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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team is set to start its season on Friday, Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. when the Sharks host the Warner Royals. Live video and stats will be provided by NSUSharks.com.

The Sharks begin the 2010-11 season with five seniors and return every impact player from the previous year. Alex Gynes (Sr., Nowra, Australia) led the team in scoring last season and has averaged 26.5 points per game over the team’s two exhibition games. Despite strong play from the team’s starting seniors, the NSU bench is very thin due to injuries. Head coach Gary Tuell has stressed that this game will be a learning experience and not a season defining night.

“Championships are won in March, not November and December, so we never want to get too high or too low early in the year,” said Tuell. “A basketball season is a marathon, not a sprint. We have a long road ahead of us and until we get Jacob Reed (Fr., Perth, Australia) and Lukas Roesch (So., Sugar Grove, Ohio) back later this month, we really won’t know as much about our team as we’d like to know. We look forward to the season opener against an outstanding Warner University team, but the outcome of that game will have little bearing on the team we hope to be in March. It’s always nice to win, but the purpose of early season games is to experiment with different lineups and combinations and to work on the things that will eventually make you a better team.”

Warner will by no means be a pushover as Tuell believes the Royals are one of the stronger teams in the NAIA. In fact, the Sharks are only 15-15 against them all-time.

“Warner will certainly test us and give us a great indication of where we are at this point in the year and help us identify the areas where we need to improve,” Tuell said. “Not many people know about Warner, and since it’s so early in the year, our coaching staff and players will be going into this game blind as well. But we know their personnel. They have a few NCAA Division I transfers, including a 6-10 center from California (Malcolm Campbell, current Sun Conference Player of the Week) who may be the best big man we go up against all year.

“They have some very talented guards who can shoot and they have a load of experienced players back from a team that had a lot of success last year. Warner will be very similar to some of the good teams we will face in the Sunshine State Conference, so they will give us a good idea of where we are at the moment.”

The key goal for Tuell’s Sharks will be to carry its momentum into the regular season. NSU had a fantastic preseason in which they battled hard on the road against Division I Saint Louis and beat Miami AAU by 50 points.

“I’ve been very pleased with our five seniors in our preseason practices and exhibitions,” said Tuell. “They’ve worked extremely hard and seem committed to having a special year. These guys are fond of one another and have excellent chemistry and that shows up daily in practice. It remains to be seen if they can maintain those good vibes once the season begins and we take some losses. But I suspect our character will be strong enough to overcome any setbacks.

“As long as we share the ball, shoot it reasonably well and defend together with great effort, then we have a chance to have a lot of fun and make this an enjoyable year for everyone. I’ve told this team from the beginning that they can be as good as they choose to be. Nothing they’ve done to this point has shown me that they want to be mediocre. Warner will test us and maybe even teach us some valuable lessons. Regardless of the outcome Friday night, we’ll bounce back on Sunday and be a better team for the lessons we learn about ourselves in the opener.”

Shark fans unable to make it to the game and other homecoming festivities can watch the game HERE. Fans can also follow the game via live stats HERE.