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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (11-12, 7-4 SSC) will look to maintain its second-place position in the Sunshine State Conference with a road game Saturday against the Rollins Tars (11-11, 5-7 SSC) at 4 p.m.
"With only five conference games to play and two-thirds of the league schedule behind us, it's exciting for our players to be sitting in second place in arguably the toughest top-to-bottom league in Division II basketball," said head coach
Gary Tuell. "Every night you take the court you're playing to stay up there, and it's been that way for us for the past several weeks. There's pressure to win, and that's a good thing because pressure helps you to focus on your goals.
"We're cognizant of the fact that we have five very tough games to play, beginning Saturday on the road at Rollins. We're also aware that if we falter down the stretch we could easily lose all five games and drop to seventh or eighth place in the blink of an eye. With less than a third of our league games to play, there's such a log jam between the second and eighth position that anything could happen and the standings, as they are today, could turn completely upside down over the next two weeks. We certainly can't think about the standings. We just have to show up every Wednesday and Saturday for the next five games and try to put our best effort on the court. How this thing shakes out is anybody's guess."
Although the Sharks hold down sole possession of second place, there are three teams within one game of them. Rollins sits in seventh place, but only trail NSU by 2.5 games. If conference play has proven anything, it's that anybody can be beaten on a given night. The SSC Tournament, scheduled to begin March 5, is shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable in recent memory.
"Usually at this stage of the season you have a reasonably clear picture of how the conference standings might end up," said Tuell. "But I don't think that's possible this year. I have always said that Florida Southern and Barry should finish in the top three in the league, but I also thought Florida Tech would be up there with them, yet they've struggled lately. Eckerd and Saint Leo are both playing well and seem to be on the uptick, and Tampa has been consistently good all year. Rollins is on the fringe and if they finish on a roll they could end up near the top as easily as anyone else. About the only team out of the race is Lynn, but they could be a very dangerous spoiler down the stretch and in the tournament. They've improved tremendously and are not far away.
"The thing that pleases me most right now is that our guys started the year 0-5 and at one time were 3-9 overall and 0-2 in the league, and yet we've climbed all the way back to 7-4 in the league 11-12 overall. We've gone 8-3 overall and 7-2 in conference play in the last six weeks. It's been a long, hard climb back to respectability. But I honestly don't think any of us -- coaches or players -- thought we couldn't do it or wouldn't do it. This team has always had a collective belief in itself. As individuals, they've always respected and trusted one another. We never lost that, even in the beginning when we were struggling to find ourselves."
Up next for the Sharks is Rollins, a program that has been a powerhouse in recent years but is suffering a rare slump. Although Rollins dipped below .500 this year, they are on the rise and coming off a win over Florida Tech, 84-59.
"We always look forward to competing against Rollins," admitted Tuell. "Tom Klusman is such a great coach and has been for a long, long time. It's nice having him as a mentor and friend, but it's no fun playing against him. In some ways we are two very different teams, most noticeably in size. Rollins has Clydesdale horses and we've got the Shetland ponies. They start 6-11, 6-8, 6-8 on the front line and we go with 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. Someone told me that they put their pants on the same way we do, and while I agreed with that statement I also reminded my friend that it takes Rollins' players a little longer to pull theirs up. But we are also mirror images in some ways. We both believe in some form of the Princeton offense, we both rely heavily on multiple zone defenses and we both rely on the 3-point shot, although with their size Rollins has the ability to score inside that we lack.
"Unfortunately for both of us, we've both lost a very good inside player for the season -- Rollins lost Lukas Winegarner to a broken foot and we lost
Mike Terry (Fr., Ironton, Ohio) when he had to return home after the death of a family member. We also have similar health issues with key players who are fighting through chronic injuries to finish the season. Adam Allen, for Rollins, has battled knee problems for a long while and we have both
Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) and
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.) battling back problems. Brian, of course, has had two back surgeries and we're doing our best to prevent Casey from going down that road. The long bus ride to Rollins is not going to help either Casey or Brian, and we'll have to wait until pregame warmups to see how the bus ride affected them. There is always the chance one or both won't be able to play, but we've been dealing with that for a while. Neither one is able to practice much, if at all, which has hurt our rhythm and our ability to fine tune things. And lastly, we both have painfully thin benches although Rollins might be a little deeper than we are. Then again, the puddle in my yard after an afternoon shower is deeper than our bench."
In the first meeting between the two teams, the Sharks won a defensive battle, 56-48. NSU outshot Rollins, 36 percent to 30 percent, and outrebounded the Tars, 41-29. In the second half, NSU kept Rollins off the glass and collected 13 of 17 available defensive rebounds. Since then, NSU has won five of seven games, but largely due to efficient shooting.
"To beat Rollins you have to be very, very good on the defensive end," said Tuell. "They have some very difficult guys to guard and many good shooters. Mitch Woods and Adam Allen are two of the most talented players in our league but there are six or seven guys on their roster who can beat you.
"When we met earlier this year we were able to win at home in part because we had one of our best days defensively and we bothered them a little bit with our press. Neither of us shot the ball well that day. Their length on defense gave us headaches all day.
"If our defensive effort is anything like it's been in our last two games (wins over Palm Beach Atlantic and Lynn) then we won't even be in the game at Rollins. We have not played well defensively in any area for at least a week or more. We can't expect to compete against Rollins, and we certainly can't expect to stay near the top of the league, if we don't do something about our defense."
When the Sharks first played Rollins, the team was 5-10 and fresh off a 19-point loss to Palm Beach Atlantic. NSU has drastically changed its own fortune since then and will be looking to stay in the range of a top seed in the SSC Tournament.
"It's mid-February and we're in the race, and that's a great thing for our program and for our guys, who have battled so hard against tall odds all year," said Tuell. "I never dreamed coming into the season that we would start five guards or be able to have success doing it, but this has been a special team and I believe -- win or lose at Rollins -- we're not going away anytime soon. Our guys are still energized and very much enjoying the journey."
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