FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team has their longest trip of the regular season this holiday weekend, traveling over 1,650 miles west to Canyon, Texas for the Pak-a-Sak West Texas Thanksgiving Classic.
The Sharks (2-1, 1-1 SSC) will head out of conference and out of region for two contests Friday and Saturday night. They play the host school, West Texas A&M (3-2) on Friday night at 6 p.m. EST. The following day it'll be another opponent from the Lone Star Conference, Eastern New Mexico (1-3), for an 8:30 p.m. EST tip.
Ahead of the weekend, NSUSharks.com had another opportunity to catch up with head coach
Gary Tuell:
Q: It's been mentioned many times that wins and losses in November aren't the end all/be all, that the process is getting your team right and not worrying about the final result. That being said, in a vacuum, how happy are you to start off the season 2-1? GT: "I try to stay away from evaluating teams based on records. If you start your season 3-0 but all you've done is beat a few Rental Car Universities or Cupcake Colleges, what does that prove? I never look at early season won-loss records without looking at who teams have played and how they've performed based on the strength of schedule. Being 2-1 against our schedule is not bad, and certainly having a couple of four-point wins and a five-point loss (in a game that was tied, on the road with two minutes to play) shows that we've been competitive against respectable teams. I was disappointed in the loss at Saint Leo because we didn't do a lot of good things once we battled back in the second half to take the lead. We had a chance to win and we failed. We were too undisciplined on the offensive end and didn't pay attention to details or focus on the important things at the defensive end. We have to play much better than that to win games on our schedule. But we learned a lot about ourselves and we discovered some issues during the first week of the season that need to be addressed. Being 2-1 is better than being 1-2 or 0-3, but the most important thing about playing those three games in six days is that we learned a great deal about our team, both good and bad. And we all came out of it knowing we have a chance to be a good team if we can correct the issues that plagued us the first week."
Q: A lot was said about unknowns in the offseason and preseason, and gelling together the newcomers with the returnees. It's still early season, but three games in, how do you feel the process is going? Do you like the team's chemistry thus far? GT: "Our chemistry is very good. We have great guys, high character guys, who are fun to be with. We were disappointed with the loss at Saint Leo but we enjoyed the trip together. I have the kind of players you enjoy riding the bus with after a win or a loss. We don't want wins or losses to define who we are or impact how we feel about ourselves as a family. In sports, there is always a danger of thinking too highly of yourself when you win and too little of yourself when you lose. We want our guys to know they are worthy and valuable all the time, not just when they win a game. We try to keep things even. If we win, we enjoy the moment and move on. If we lose, we talk about why it happened so we can try to fix it, and we move on. We want to enjoy the journey. To do that, every player and coach has to give his all when the ball is tossed up. If we do that we can live with the results and appreciate the things that come with being a part of a team."
Q: The players were finally afforded a little bit of a break from games after Saturday ended a pretty grueling opening week. Besides the obvious answer of hopefully getting them some rest and refreshment, what other positives have come out of a little more down time in preparation for this weekend? GT: "There's not much down time in our schedule unfortunately. We had a long trip home Saturday night. The players had Sunday off, but we were back to work Monday and will have four good days of practice this week. We travel on Thanksgiving Day: A flight to Dallas, a practice in the Dallas area, a team meal on Thanksgiving on the road, followed by a five-hour drive to Amarillo where we play Friday and Saturday. Sunday will be a travel day, another long drive from Amarillo to Dallas and a flight back to Fort Lauderdale. And then two big games the following week on Wednesday and Friday. There's not much down time in there, but we're looking forward to the trip to Texas. Our guys will get to see a different part of the country and experience some sights and surroundings they may never see again. We'll have a chance to have some fun together over the holiday and also play a couple of games, which is always fun. While others are enjoying time off and stuffing themselves on Thanksgiving, we'll be working to get better and grow closer through the expeiences."
Q: You started the season against three familiar opponents, but now will travel far away from home. What are the pros and cons of playing deep in the heart of Texas? GT: "The pros are obviously the opportunity to play a couple of games against opponents you generally don't see. West Texas A&M has a rich basketball tradition, so that game will be a challenge for us. I haven't been in Amarillo since 1975, and the last time I was there, with the University of Louisville, we won a one-point game over West Texas when Maurice Cheeks, who went on to a great NBA career, missed a layup at the buzzer. But what I remember most about that trip was going into the arena about 5 p.m. with the temperature in the high 60s and the weather was balmy and beautiful. Five hours later, when we came out of the arena, there were six inches of snow on the ground and the temperature was 18 degrees. So there's a good chance our guys will see some rain and maybe some snow, and experience some chilly weather in the Texas panhandle. Mostly we just want to use the trip to enjoy being together. In our sport, guys rarely get the opportunity to see their families at Thanksgiving. I'm sure the freshmen will be a little homesick not being with their families, but we'll break bread together with our family and try to have some laughs and grow closer. We'll also try to improve in the areas we need improvement and continue to see what guys can do under the lights and how they fit in to our future as we move forward."
Q: Besides game results and those "bonus" wins if you get them, what else do you hope to bring back to South Florida after this showcase? GT: "I hope we come back enriched by the experience of being together and growing closer on the road for four days. I hope we come back healthy. I hope we come back with a team that executes a little better than we did the opening week of the season because our focus at this time of the year is to use these games to get better. Thankfully these are not conference or regional games so we have some flexibility to try some different lineups, look at some different combinations, do a few different things and not worry about having to win a conference or a regional game. I've been very happy with a lot of the young and new guys and we want to continue to see them develop and see how well they are coming along in terms of grasping what we're trying to do on both ends of the floor. We have a lot of things that need to be improved on, and we'll use these two games to work on making improvements in areas where we need to get better. In the world we live in today, and especially traveling by air over the holidays, you always have concerns in the back of your mind about the craziness out there and the growing dangers that exist. So the best thing that can happen this weekend is that we travel safely and arrive home safely and come back to campus a better Shark Family and a better team than when we left. If we can do that, it will be a great trip and one I'm sure the guys will remember forever. From our team – our coaches, players and support staff – we'd like to wish all our fans, our families and our former players a very happy Thanksgiving and hope you'll follow our games on the website and say a prayer for safe travel for our team while we're away from The Fort."
