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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (0-3) returns to the road this week for a pair of nonconference games, starting with the Benedict Tigers (1-0) Monday in Columbia, S.C. at 7:30 p.m. The game will broadcast live on Radio X.
The Sharks will be looking for their first win of the season, coming off a hard-fought loss to No. 3 West Liberty on Friday, 100-86. The Sharks played a close game against a program that has only nine losses in over four years.
"After playing West Liberty Friday, we have very little time to catch our breath," said head coach
Gary Tuell. "But that's good. One of the best ways to put a loss behind you is to turn your attention quickly to a new challenge. And playing Benedict at Benedict is certainly a challenge. What's waiting for us in Columbia is a program that been to four or five straight NCAA Tournaments, a Benedict team favored to win another league championship (SIAC), a talented team excited to play its home opener in front of a very supporting vocal crowd and a deafening band that creates a great atmosphere for a college basketball game."
The Sharks will look to repeat a victory from last season, when Benedict lost to NSU in Fort Lauderdale, 63-59.
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.) scored 14 points and collected eight rebounds, while
Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway) dished out six assists and scored 11 points. Benedict went on to lose only two SIAC games and won the league title.
"This is another neat experience for our young players and a challenge for our entire team," said Tuell. "Not many teams go into Benedict and win. We know it's a tough game in a tough environment, but that's the kind of game that helps young kids grow up and makes teams better. You can never be a good team until you learn to compete on the road.
"I'm going to try and get our freshmen a lot of playing time in this game so they can get an idea of what it's like to play on the road under difficult conditions. We need to get
Brandon Patchan (Tampa, Fla.) and
Cameron Denney (Norwell, Ind.) on the floor more, and this might be a good time to do it. If
Mike Terry (Ironton, Ohio) is healthy we'll continue to give him large chunks of minutes. He's been very good. I have no idea who will start but we'll play nine or 10 guys. We've decided to redshirt
Cole Feaster (Manhattan Beach, Calif.). Playing behind Stian Berg and Brian Cahill just doesn't leave many minutes for him. It's the right thing to do for Cole and for the team because he still has four years of eligibility left."
NSU continues a daunting schedule that will see the Sharks play St. Thomas, who advanced to the NAIA Tournament last year, on the road Thursday and defending Conference Carolinas Champions Belmont Abbey on Nov. 29 in a neutral site game.
"We made a lot of progress in the past week," stated Tuell. "We have a long, long way to go. Our execution has not been good but we'll get there. We just need to give the same effort against Benedict that we gave against West Liberty. If we do that, we'll be able to compete."
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