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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team, coming off a big win over Lynn Wednesday to open up the Sunshine State Conference slate, now prepares for their first road tilt of the season on Saturday, facing another SSC squad in Saint Leo.
 
The Sharks (2-0, 1-0 SSC) dispatched of St. Thomas and those Lynn Fighting Knights in three days' time to begin this week (and season), each by four points, and each in high-scoring affairs (84-80 and 88-84). Most recently on Wednesday, they had a 24-point turnaround from one point in the first half to another point after the break, and held off Lynn's comeback attempt late, with the capper coming from senior swingman Chris Page (Plainfield, Ind.). He and Casey Carroll (R-Jr., Youngstown, Ohio) each had 17 points in the win.
 
Saint Leo (2-1, 0-1 SSC) stumbled in their first SSC matchup Wednesday, 80-68 to Eckerd, after defeating North Alabama and then-No. 12 Alabama-Huntsville to begin the year at the SSC/Gulf South Challenge Classic. The Lions' new man in charge is Vince Alexander, in his first year with the team but 17th overall, and he came into the season 55th among all active DII coaches in career wins with 285. Thus far, SLU is led by junior guard Marcus Dewberry, averaging 21.3 points and seven rebounds per contest.
 
The Sharks and Lions will tip at 4 p.m. Saturday, with streaming video provided by Saint Leo athletics, and NSU audio exclusively on 640 Sports at this link. Here is NSUSharks.com's latest conversation with head coach Gary Tuell.
 
Q: What is the mood of the team after Wednesday's big win over Lynn? Do they seem any more energized after seeing all of the preseason hard work pay off for at least that game?
 
GT: "Anytime you win a conference game you should celebrate, especially in this league because wins are so difficult to come by. You don't win a game in this league without players giving maximum effort, so when it happens, your guys have earned the right to enjoy the moment, embrace the accomplishment and share the joy. I was especially happy for the veteran players because their feelings were bruised in our two losses to Lynn a year ago. We really weren't competitive in either of those games and the memory of those losses lingered a little bit with the older guys. They felt they had something to prove, not so much in terms of winning but just competing and battling. They brought great focus and energy into the game and we still had enough energy left after the game to enjoy a celebration dance or two."
 
Q: The Lynn game was an extremely physical affair. What do you think it says of your team that they didn't back down, and survived the comeback attempt at the end?
 
GT: "Lynn is long, athletic, strong, seasoned and tough. They test your resolve, and either you take the hits and keep coming back, or you get embarrassed. You can learn some life lessons when you compete against teams like Lynn. You're going to get hit, you're going to get your feelings hurt, life can be tough. This is a tough world and it's not always sunshine and beach balloons. No matter how tough you are, life is going to knock you to your knees and when you get up and gather yourself you sometimes get knocked to your knees again. The key is not how well you take a punch but how determined are you to get up and keep moving forward. No matter how well we played or how hard we fought, Lynn wasn't going to go away. They were going to keep hitting and we had to keep moving forward. I thought our guys did a great job of hanging in there, battling and moving forward. I thought we took the fight to them all night; there was never a moment in the game when I thought we were on the ropes or hanging on. I always had a sense that our guys were going to keep attacking, keep coming forward. We were a lot like that nasty little dog that just keeps snapping at your ankles and bothering the heck out of you. We were irritating and a pain, because we refused to get discouraged or go away. We just kept coming. Win or lose, that's how we want to play. You might beat us, but we're not going to go away quietly; we're going to keep fighting. Everybody on this team has one another's backs. That's what makes it fun to coach these guys. They're not always pretty or good, but they have a spirit that allows them to believe in one another."
 
Q: You kept with your early-season strategy of playing everyone, and it paid off in spades. What does this say about the team as a whole?
 
GT: "We're a family. We've worked hard to develop that culture, and we've gotten great leadership from the captains – Chris Page, Casey Carroll and Jonathan Back (Jr., Carlisle, Ohio) – and great leadership from the veterans like Harrison Goodrick (Jr., Sydney, Australia) and Mike Chalas (Sr., Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Remi Farrell (Jr., Woodbridge, Conn.). Older guys have sacrificed playing time and points and egos to embrace the idea that we're going to win and lose as a family. The older players are encouraging and supporting the younger guys and new guys. They all do a great job of pulling for one another and enjoying each other's successes. Nobody really cares about starting. I've told them I don't care who starts. I don't care if the captains want to pick the starters or if we draw names out of a hat, it just doesn't matter. And we don't think of guys as starters or first line subs or third line subs. We just think of ourselves as a team. Fifteen guys who are going to do what they can to help the family. If you get two minutes on the court, make it the best two minutes you can give us. If you hustle and play hard and defend and block out and share the ball, chances are your minutes will go up. Obviously we have some guys who are better than others, that's always going to be the case. But our mindset is that every guy on the team is valuable, every guy can bring something unique and worthy to the team, and when you get your chance to play give us your best, whatever that is. Critics will always question what you do, but those critics are not part of our family. We don't have critics in our locker room; we have leaders, and we have followers, and we're a very functional, happy group. Critics will tell you that what we're doing might work as long as you win, but when you lose the cracks will appear and the doubts will creep in. I don't think so. Our guys care about each other. They care more about the process and the culture and the family than they do about the outcome. We're all in. Win or lose, we'll stay all in."
 
Q: Saturday is another early-season SSC matchup. As you said before you will stick with looking at yourself more than your opponent, Saint Leo. What is different than preparing your own squad Wednesday than preparing for Saturday?
 
GT: "Every opponent is different and brings different challenges for you, and every opponent is going to put different obstacles in your path. We try to look for opportunities, not obstacles. We're not sitting around watching a lot of film of Saint Leo or worrying a lot about what we need to do to beat them. We're looking at our game with Lynn, trying to find the teachable moments from that game, and helping our guys see the mistakes they made and the opportunities that were there to do things differently, or to do things better. Saint Leo will be another early season game that will play a different style and present some different challenges than what we've faced so far. But we have so many things to improve on and so many things that need attention. We can't waste a lot of time concerning ourselves with any opponent right now. We know they are a great shooting team, we know they love to run and play at a fast pace and we know they will be anxious to get back on track after stumbling at Eckerd Wednesday night. We also know Saint Leo beat the 12th-ranked team in the country (Alabama-Huntsville) last weekend, so they are a very talented, well-coached and tough team. This will be our first road game, so it will be interesting to see how our young guys react to traveling and playing away from home. Will we bring the same energy and enthusiasm to a road game that we brought to our two home games this week? Winning on the road is difficult. Winning on the road in our league is rare. Look at Wednesday night's results: Lynn lost on the road, Barry lost on the road, Saint Leo lost on the road, Palm Beach Atlantic lost on the road. If you want to be good in this league, or any league, you have to find ways to win away from home. We're going to do what we do. Will we do it as well on the road as we have at home? Will we build on Wednesday's win or will we suffer an emotional letdown and not bring the kind of energy we need if we hope to have a chance? We try to avoid peaks and valleys. Just come to work, play hard and be what you are, do what you do. But can we sustain that night after night? Do we have the maturity to bring our best effort regardless of the venue? Who knows, but Saturday promises to be another good learning experience for our team, as well as a chance for the coaching staff to learn more about our young players."
 
Q: What other prep work can you do with Saturday being your first road game? How do you expect your newcomers, especially the true freshmen, to react to their first taste of the SSC on the road?
 
GT: "One of the things that I learned about our team in the preseason intrasquad games and the first two regular season games is that we have four very precocious freshmen. Austin Marciniak (Uniontown, Ohio), Nikita Orap (Moscow, Russia), Dwayne Gibson, Jr. (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Pat Huffine (Indianapolis, Ind.) are not typical freshmen; they play with a lot of confidence. They are not timid, shy or intimidated by anything. All four of those guys have a confidence level that is uncharacteristic of freshmen. They think they belong on the court, and that's a very good thing. There's no hesitation on their part, no feeling that they don't belong out there. A lot of credit for that has to go to the older guys because they've encouraged our young players and taken them under their wings. The same with BJ Edwards (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) and Nick Pendergast (Sr., Bridgewater, Conn.), two of our D1 transfers: they play with confidence and have fit in seamlessly with everyone. I'm hopeful the road won't matter to them. If they can walk out on the floor against Lynn's seven seniors and a team of Lynn's talent and maturity and not be intimidated, then I don't think playing anyone anywhere is going to have a negative impact on them. As good as our veterans have been for them, I think the young guys and new guys have been great for our older guys, too. They've helped to energize the older players. They bring some youthful enthusiasm to practice and to games that rubs off on others. Would that be the case if we got out of the gates 0-2 instead of 2-0? I don't know. But I would be surprised if winning or losing made much of a difference to these guys. We don't talk much about winning or losing. We just talk about energy, effort and having fun. It's a long season and there will be plenty of ups and downs. I just want these guys to have fun. Ten years from now, when they look back at the season, I want them to remember how much fun they had being a part of this family. If we can keep our focus on enjoying the journey, we can live with whatever comes our way."