640 SPORTS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team (11-14, 7-6 SSC) will return to home Saturday to face the Tampa Spartans (15-8, 8-6 SSC) at 4 p.m. The game will be a part of Sharks Community Day, in which all fans will receive free admission. The first select fans that arrive for the women's game at 2 p.m. will receive free Jimmy John's sandwiches and a T-Shirt from the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation.
"Tampa has certainly earned the respect of the coaches and teams in this league with the way they've hung around the top of the conference standings almost from day one," said head coach
Gary Tuell. "And that's no surprise to me. If a team has Richard Schmidt as its coach, that's as good as it gets. Coach Schmidt has been winning games longer than just about anyone else in America. When I was a student at Male High in Louisville, Kentucky, Coach Schmidt was beginning his career as a freshman and then junior varsity coach at nearby Westport High. From there he went to Ballard High and won the Kentucky state high school championship. He's been a coach I've looked up to and admired for most of my life. Whenever we play Tampa I look down the sideline and see Coach and think about how blessed and lucky I am to be coaching in the same gym… the same game… as a man I have admired for so long. It's a little bit surreal because Coach is still a legend in Kentucky."
Tuell has had success in recent years against his Louisville colleague. NSU won its fifth-straight game against Tampa back in January on the road, 94-65. The Sharks held Tampa to under 40 percent shooting and shot 62.3 percent from the floor (33-for-53) and 64 percent from 3-point range (16-for-25).
"Like a lot of times this year, we had a very good shooting day at Tampa the last time we played," said Tuell. "I don't think we were very good at the defensive end, but we certainly shot the ball well and executed our offense as about as well as I could hope for. On the other hand, Tampa was coming off an emotional, overtime loss to their rival, Florida Southern, and I think their guys came out a little flat emotionally and probably didn't take us very seriously because of our won-loss record at that time. We know it will be a different game this time around. We're expecting the Tampa team that is ranked eighth in our region and has won a lot of big games, not the team we ran into that day."
Despite the loss to NSU, Tampa still remains a half-game out of second place in the Sunshine State Conference. Tampa rebounded from the drubbing at the hands of the Sharks by going on a 3-game winning streak over Barry, Rollins and Florida Tech. After NSU, the Spartans close out their conference slate with a home game against last-place Lynn Wednesday.
"In Da'Markco Foster Tampa has one of the truly outstanding shooting guards in this league," stated Tuell. "He's a terrific scorer who can beat you with the jump shot and beat you off the dribble. Da'Markco is a classy guy who represents Tampa and the Sunshine State Conference as well as anyone. He has some nice pieces around him. Jordan Davis is a wonderful leader and point guard. Eric Moraes is a gifted athlete and Vincent Cornu is a rugged, hard-working and talented post player. As good as those guys are, and they are good, this team is more a product of Richard's ability to win with just about any kind of team you give to him. It starts with defense and goes from there. Tampa is one of the truly outstanding defensive teams in our league. Most times when you play a Coach Schmidt team it's very much like spending two hours in a dental chair. It can be painful."
NSU enters the game after a classic contest in which the Sharks fell to Barry on the road, 75-72. The game featured 13 lead changes in the final 15 minutes of the game.
"I love the way we competed at Barry on Wednesday," said Tuell. "I have no doubt that we saw them on their best day. Those guys were really well-prepared and ready to play. But our guys took their best shot and stood in there toe-to-toe with them. The first half was a little chippy and very physical, but both teams settled down in the second half and just played basketball. It was an outstanding game to be part of and I'm very proud of our team and how they competed and represented NSU. This team has brought a level of toughness and pride to the program that we've been lacking. We need to find that again on Saturday, and the rest of the season, because that's what it will take to give ourselves a chance to win in any of the games left on the schedule, or against anyone we face in postseason."
With 1.5 games separating second and seventh place in the SSC, NSU will have a keen interest on the results around the league. Eckerd and Barry are tied with NSU at 7-6. Eckerd will host Florida Tech at 4 p.m. while Barry hosts Rollins at 6 p.m. The other conference game will pit Lynn at Saint Leo in Saint Leo, Fla. at 4 p.m. Regardless of how it all unfolds, NSU and the rest of the league are guaranteed to have a tough matchup in the first round of the SSC Tournament.
"
Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio) and
Chris Page (So., Plainfield, Ind.) have been terrific for us for the past month, but the heart and soul of our team has probably been
Maurice Fuller (Jr., Westfield, Ind.) and
Justin Jeangerard (Jr., Weaverville, Calif.)," said Tuell. "They've really displayed toughness and a will to win that has affected everyone.
Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway) is playing as well as we hoped he would when we recruited him and
Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.) is just special. His love for the game is infectious and rubs off on everyone. Whenever you have six guys averaging in double figures, as those six are, then you know you have a very unselfish, balanced and special team. They share the ball so well, defer to one another so often and have so much confidence and trust in one another. It's been a wonderful team to coach. I hope we can keep it going this weekend and throughout whatever remains in this season for us.
"Of course, the good news for us is that all those guys will be back next year. We'll have an opportunity to get better in the offseason and grow closer, get stronger and who knows what these guys might accomplish together with a year under their belts playing together."
Tune into 640 Sports 15 minutes before the game for the pregame show. Fans can watch the game live HERE and follow live stats HERE.
For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit
www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by
clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by
clicking here.
