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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team will look to rebound as they return home Saturday, Nov. 20 to face the Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Tarzans at 7 p.m. Live video, audio, and stats will be available through NSUSharks.com.

UPR comes to NSU after a road game against Florida Tech this past Wednesday. Against the Panthers, the Tarzans had a fast start and led by as much as four points in the first half before losing, 89-71. With an average height of 6-3, UPR will be one of the biggest non-conference teams the Sharks will face this year.

“Whenever you schedule one of the NCAA Division II teams from Puerto Rico you never quite know what you’re going to get,” said head coach Gary Tuell. “They can be very competitive or they can be less than what you hope for. This Puerto Rico-Mayaguez team is very good, well-coached with some talented, experienced players who will give us a great test. This is an NCAA Division II South Regional game for us so it carries a little more importance than most early season games.”

The Sharks (2-1) are coming off a tough road loss at Rollins this past Wednesday. Against the Tars, the Sharks shot 35 percent from the field and allowed 27 free throw attempts. However, the Sharks only lost by 12 points and were competitive throughout the game. Max Papendieck (Sr., Adelaide, Australia) had the game of his life Wednesday, nailing seven three-pointers en route to a career-high 25 points.

“The loss at Rollins on Wednesday was disappointing on a number of levels,” said Tuell. “Our lack of defensive focus, especially in the second half, was disappointing. The more we struggled to put the ball in the basket, the worse we played defensively, which is always the mark of an immature team. That’s disappointing because we have a number of seniors who should be mature enough to play through a poor shooting night and still do things the right way on the defensive end. Obviously we have a long way to go in that area, but it was a good learning experience for us.

“Other than Max Papendieck, no one played well and yet we were never out of the game. If just one of two more guys had an average night for us, or if we cashed in on our free throw chances, we could have won that game. So as bad as we shot and as poorly as we defended, we still were able to hang around and have a chance.”

Shark fans will get their first glimpse of sophomore Lukas Roesch (Sugar Grove, Ohio) this season at home Saturday. He made his 2010-11 debut at Rollins and scored 10 second half points on 4-for-6 shooting. Last season Roesch was one of the Sharks’ top-three rebounders, grabbing three percent of all available defensive rebounds.

“It was nice to have Luke Roesch back and I thought he played reasonably well in the second half, which we needed him to do because Alex Gynes was sick,” said Tuell. “Al tried to go, but he obviously wasn’t close to his usual self and that hurt us more than anything Rollins did to us.”

The Sharks have only played the Tarzans once, winning 85-66 on Nov. 20, 2003. The Sharks have never lost to any University of Puerto Rico school, holding a 9-0 record against them.

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