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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (9-7, 4-3 SSC) will look to take down one of the top teams in the Sunshine State Conference on the road Wednesday night, as the Sharks face the Rollins Tars (12-5, 5-2 SSC) in Winter Park, Fla. at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcasted live on 640 Sports.

The Sharks come off a big home win this past Saturday against the Saint Leo Lions, 67-53. It was a great performance on both ends of the court. The Sharks shot 59 percent from the floor and held the Lions to only six points over the final nine minutes of the game.

“Our guys continue to improve, play with good energy and, perhaps most importantly, continue to grow closer together as a team,” said head coach Gary Tuell. “I thought all those things were evident in our win over Saint Leo Saturday. I have great respect for that Saint Leo team. They are as tough physically and mentally as any team we’ve seen this year, and we executed at both ends of the floor about as well as we could hope. Anytime you shoot almost 60 percent in both halves against a team that strong defensively, and then hold them to a couple of field goals in the final 10 or 11 minutes, then you have to be pleased as a coach with your team’s effort and execution.

“Iran Hollis (Jr., Hollywood, Fla.) continues to grow as a person and a player and his hard work is paying off for all of us. But so many guys did little things that helped us win Saturday, it’s hard to point to one individual on this team. That’s been our mantra all year, we may not have any star players or go-to guys, certainly no All-American candidates, but we’re doing a wonderful job of sharing the ball and stepping up defensively to help one another. Whether we win or lose, we’ve got 10 guys every game who are finding different ways to help make our team better. They’re a joy to coach.”

The Sharks have little time to celebrate their victory as they now get set for the preseason SSC favorite in the Tars. Rollins entered the year with a high national ranking and were expected to be a NCAA National Championship contender. The season hasn’t been all positive for them as they are no longer receiving votes in the national poll. They are coming off a road loss to the other top team in the conference in Florida Tech, 84-70.

“We’ll certainly need to play as well as we can if we hope to stay with Rollins Wednesday night at their place,” Tuell stated. “There is a reason they are tied for first-place and were tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the league. They’ve got great coaches, a difficult system to play against, and more athleticism and size than anybody in the league.

“They start three Division-I transfers who are good players at any level they play on, and they have done a good job of developing their young players so that their overall depth and scoring ability is much better now than a month ago. They had their feelings hurt at Florida Tech Saturday, but there’s no shame in losing to Tech, who is also tied for first in the league. But I’m sure they’re anxious to come home and take some of their frustration out on the next opponent, which just happens to be us.”

The Sharks are 8-28 all-time against Rollins and have lost five straight games against the Tars. Rollins will simply be looking to keep up with Florida Tech in the standings, as the Panthers host last-place Tampa Wednesday. Although history is not on their side, the Sharks will be looking for their biggest win of the season as they only remain one game out of first place in the SSC. The Sharks will need to set a precedent of success on the road now as they finish much of the regular season schedule on the road.

“Because we finish with six of our last nine league games on the road, the conference schedule favors anybody but us,” said Tuell. “And with the exception of Tampa, who is struggling, there are eight teams in this league who have some reason to believe they could get hot and win the regular season championship. That quest is a little more difficult for us because of the road schedule we face and the number of road games we have left. So our focus is the same today as it has been for the past month: work hard every possession of every practice and game and do what you can to get better today. 

“You can’t control what happens to other people and you can’t control what happens to yourself or anyone else tomorrow. All you have is today, and we’re trying to take it possession by possession, practice by practice and game by game in an effort to continue improving. When we lose, we try to learn from that game and use what we learned to get better for the next one. When we win, we take a moment to enjoy it, then we look at the areas that need improvement and go to work to fix those things. It’s a simple approach and one we’ll stick with throughout the season. Our guys have bought into that philosophy. In the end we’ll see where it leads.”

Fans can listen to the game live on 640 Sports or watch the game HERE. Live stats will also be available HERE. Follow the Sharks on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/NSU_MBasketball.

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