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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern men’s basketball will begin it’s Sunshine State Conference schedule Wednesday when they travel to Rollins at 7:00 p.m.
“We’re looking forward to playing Rollins, not just because they are the favorite to win the league and have all their key pieces back from last year’s championship team, but also because I enjoy games that test and challenge us,” said head coach Gary Tuell. “I enjoy playing against the Rollins kids because guys like Nick Wolf and Matt Robertson play so hard and are such tough competitors. Rollins will test us in every facet of the game. They move well without the ball, screen well, shoot the three well and have tremendous size that can cause matchup problems for us. We’ll be fighting for survival on every defensive possession, and any loss in concentration or focus will certainly hurt our chances.”
The Sharks are coming off back-to-back wins against Warner and Johnson & Wales at home. Against JWU, the Sharks won 120-66 and posted the most points the Sharks have ever scored in a game. The team broke or tied 11 team and individual records in their second win of the year. Despite the early season success, coach Tuell does not feel either game prepared the offense for what the Sharks will see Wednesday.
“Rollins will also be the first team we’ve played this year that has zoned us,” Tuell said. “I was hopeful we’d see a zone before now because we need a lot of work in our zone offense before we can hope to be proficient enough to attack a long, disciplined zone team like Rollins. But we’ve seen nothing but man defenses up to this point, so playing against the Rollins zones will be still another test and challenge for our guys.”
However, the Sharks have been firing on all cylinders offensively over the past two games. The Sharks shot a blistering 70% from the field against JWU and have nailed 53% of their three-pointers this season, 18% higher than last year’s three-point percentage.
“Although we’ve shot the three fairly well, we can’t fall in love with jump shots Wednesday,” said Tuell. “We have to attack them inside and get to the line. If there is one thing that sets Rollins apart from everyone else it’s their ability to keep teams off the foul line. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do that as well as they do it.”
The Sharks are 8-25 all-time against the Rollins Tars. Despite the poor record, these teams have split the regular season series two out of the last three years. Six of the last seven games between the Sharks and Tars have been decided by single digits.
“I have great respect for Tom Klusman, who is both a terrific coach and good friend,” said Tuell. “Tom and I were talking recently about how close and hard fought all of our games have been over the years.
“Regardless of the result, we’ll learn a lot about ourselves. I don’t mind playing a conference game this early in the year. It’s not ideal, but it will accelerate our progress and help us to improve more quickly than we might have otherwise. This is their home opener and our first road game, so they’ll have the emotional and psychological advantages. But once they throw the ball up it’s just two teams playing hard and doing their best to win a game.”
Fans can follow the Sharks on the road as they try to extend their record to 3-0 via live video and audio
HERE, and live stats
HERE. You can also check the NSU Sharks twitter page for in game updates
HERE
