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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (0-4) will continue its road trip Thursday with a game against the St. Thomas Bobcats (2-0) in Miami Gardens, Fla. at 7 p.m. The game will broadcast live on Radio X.
"This will be our third game in seven days, including a road trip to South Carolina and back," said head coach
Gary Tuell. "We're tired. In an ideal world I would give the guys a couple of days off and then have seven to 10 days of practice before we played again. We need both the rest and the practice time.
"Unfortunately, we don't have either the luxury of rest or the luxury of practice time. Instead, we have a very well-rested, very talented nationally ranked (14th) NAIA team sitting at home, licking their chops and ready to pounce on a neighborhood rival. St. Thomas will be energized, excited to play its home opener and ready for us. They've had plenty of time to watch us play and prepare. We know almost nothing about those guys, other than they're ranked 14th in the nation, they're playing their home opener and they have a lot of size and athleticism. They've played twice, out of state, and some of their key players were missing. They went 2-0 away from home without some key players, so that tells you something about their depth and their resolve to win. Other than that, I don't know much about what they do or who they will do it with. Their size worries me. Their athleticism worries me. Playing at their place worries me. But right now, my energy and effort is going toward my team because we need a lot of attention. Young guys always do."
The Sharks are coming off two tough games that did not go their way. On Friday at home, the Sharks fell in a tough battle against No. 3 West Liberty, 100-86. Three days later, the Sharks flew to Columbia, S.C. and dropped a game against Benedict, 61-54. Benedict was a handful of votes outside the national top-25 and will likely jump in after Monday's win.
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.) scored a team-best 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting Monday. He also hit team-bests with three assists and three steals.
Maurice Fuller (Jr., Westfield, Ind.) collected a season-high six rebounds to go with eight points and two steals.
"I wish we could take a couple of days off and then practice for a week or more so we could work on our deficiencies," confessed Tuell. "On the other hand, it's probably good to throw another challenge in front of our team. We need to learn how to handle adversity, and more than anything we need to learn how to close a game. I thought we had a chance to win three of the four games we lost. And in the other game, against third-ranked West Liberty, we had a golden opportunity to make that a one or two possession game in the final four minutes, but we let them get away from us.
"I'm not at all discouraged. I'm more disappointed than discouraged. We were flatter than a day-old pizza at Benedict. I don't know that I've ever seen a team that flat. I don't know if we started out that way, but when our starting center,
Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio), and his backup,
Brandon Patchan (Fr., Tampa, Fla.), got three fouls each in about six minutes, we just died. As poorly as we played, we were down one with five minutes to play and couldn't get over the hump. That scenario has played out in all four of our losses, and it will probably continue until we find a way to fix it."
Despite the dismal record, there have been some positives to take from the early season. NSU's offense is dangerously efficient, averaging 74 points per game with a 51 percent shooting mark. The Sharks' four leading scorers are all shooting at 50 percent or higher, with
Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway) leading the pack at 12 points per game and 68 percent shooting.
"We've been in position to win in every game we've played, but the same issues crop up in the last five minutes that cause us to shoot ourselves in the foot," stated Tuell. "One, we haven't made a collective defensive commitment to get stops with the game on the line. Two, we throw the ball to the open man, but unfortunately the open guy is sitting in the second or third row and not one of our five guys on the floor. Three, we don't stay disciplined offensively, don't execute as a team, which leads to someone either taking selfish shot or breaking the offense to go one on one while the other four guys stand around and watch. Some of that is guys trying too hard to carry the team on their shoulders more than it is selfishness, and some of it is just a lack of trust either in the system or in their teammates. And four, we're not getting consistent effort from our top seven or eight guys. Some of our mistakes are mental and some are physical. We beat ourselves at Benedict, and that's not the first time that we've done that this year. We will learn. We will get better and we will eventually stop beating ourselves. Who knows? Maybe we can turn it around Thursday at St. Thomas. We certainly need a win to give our young players a shot of confidence.
"Sooner or later the light switch will turn on and we'll begin to execute and play at a higher level at both ends of the floor. I've said all along not to judge this young team too early, or to judge them on the record. Once we learn to compete and begin getting the kind of effort that the coaches are looking for, the record will get better. We just need to stay patient and coach forward. I believe in these guys. Losing is always disappointing, but I have a lot of faith in my guys. I have two of the best assistant coaches (
Brandon Crone and
Marquise Kiffin) I could ever hope to work with, and I have 12 players who have my complete trust and confidence. We'll get there. It may take longer than any of us wants, and the schedule is full of obstacles, but we'll get there."
The game will also serve as a homecoming of sorts for coach Tuell, who served as head coach at St. Thomas during their most successful era. The Bobcats won three Florida Sun Conference titles in his five seasons there. Tuell led St. Thomas to the NAIA Division II National Tournament on two occasions (1993-94, 1996-97). However, Tuell left to lead Augusta State in the Peach Belt Conference and the basketball program at St. Thomas folded until the 2007-08 season.
"Returning to St. Thomas will probably be more fun for me than for my players," admitted Tuell. "The players have their hands full going against a very talented and well-coached team. But I'm looking forward to playing in their on-campus gym (Fernandez Family Center for Leadership and Wellness). I spent five years at St. Thomas as their head coach, and we had some success during that time. When I was there I had a chance to coach some of the finest young guys and greatest competitors I've ever coached. We didn't have an on-campus gym, played all of our home games in other gyms and mostly played all of our non-conference games on the road. So I'm thrilled to see they have their own on-campus facility. I have a lot of great memories and good friends from my days at St. Thomas. Going back will be both nostalgic and fun… but a lot more fun if we can find a way to beat those guys and get a much-needed victory."
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