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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (2-8) will host a defending NCAA National Championship team for the second straight game Wednesday when the Sharks take on NCAA Division III titlists, the Amherst Jeffs (7-1), at 6 p.m. in the NSU Arena.
The Sharks return after a mandatory off period and will look to snap their recent skid. NSU has played three straight games against top-15 nationally ranked teams (No. 4 Florida Southern, No. 13 Livingstone and No. 3 Drury), and although they've been highly competitive, they have fallen short each time. Wednesday's game will be no easier, as the Sharks look to take down a team that has won two of the last six DIII titles.
"We're really looking forward to hosting Amherst College," stated head coach
Gary Tuell. "Anytime you have an opportunity to play a program that has had the kind of success Amherst has enjoyed it has to be good for you. Obviously we wish we had more time to get ready for this game, but the NCAA Life in Balance rule dictates that our guys have to take a break from Dec. 23 through Dec. 29. That leaves us two days to prepare, which is not ideal but I'm sure our guys would rather play a game on Wednesday than practice. It's always a little scary when you come back from a seven-day break. The conditioning is not great and it is amazing how teams can either lose their chemistry or find chemistry that may have been missing before the break. You can't predict it as a coach. You just have to throw the ball out there and see what turns up."
Amherst won its first five games this season by at least 18 points but snapped their streak by falling to Emerson, 90-79. It was the program's 10th loss in the last four seasons and third since the start of their 2012-13 national championship season. Their head coach, David Hixon, holds a .734 winning percentage since taking over the program in 1978.
"Amherst won the NCAA DIII National Championship last year and they have another powerhouse team this year, certainly one that is talented enough to repeat as national champions," said Tuell. "This will be back-to-back games for us against two NCAA National Champions since we're coming off that 75-71 loss to Drury, last year's DII champion. There are so many good players out there today, playing at all three levels in the NCAA, so we don't pay much attention to the number behind the D. We have played some outstanding DII programs and that's one reason we're 2-8. We've been very competitive against some outstanding teams, but at the end of the day probably the easiest win we had this year was against DI Florida International (77-59). When you're playing good NCAA teams, regardless of what classification they play in, you have to play your best to win. I've seen Amherst in two or three games and they have impressed me as much as anyone on our schedule. They would be an outstanding team playing in any of the three NCAA divisions.
"Coach David Hixon has been at Amherst since Jimmy Carter was in the White House and along the way he has won 700 games, which is just remarkable. He's one of the greatest coaches in college basketball and it will be an honor to host coach in our gym. He has three of the best players we'll see all year in Aaron Toomey, Connor Green and Tom Killian. Those guys combined for 76 points in their last win. Heck, there are nights when our whole team hasn't scored 76 points this year. Green and Killian are tough guys, very aggressive and focused. But Toomey is the key, at least in my opinion. Toomey, Green and Killian can light it up from the perimeter, but Toomey is just remarkable. He makes over 50 percent of his threes and almost 60 percent of his total shots. He gets to the free throw line. He comes up with steals. He runs their team when they need him to. I don't think I've seen a guard as good as Toomey this year, maybe in a long, long time. He's a special player, undoubtedly a first-team All-American. Their young center, David George, really gives them a presence in the low post as a scorer, shot-blocker and rebounder. And collectively, they will execute offensively better than anyone we've played. They average almost 92 points a game. It doesn't matter how you choose to defend them, they just carve you up and make big shots. They're really fun to watch."
NSU will get a boost to its lineup with the return of
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.), the team's leading playmaker at 3.8 assists per game. Cahill missed the last two games, including the 75-71 nail biter against No. 3 Drury. Cahill will allow Tuell to return to the five-guard lineup that proved successful in the team's historic win over FIU.
"It will help us to have Brian Cahill back in the lineup," said Tuell. "We definitely missed him against Livingstone and Drury. He's not 100 percent but he's close enough that we can count on him to give us some quality minutes. Before the break I was really pleased with the effort and work ethic of our little team. I hope we can continue to fix some things that need fixing, continue to work on our half court defenses because we need to get better there, and continue to build on our chemistry and do a better job of playing together. When we play with passion and great effort on the defensive end we've been able to wear people down. But we have to get better at getting defensive stops down the stretch. Offensively, we can be very good when we share the ball and don't care who scores. We're so young, and a lot of problems with young guys is maintaining effort and cohesiveness when the shots aren't falling or the ball isn't changing sides of the floor three or four times so everyone gets to touch it. Young guys don't always appreciate the value of defensive stops and have a tendency to hunt for points. So we have work to do in those areas. Amherst will be a great test for us and give us a chance to work on things. Win or lose we'll learn more about ourselves and have a chance to get better, and that's what non-conference games are all about."
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