640 SPORTS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (8-11, 5-3 SSC) will begin the second half of its Sunshine State Conference schedule Saturday on the road against No. 2 Florida Southern (18-1, 7-1 SSC) at 7:30 p.m. The game, which will broadcast live on 640 Sports, pits the league's top team against second-place NSU.
"For a number of reasons, we always look forward to playing Florida Southern in Lakeland," said head coach Gary Tuell. "For one thing, they have great fans and our guys enjoy playing in front of their crowd. Southern's supporters are knowledgeable, always treat us with respect and show their appreciation to our guys whenever we have played well there. Secondly, when you play at Southern you know you are going to face a team that is nationally ranked and usually at the top or near the top of the league standings. You have to play your best up there to have any chance of winning, which is no different than playing anywhere on the road in this league. But because of their history and their tradition playing at Southern always has a special 'feel' about it. Thirdly, this is an opportunity to measure ourselves against the top team in the conference. You don't win there very often, but you always come away from this game with a better idea of what you need to do to improve. With a month to go in the regular season this is an ideal time for an old fashion gut check."
Florida Southern is coming off their first loss Wednesday, an overtime road thriller against archrival Rollins, 82-76. Prior to that, Florida Southern had rolled past its first 18 opponents. They defeated the Sharks in the SSC opener at the NSU Arena, 79-73. However, that win came before the Mocs lost All-SSC level guard Dominic Lane.
"Obviously I'm disappointed that Dominic Lane is injured and it looks like he won't be playing for Southern," said Tuell. "I have so much respect for him and what he brings to the table as a competitor. He means a lot to Southern and to our league in general. I'd prefer to play Southern with Dominic on the floor because you never want to see guys get hurt, especially in their senior seasons. I enjoy coaching against him and will miss him. I hope he can come back before the season ends.
"On the other hand, we're going into the game with question marks about some key people, too. We have a couple of guys –
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.) and
Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) – who are struggling with health issues. It's always day-to-day with them, and we're never sure if they can play, or how much they can play if they're able to go at all. Since we rely mostly on a six player rotation, their availability is a huge concern for us. They've been playing well, and playing through a lot of pain, but sooner or later we may just have to shut one or both of them down for a week or two. I hope not, but we have to do what's best for them."
NSU will enter the game coming off two blowout victories in conference play over Tampa and Saint Leo. On Saturday, NSU defeated the Spartans on the road, 94-65. They came back home Wednesday to take on defending SSC regular season champs Saint Leo and won, 89-63. Over the Sharks' last three games they are averaging 18 3-pointers per game, a mark higher than the program's single-game record prior to 2014.
"Having won five of our last six conference games, and having climbed out of an 0-2 start in the league to be 5-3 and in second place at the halfway point is a real testament to the character of our players and the chemistry on our team," stated Tuell. "We're playing with a confidence and a sense of purpose that I haven't seen in an NSU team since my second year here, when we finished in second place, one game behind Rollins, who finished first that year. Obviously our ability to make 3's has something to do with our recent success, but it goes much deeper than that. When Saint Leo rallied in the second half against us Wednesday I told our guys, 'They know you're tired and they know you're hanging on right now. But what they don't know is your hearts. I know your hearts. You're going to finish this game like champions because that's who you are.' It wasn't a pep talk. It was just a reminder to our guys of the confidence and faith we have in them. And they did finish the game like champions. To beat Tampa (94-65) and Saint Leo (89-63) in our last two games in what amounted to battles for second place really showed me the determination and mindset of our players, as well as the leadership of our four juniors, Brian Cahill,
Justin Jeangerard (Weaverville, Calif.),
Maurice Fuller (Westfield, Ind.) and
Stian Berg (Baerum, Norway). We don't have a senior on our team, but those four juniors are becoming great leaders. And our two sophomore transfers, Casey Carroll and
Chris Page (Plainfield, Ind.), have been great followers.
"I have said many times that the parity in our league is what makes it such a great basketball conference. We're in second place today, but today's second place team could find itself in eighth or ninth place in a week if your players lose their focus or come up with a couple of bad games. That's how tightly we're all packed in together in this league. You can fall from the top to the bottom in the amount of time it takes to blink twice. We don't talk about what place we're in or any of that stuff. When you play in this league you either play well or you get beat. And some nights you can play well and still get beat. You just have to focus on the game in front of you, prepare hard and play hard, and when it's over accept the result and move forward. I don't know who will be the hot team or teams the second half of our league schedule. I could make a case for or against every single team in the league. That's how close this thing is. It's crazy. I don't even think we should seed teams for the postseason conference tournament. Just draw the names out of a hat and slot them into the bracket. It's going to bedlam."
Earlier in the season, the Sharks lost to Palm Beach Atlantic, 88-69, in what seemed to be a 'season-killer' type game. However, the Sharks have flourished since the loss and have been unstoppable offensively over the last five games. Seven players are shooting above 47 percent during that span and six are averaging double-digit points per game. NSU is 4-1 during the span, with the lone loss coming in a shootout at Florida Tech, 97-86. The Panthers needed a career-best night from the league's top scorer, Jermaine Jackson, to take down NSU.
"We've been red hot recently," said Tuell. "We've made 54 of 99 3-pointers in our last three games, and I agree with what Saint Leo Coach Lance Randall said about that. Those are 'ridiculous' numbers. In all my years of coaching I don't think I've seen a team shoot it as well as we have. But then again, that's who we are. We recruited shooters. We work on it every day. To be honest, we had too many games early in the year where we missed a ton of open threes. It was a mystery to the coaching staff, but we stayed patient and eventually our good shooters began doing what they do best. Over the course of a 35-second possession, whether we're playing against man or zone defenses, we're going to shake someone loose for an open 3. I don't care how good the defense is, we have five guards on the floor and we're going to find a way to get an open look or a drive to the rim. Lately we've been able to make the open 3. There will be nights when we get those same looks and don't make the shots. When that happens we have to find other ways to score and we have to rely on our defensive game plans to keep us close. As good as we shot it against Tampa and Saint Leo, I thought our defense was the difference in both games. Had we shot poorly in both of those games, our defense was still good enough to keep us in there."
As impressive as wins over Saint Leo and Tampa are, they would pale in comparison to defeating the second ranked team in the nation on the road. NSU has only defeated the Mocs five times in school history, a testament to their history as the premier team in the SSC.
"We've played many of the top teams in the country, and that includes Florida Southern," said Tuell. "They're certainly as good as anyone we've faced, and we've faced three of the nation's top five ranked teams and a bunch of other teams that were either in the top 20 or could end up in the top 20. Southern has great athletes, a variety of excellent presses, a very good half court defense that pressures you and at times traps you into mistakes, and they offensive rebound as well as anyone in the league. Kevin Capers is a special player for them, but he is by far not the only special player on their team. They have eight or nine guys capable of getting 20 points on any given night. We have to take care of the ball, find ways to limit their ability to drive and get to the rim and hopefully not give them too many second and third shots. We have to compete for 40 minutes or they'll hurt our feelings. They're coming off their first loss of the season so I'm sure they'll come at us with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. I'm sure we'll get their best effort.
"We're looking forward to this game. We're playing as well as we thought we would play when we put this team together. But a whole lot of teams, over the years, have gone to Southern on a winning streak or a hot streak and come away from there disappointed and discouraged. If we find a way to pull off the upset then maybe people will stop looking at our won-loss record and start evaluating us based on our recent performances. And if Southern beats us or manhandles us, which they certainly could do with all their great athletes and great tradition, then we'll just come home, get some rest and get ready for the next one. Win or lose, teams like Southern help you get better. And we still have a lot of room for improvement."
Tune into 640 Sports 15 minutes before the game for the pregame show. Fans can watch the game live HERE and follow live stats HERE.
For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit
www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by
clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by
clicking here.
