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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (8-3, 1-1 SSC) will look to make a statement in front of their home crowd Saturday at 4 p.m., when the Sharks face the No. 16 Florida Southern Mocs (9-2, 2-1 SSC) at the NSU Arena in the Don Taft University Center. The game will be broadcasted live on 640 Sports.
The Sharks will be looking to take their second win against a nationally ranked team, with the previous coming against No. 7 Southern Indiana, 77-76, on Dec. 14. Since then, the Sharks have lost one game and are currently on a five-game winning streak.
However, the streak was nearly snapped this past Wednesday on the road against a desperate Palm Beach Atlantic team. NSU never led in the second half and only tied the Sailfish on a
Louie Schonauer (Sr., Lincoln, Ill.) 3-pointer with five seconds left. The Sharks went into overtime and won, thanks to a put-back game-winning layup from
Iran Hollis (Sr., Hollywood, Fla.).
“Wednesday’s victory at Palm Beach Atlantic felt more like a loss than a win because we took a giant step backward in terms of playing hard, communicating, executing and doing things our way,” said head coach
Gary Tuell. “But I’ve always said the best thing a coach can have is amnesia. I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. I decided to keep four things from Wednesday’s win in my memory bank: 1)
Raj Prabhakar (Jr., Miami, Fla.) coming off the bench to nail a big 3-pointer for us; 2)
Lukas Roesch's (Sr., Sugar Grove, Ohio) 3-pointer that gave us the lead late; 3) Iran Hollis’ will to win, which he showed on the final play of the game when he missed a tough shot in the paint but out-fought everyone for the ball and made the winning basket on a put-back; and 4) Louie Schonauer.
“Louie is the epitome of what every coach wants in a player. He is a team-first guy who started for us a year ago and has seen very little playing time this year. But he’s never hung his head, never sulked, never complained. He has stayed positive every day in practice and is the most vocal leader on our bench during games. What a joy to see Louie come in and score those 17 huge points, including the big basket that sent the game into overtime. No one deserved a game like that more than Louie. His teammates and his coaches were thrilled for him. I’m proud of Louie every day for the type of teammate and person he is. But it’s nice that he had a game where he could feel proud of himself for the way he put the team on his back and lifted them to a win.”
The Sharks will have to write their wrongs fast, as they go from one-win Palm Beach Atlantic to Sunshine State Conference powerhouse Florida Southern. The Mocs return nearly all their key players from last year, including Senior Seth Evans, who’ll be competing for player of the year recognition.
“Florida Southern will certainly test our ability to defend in transition and handle both full and half court defensive pressure,” said Gary Tuell. “They’re just one of many top-20 type teams we’ve faced this year, so we’re not intimidated by their ranking or their reputation. We’re trying to win a championship here and during the course of a long season you’re going to win some games and lose some games. You can’t get too high or too low with a single win or a single loss. You take the good things from whatever result you had and you move on to the next one. This is an important game because it’s a conference game and it’s the game on our schedule today. Nothing else about this game is special.”
Tuell has prepped his team for these type of games, facing several national powerhouses on the road and at home. In the process, the Sharks have fine-tuned their defense and are used to the challenge of stopping a high-powered offense such as Florida Southern’s. The results show, as NSU has posted an above average defensive field goal percentage in four straight games.
“It’s always fun to play good teams and Southern is definitely that,” stated Tuell. “They have more talented athletes than any team in our conference. If this were a track meet we’d have no chance. Their speed and quickness wears down most of their opponents. Obviously we have to come up with ways to handle the pressure we’re going to face. You can’t turn the ball over and beat Southern. If we execute and do the things we’ve been taught then we’ll have a chance. We have enough guards who can get up and down the floor and score with Southern’s guards. Our guys like to run, too.
“In our last four meetings with Southern, we’ve scored 81, 85, 90 and 103 points, so we’ve always found ways to get the ball in the basket against them. Of course, they’ve had a lot of success scoring against us, too. Our games are almost always very entertaining and I don’t think this game will be much different than past meetings with Southern. We’re very similar in our offensive philosophies, but their athleticism allows them to extend their defensive pressure and do things we can’t do.”
NSU will carry the underdog mentality into yet another contest. The Sharks have had to deal with it against teams like No. 7 Southern Indiana, Benedict and Eckerd. But in all three of those games, the Sharks sent the opposing fans home shocked. All season, NSU has out-rebounded bigger teams and stopped faster teams in transition. On Saturday, the Sharks will look to put on their traveling show in front of NSU fans for the first time in 2013.
“Our bench has given us some great minutes in our last two wins at Eckerd and Palm Beach Atlantic,” said Tuell. “The way Southern wears people down with their pressure we’re going to need our bench to come in and give us positive contributions against them. We’ve stepped up and met a lot of different challenges this year and we’ve done it against some of the very best teams in the country. Today is just another one of those opportunities to improve. Games are about growth as much as they are winning and losing. After Wednesday’s poor performance at PBA we obviously have a lot of room for growth. And we’d better grow up fast because Southern will hurt our feelings in a hurry if we don’t show improvement.”
Fans can listen to the game live on 640 Sports. The game will also be available via live video
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