring) ... first team All-District 3 by NationalAssociation of Basketball Coaches ... Mercer Male Athlete of theYear ... Named second team All-A-Sun Conference, for hisfourth-consecutive all-conference award of career ... Is thefirst-ever A-Sun player to score 500+ points in each of his fourseasons ... Also a member of the 2009-10 A-Sun All-Academic Team... Pre-season A-Sun all-conference ... Blue Ribbon Forecastpre-season “Player of the Year” ... Named an ESPN“10 Players to Keep Your Eye On” for 2009-10 ... Rankedthird in the A-Sun in scoring (17.7 p.p.g.), third in assists (4.6a.p.g.), sixth in free throw percentage (.746), sixth in steals(1.7 s.p.g.), 8th in three-point field goals made per game (1.84),seventh in assist-turnover ratio (+1.22) and sixth in minutesplayed per game (33.13 p.g.) ... Nationally, was 75th in scoringand 78th in assists ... Became Mercer’s all-time scoringleader on Dec. 29, 2009 at UNC-Charlotte by hitting a three-pointerat 18:11 of second half (surpassing former Bears’ and NBAgreat Sam Mitchell) ... Had a string of four-consecutive 20+ pointgames between Dec. 23 through Jan. 4 (24- Alabama; 22- Charlotte;20- Jacksonville; 26 North Florida) ... 12 games with 20 or morepoints on year ... In back-to-back games, dropped a career-high 40points on Georgia Tech on Nov. 27 on the Yellow Jackets home floor(hitting 14-of-20 from the field) and followed that with 32 pointsand nine assists versus Lipscomb in Macon (12/3) ... In three gamesat World Vision Invitational in Providence, R.I., to open season,had 33 versus Bucknell, 14 versus Bryant and 23 verus Providence toearn all-tournament honors ... Injured ankle at end of first halfin Bears’ first-ever win at ETSU (scoring 12 points), missingtwo games afterwards ... Double-figure scoring in 26 of 28 gamesplayed ...Invited to play in the prestigious PortsmouthInvitational Tournament in April 2010, reserved for top collegeseniors.

2008-09
Named first team all-conference ... Currently in fifth place onMercer’s all-time career scoring list ... Earned A-Sun Playerof the Week honors three times during the season and a schoolrecord tying sixth time overall ... Game-high 19 points and fourassists against Piedmont ... Handed out assist to Calvin Henry forgame-winning shot vs. Alabama ... Hit two free throws in closingseconds to put Bears up by three vs. Crimson Tide ... . Game-high23 points and five assists at Alabama ... Notched game-high 25points at Auburn ... Scored 10 of the Bears’ 14 points in thefinal 3:06 of the first half at AU ... Missed most of the Daytongame with a pulled hip-flexor ... Tied career high with eightassists vs. USC Upstate ... Recorded a then season-high 27 pointsand seven rebounds at Oklahoma State ... Season-high nine boards atUNF ... Game-high (7) assists vs. FGCU ... Scored then season-high32 points vs. Stetson ... Game-high 25 points and five assists atLipscomb ... Game-high 25 points at Belmont ... Game-high 24 pointsand five assists vs. Kennesaw State ... Hit the game-winning shotvs. JU ... Season’s first blocked shot vs. UNF ... 9-of-10from the line at FGCU ... Averaged 32.3 points over the last fourgames.

2007-08
Earned second-team all-conference honors ... Joined Mercer’s1,000 point club with 33 points vs. Stetson ... Became just thesecond player in Mercer history to net 1,000 points in two seasons... Second in the A-Sun in scoring ... Ranked fifth in the A-Sun insteals per game ... Fourth in the conference in 3-point field goalsmade ... Scored a game-high 28 points at Charleston Southern andhit the winning basket with 1.9 seconds remaining ... Recordedseason-high 33 points, seven 3-pointers and dished out four assistsvs. Stetson ... Scored 30 points or more three times ... Led theteam in scoring in 15 contests and notched team-highs in assists 12times ... Reached double-figure scoring in 25 games and drained atleast five 3-point field goals on five ocassions ... Poured in ateam-high 30 points at USC ... Named A-Sun Player of The Week onNov. 12 ... Named the Rivals.com Mid-Major Player of the Week, Nov.14th, for his play at USC ... Named to the“All-Classic” team at the Jim ‘N Nick’sCougar Classic ... Scored game-high 28 points at Kennesaw State ...Scored 15 points in a 2:15 span at Stetson.

2006-07
Named to the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Freshman All-Americateam after leading the A-Sun in scoring ... Named A-Sun Freshman ofthe Year ... Joined Texas superstar Kevin Durant and Davidsonrookie Stephen Curry as the only three freshmen to lead theirrespective conferences in scoring ... Earned first teamall-conference honors as well as being named to the A-SunAll-Freshman team ... Ranked 34th in the nation in scoring (19.3ppg) ... Notched the top two scoring performances in the A-Sun andseven of the top nine overall scoring games in the A-Sun during theseason ... Set a new school scoring record for freshmen ... Onlyfreshman to garner conference player of the week honors twice ...Posted a career-high 39 points against JU ... Dished out acareer-high seven assists in each of the Campbell contests ...Notched three 30-plus point games and (10) 20-plus point contests... Was 11-of-12 from the charity stripe versus Jacksonville and aperfect 11-of-11 at ETSU ... Recorded a double-double versusKennesaw State ... Led the team in scoring on 17 occasions and inassists in 18 contests.

High School
Ranked as one of the top 10 players in the state of Georgia byRivals.com and the second-highest ranked point guard, behindJavaris Crittenton, who committed to Georgia Tech. The onlinepublication stated Florence mixed a deadly perimeter touch withathleticism ... He helped lead the Class 5A state semifinalistWildcats to a 28-2 record and a No. 23 national ranking by USAToday after averaging 17.7 points, five assists and three steals... During his junior campaign, Wheeler was ranked as high as 11thnationally ... Florence played for coach Doug Lipscomb at Wheeler,where the Wildcats have captured four state titles since 1994 ... Ajunior on the 2005 5A state championship team ... Earned honorablemention all-state accolades and was named first-team all-region, aswell as being named first team All-Cobb County in 2005-06 ...Florence was also named MVP at the Montverde Academy Eagles'tournament.

Personal
Born on May 31, 1988 … Son of Alfreda and the late SamuelFlorence ... Has one brother, Jonathan ... Fellow Wheeler HighSchool teammate BeJay Corley also plays for the Bears.