640 SPORTS | LIVE STATS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s basketball team (2-1) will begin Sunshine State Conference play against Saint Leo (4-2) in St. Leo, Fla. Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcasted live on 640 Sports.
“This is the first of three consecutive games against top twenty teams (The Lions were ranked in the top-20 of the coaches poll prior to the most recent rankings) over the next five days, all away from home, and without question the most difficult stretch of games any NCAA Division-II team will face this year,” said head coach Gary Tuell. “We recognize the challenge and embrace it, both as a coaching staff and as players. We also recognize the opportunity in front of us. Win three games, we’re 5-1 and a top-20 twenty team ourselves, for whatever that’s worth at this time of the year. Lose all three and we find out what we’re doing, or not doing, that needs to be corrected if we hope to be a top-20 team ourselves one day.”
The Sharks will follow up their game against Saint Leo, the favorites to win the SSC, with road games against No. 7 Southern Indiana and No. 5 Bellarmine on back-to-back nights over the weekend. Although SSC play will officially open Tuesday, the Sharks will be using these games to fine tune the team for the heart of conference season.
“As I told our guys after practice today, it’s December and we’ve played only three games and been off for a long stretch,” said Tuell. “We’re not playing against Saint Leo, Southern Indiana and Bellarmine. We’re playing against ourselves. We’re measuring where we are as a team over the next three games. We’re evaluating hard cuts and better closeouts and running lanes in transition defense and blocking out on the boards. We’re measuring our ball pressure and our help-side defense and our ability to see the floor and make the proper reads. If we do all of those things well, then we’ll have a chance in every game. If we don’t do those things well, then the three teams we play this week will certainly expose our weaknesses and we’ll have a chance to learn from that and make the corrections before we get into the heart of conference play.”
The Lions entered the year as the SSC favorite and an elite team in the national rankings. However, they have had some early bumps, with losses to Winston-Salem and Armstrong Atlantic State. Despite that, the Lions, on paper, will be the toughest test of the season so far for NSU.
“Saint Leo is a terrific team with veteran experience, a solid defense and excellent shooters on the perimeter,” stated Tuell. “They’re disciplined and tough and well-coached. They have every significant player back from last year and have added two guys that are hugely important to their team in Chim Kadima (6-4 guard/forward transfer from D-I Loyola of Chicago) and Jerrel Harris, a redshirt freshman combo guard who brings a lot of firepower to their attack. Obviously Marcus Ruh, Trent Thomas, Shaun Adams, Tom Neary, Spenser Mitchell all return from last year’s team and have great chemistry together. Thomas is explosive, Adams is deceptive, Neary and Mitchell do the dirty work and Ruh is a guy I voted for player of the year in the league last year. He’s the engine that drives that team. We devised about 40 ways to defend him last year, some of which worked, but unfortunately he had at least 41 ways to score. He’s just a terrific player.
“Beating Saint Leo begins with finding a way to contain Ruh and control their perimeter shooters. We have to keep their big guys off the glass. We need to be a far better defensive team than we were in our first three games, both in transition and in the half court. We are allowing teams to make almost 50 percent of their threes, and if we do that at Saint Leo or at Bellarmine then we’re going to come away with our feelings hurt.”
Improvements on the defensive end will be crucial for the Sharks on their brutal road trip. Over the first three games, opponents are shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor and 45 percent from behind the arc. However, the Sharks have looked solid on the offensive end, shooting 47 percent and averaging 13 offensive rebounds a game. The Sharks have six players averaging at least nine points per game, led by
Iran Hollis (Sr., Hollywood, Fla.) at 15.7 per outing.
“We have to be a very opportunistic scoring team because their defense is as stingy as any we will see,” said Tuell. “Our guys need to be judicious in their shot selection and they need to probe Saint Leo’s defense until they find a good scoring opportunity. They present multiple problems at both ends of the court, and they play with an air of confidence – especially at home – that winning teams generally play with. I can think of a few places and teams I’d rather see in our conference opener, but we may as well wade into rough seas from the beginning and see how we stand up to the challenge.
“It won’t get any easier when we resume conference play in January. I believe our first four games are against the four teams picked 1-4 in the preseason poll. So we’re getting a good look at the best teams early on. Of course, it won’t get easier this week either as we move from Saint Leo to Southern Indiana to Bellarmine, but what a terrific challenge for our guys and a great way to find out where we are before we head into Christmas break. Win or lose, these three games will make us a much better basketball team down the road and that’s why you want to play the best competition early in the year.”
Fans can listen to the game live on
640 Sports. The game will also be available via live stats
HERE. Follow the Sharks on Twitter at
www.Twitter.com/NSUSharks.
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