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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (12-10, 5-7 SSC) will look to return to its winning ways in Miami Shores, Fla. this Wednesday, Feb. 16 against Barry (7-15, 4-9 SSC) at 7:30 p.m.

The Sharks are coming off one of their most discouraging losses of the year as they fell to Eckerd, 80-65. The Tritons took control of the game in the first half and held NSU to a season-low 30 percent shooting from the floor. The most discouraging moment Saturday came before the game even started as the team found out they would be without the services of senior center Ross Allsop (Sydney, Australia) for the remainder of the year due to injury.

“Obviously we’re all sad about the loss of Ross Allsop to our team,” said head coach Gary Tuell. “His contributions didn’t always show up in the stat lines, but he was such a terrific team defender and a strong enough threat inside that defenses had to honor his presence. He was the anchor on our defense and without him we’re woefully thin in the paint and a much different team. More importantly, it’s just a sad way for his career to end. Ross gave so much to our team on and off the floor for the past four years and I hate the thought that the big fellow has to sit and watch the final games of his career here.”

Allsop has been one of the main faces of NSU men’s basketball for the past four years and his presence in the post will be missed. Allsop has played in 96 games as a Shark, ranking fifth all time, and owns the record for most career blocks at NSU with 103. Allsop ranks in the top-10 with 471 total rebounds and 244 field goals made, respectivly.

Allsop’s injury has fit into the team’s story line this season as the Sharks have been decimated by injuries. It started in the offseason when reigning Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year Brian Cahill (So., Arlington, Va.) was forced to sit out the entire year. Lukas Roesch (So., Sugar Grove, Ohio) and Jacob Reed (Fr., Perth, Australia) both started the year late because of injuries and several players have had to play through their own nicks.

“Naturally, we’ve become so accustomed to injuries over the past seven years that we’re all just sort of numb,” said Tuell. “I’ve never experienced anything like this in all my years of coaching. Injuries happen to everyone, but they’re not supposed to happen to the same team over and over and over. It’s freakish. But then again, the way Ross broke his hand – in a shooting drill of all things – was freakish.

“Alex Gynes (Sr., Nowra, Australia) has been playing below par with a bad back and Luke Roesch has not been healthy for over a month and continues to play with a bad finger that won’t heal till the season is over. So we not only are dealing with the loss of Ross, but also dealing with health issues to two of our three remaining inside players. It’s not the way we wanted to finish the season and certainly not the way we wanted Ross’ career to end.”

The Sharks have lost five of their last six games, making an appearance in the NCAA South Regional Rankings unrealistic. The only way NSU can make the NCAA Regionals for the first time in school history is to win the SSC Tournament. The Sharks now have four games to prepare themselves for a run through a tournament full of strong teams.

“The late season losses have been discouraging for all of us,” Tuell said. “But the guys continue to work hard and are giving good effort. They’ve played their way into the post season conference tournament and I’m proud of them for that. We’ll use the next four games, beginning with Barry Wednesday, to experiment and find different ways to defend in the post without Ross. The adjustments we made without him against Eckerd, especially in the second half, were adequate. I thought Robert Huntington (Jr., Perth, Australia) did a terrific job for us. Rob and John Brooks (Sr., Perris, Calif.) really played well at both ends, but the rest of our guys had miserable shooting nights.

“We haven’t had a good offensive night for a long time. I’d like to say teams are defending us well, but the truth is we’ve had tons of open looks and just haven’t made the shots we normally make. It’s mental more than physical. Hopefully we’ll relax and find our confidence and our stroke sometime in the next four games and get back to where we were earlier this season. We certainly shoot it well in practice so I know we’re capable.”

The Sharks now enter a game against an opponent they have had fortunate outcomes against over the last two years. NSU holds three straight wins over the Buccaneers, all coming by two points.

“Thank Rob Huntington,” said Tuell. “At Barry last year, down 72-71, Rob drained a three pointer with three seconds to play that won the game for us, 74-72. In the return game at our place, Rob scored our final six points, including an old-fashioned three-point play with 34 seconds to go that gave us an 80-79 lead. After a Barry misfire, Rob tacked on the final point with one second to play in an 81-79 victory.”

Huntington followed up those two previous Barry games with a put-back game winner with 0.4 seconds left to win the game at the NSU Arena in the Don Taft University Center. The Sharks will need a solid performance from Huntington Wednesday as well as Gynes, who scored a team-high 23 points against the Bucs earlier this year.

“Barry is one of the best defensive teams in the league and nothing is ever easy in their gym,” said Tuell. “We’ll have to make some shots and we’ll have to find ways to slow down Willie Whitfield inside and Zack Trapp and Bryan Van Cott on the perimeter. We’ve won three in a row against them, and all three have come down to the last shot. Hopefully we can make enough shots to keep it close and find a way to win in the end one more time. But more importantly, we want to use this game to work on some different things that will make us better come conference tournament time.”

SSC Standings: There were no upsets to shake up the conference standings last weekend as Rollins still holds the top spot with a 12-1 record. Florida Southern sits 2.5 games back at 9-3. Tampa (7-5) was idle this weekend, allowing Eckerd to move ahead of the Spartans with an 8-5 record. Florida Tech’s win moved the Panthers into a tie with Tampa at 7-5 while NSU fell to 5-7. Behind the Sharks are Barry (4-9) and Lynn (3-9). Saint Leo sits in last place and is 2.5 games out of the conference tournament with a 1-12 record.

Fans can follow the Sharks against Barry via live video HERE and live stats HERE. Follow NSU basketball through Twitter at www.twitter.com/NSUSharks.