FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's and women's basketball teams will host Florida Southern on Saturday at the NSU Arena, with both ends of the doubleheader broadcasted nationally as the ESPN3 Division II National Game of the Week.
 
The Shark women are up first, for a 2 p.m. tip, followed by the men and the Mocs at 4 p.m. For specifics on the broadcast and special events surrounding and during the games, click on THIS LINK.
 
Women: No. 11 Nova Southeastern (14-1, 6-0 SSC) vs. Florida Southern (14-1, 5-1 SSC)
The Sharks come in having won their last nine games, and 11 straight in the regular season against conference opponents (adding in the postseason makes that mark 15 in a row). Ironically, their last defeat by a fellow SSC school was to these Mocs last season on the road, 78-63 on Feb. 7. FSC has the league's second-longest current win streak, of six, and are undefeated on the road this season at 6-0.
 
FSC falls just outside of the USA Today Top 25 as voted on by the coaches, and are No. 21 in the media poll (the Sharks are No. 7 in the latter). Senior forward Mariah Harris leads the team in scoring (13.3, seventh in the SSC), rebounding (5.8, tied for ninth) and field goal percentage (first overall at 58 percent). The Mocs are the league's best free throw shooting team at 75.3 percent, and have the top individual as well, as Jensen Blassage has made 49-of-54 from the line this season for 90.7 percent, also ranking 14th nationally.
 
The Sharks top the conference, with Florida Southern second, in scoring, scoring margin, field goal percentage and assist/turnover ratio. NSU leads in assists with FSC third; the Sharks are third to the Mocs' top percentage at the charity stripe.
 
Kayla Wright (Jr., Lauderhill, Fla.) continues to pace NSU at 15 points a contest. She is fourth in the conference, one ahead of teammate Taylor Buie's (R-Jr., Puyallup, Wash.) 13.8 ppg. Wright is second to Harris in field goal percentage at 57.5 percent, while Buie is second in both 3-pointers made per game (2.5) and percentage (43.2). Monaye Merritt (R-Sr., Philadelphia, Pa.) leads the SSC and is 17th in the nation in assists at 5.5.
 
Men: Nova Southeastern (5-8, 1-4 SSC) vs. Florida Southern (7-9, 3-3 SSC)
The Sharks have had back-to-back road matchups against the top two teams in the SSC standings, falling by just 10 and three points respectively to then-No. 12 (now No. 7) Eckerd and No. 23 Barry. Florida Southern lost their first two games this year after losing only one the entirety of last season; then again, six seniors and their head coach are gone from last year's National Championship-winning, 36-1 squad. They too fell to 12th-ranked Eckerd last week, 84-70.
 
The game will feature two of the top five scorers in the conference: FSC's Dylan Travis (second at 21.7) and Chris Page of NSU (20.1, fifth). Page leads the Sharks also in all three shooting percentages (field goal/free throw/3-point), 3-pointers per game and steals; Travis is the Mocs' leader in free throw shooting, assists and steals.
 
Saturday will pit one of the league's top offenses (the Mocs, second at 88.8 ppg) against one of the best defenses (the Sharks, third at 79.5 ppg). In addition, NSU is holding opponents to 43.4 percent shooting overall, also third-best in the league, and 33.2 3-point shooting, the second-best defensive mark. The Mocs give up the most points per game in the SSC, by almost four points, at 87.8. In all five Shark wins this season, they've scored at least 81 points.
 
Again, follow along with the game live on ESPN3 at the links above, and catch up with all of the events throughout Saturday HERE.