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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team has their second straight local road tilt, matching up against Palm Beach Atlantic at the Rubin Center in West Palm Beach on Saturday evening at 4 p.m.
The Sharks (7-11, 3-7 SSC) pair off against the Sailfish (11-7) for the second time, with a win in the books earlier this season in Fort Lauderdale, 98-79. The game set a season high for the Sharks in points as well as the second-most made field goals and 3-point marks. This despite two regulars,
Casey Carroll (R-Jr., Youngstown, Ohio) and
Nick Pendergast (Sr., Bridgewater, Conn.) sitting out, though 10 Sharks made it into the scoring column, led by
Chris Page's (Sr., Plainfield, Ind.) career-high-tying 30.
A bright spot for the Sailfish that night and all season long has been freshman guard Bakari Warthen. He poured in 26 points and leads the team at 17.7 a night, not to mention 5.3 rebounds per game. PBA, not yet full-fledged members of the Sunshine State Conference, have managed seven wins against their future brethren, including on the road at Rollins and Lynn, and at home over 14-3 Barry.
NSUSharks.com and head coach
Gary Tuell bantered about the Saturday matchup:
Q: The "Comeback Sharks" nearly pulled off another one on Wednesday, against an experienced and athletic Lynn squad. What does it say about your team that they never give up? GT: "What it says to me is that our guys have a lot of resolve and determination, but it also tells me that we don't focus and do the things we need to do to play our best for 40 minutes. Why were we down 19 to begin with? If we're defending and executing and doing all the things necessary to win, we don't fall behind by 19. But we don't always pay attention to details. We don't play for 40 minutes with great focus. Mature teams who are on a mission don't let up. We were down 15 at Barry with 16 minutes to play, fought back to get the lead with a minute to go, then let it get away. We were down 16 with 12 minutes to play against Lane, fought back to take the lead with a minute to go, then let that one get away. Against Eastern, we were down 11 with six minutes to play and nine with under two minutes to play, then outscored them 24-4 in the final minute plus overtime to win that game. We trailed Florida Southern by 15, fought back to tie it in the final minute, and couldn't finish that one. We trailed Tampa by 22 with 16 to play and fought back to win by four. But we also led Florida Tech by 16 at the half and relaxed, let them come back and get the lead before we turned it around in the final two minutes to win. We led Rollins by 14 with six minutes to play and by eight with 90 seconds to play and found a way to let that one slip away. There's very few times this year when we played a solid, 40-minute game with our best effort. If we ever learn to do that, we'll be very good. We're obviously capable of playing well and we're capable of making runs. But so far we haven't shown the ability to do it for 40 minutes, and it has cost us more often than not. I'm sure it's entertaining for the fans but it's very frustrating for the coaches. We've looked at it inside and out to try and figure it out. There are a lot of reasons for it, but we have yet to fix it."
Q: Harrison Goodrick (Jr., Sydney, Australia) and Chris Page were a dynamic duo in the second half against Lynn. Goodrick has been all-world this last month-plus, and it was good to see Page back in form. This can only be positive moving forward, correct? GT: "Harrison came back from the holiday break with a different demeanor and different attitude. He's all business on the court, in practice and games. He's tired of losing and he's doing everything he can to put the team on his back and be the leader we need, but he can't do it alone. He needs others to step up and give the same kind of effort and play with the same grit and determination that he shows. There are nights when other teams are going to collapse around him and make his job much more difficult. That won't stop Harrison from rebounding and defending and leading, but who is going to match his spirit and his will to win? Chris scored a lot of points in the second half. But we had three huge turnovers at the end of the game and when it was all said and done, despite Harrison's mammoth effort and Chris' points, there was nothing to celebrate or feel good about when it was over. This can't be about one or two people. It takes a team to do something special. No matter how often we talk about it and preach it, that message has yet to sink in with everyone. They've had ample opportunities to show us that they get it.
"We have a lot of games left and a lot of time to turn things around. I've been about as patient as I can be, but we're nearing a point where the guys who want to be selfless and put the team first are going to play and the guys who don't get it and who are more concerned with playing time and points – who don't appreciate what a privilege it is to be on a college basketball team – will have to sit and watch. It doesn't matter to me if you're a star or a walk-on. If you think your playing time and your points are more important than team, then your head is in the wrong place and you're not a team guy. There's a time for patience and then there's a time when patience runs out and a different direction is necessary. You will never have a winning culture if players are more concerned about points and minutes than they are about the guy sitting next to them in the locker room. As a coach, you hope everybody understands that. We have great people on our team. Every single one of them is someone I love and would be proud to have for a son. But my feelings for them personally can't interfere with doing the best thing for the team. I've been patient with them because I love them and I want them to figure it out, work it out as a group, and come together to be the best TEAM they can be. But at some point – and we're getting close – I have to do what's in the best interest of the team if they aren't going to figure it out for themselves."
Q: In the earlier game this season against PBA, your defense was a key early and your offense was clicking all throughout in a 98-79 victory. What stands out about that game, as you played the Sailfish shorthanded? GT: "Offensively,
BJ Edwards (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) and
Chris Page were very good. They attacked and finished. Those two guys had big nights for us. We scored well because we shot the ball so well. And you're right, our defense in the first half was pretty good. But looking at the film, especially in the second half, I honestly don't know how we won that game, much less how we won it by 19 points. Our defensive effort and execution the last 20 minutes was embarrassingly bad, the poorest 20 minutes of defensive effort and execution that we've had all year. PBA had a tough night, but our second half defense had nothing to do with it."
Q: PBA has posted some notable wins as they still transition into the SSC. How impressed have you been with the Sailfish? GT: "PBA is a very good team and playing their best basketball of the season right now. They have some very talented, athletic young players who are much better now than when we played them earlier in the year. Their half-court defense is excellent. They've won five of their last six and seven of their last nine so they're improving and they're building a winning culture with young players who are going to be good in this league for a long time. It's never easy to play at PBA. We'll need to play extremely well for 40 minutes to beat them because they're playing about as well as anyone in the Sunshine State Conference. If they were eligible for the postseason tournament this year they would be right in the mix. They've beaten Embry-Riddle, Lynn, Rollins, Tampa, Florida Tech, Florida Southern and Barry. That tells you all you need to know about how good PBA is playing."
Q: Though you're technically out-of-conference Saturday, it's still a familiar (and region) foe. It won't count towards the conference standings, but would be a quality win nonetheless. GT: "From a win-loss standpoint, it's a meaningless game as it has no bearing on the conference standings. That's a good thing for us because after playing six games in the last two weeks, we need the break. More importantly, Saturday gives us a chance to play some young guys who deserve to play based on their attitudes and the way they've practiced lately. Secondly, we need to find out who wants to be selfless and put the team first, because going forward from the PBA game we need to be playing guys who want to be part of a winning culture. Humans, by their very nature, are selfish creatures. That's why so few TEAMS are capable of playing at a high level. It takes a lot of sacrifice and a lot of selfless attitudes. Losers worry about their playing time and their points. Winners worry about defense, rebounding and taking care of their teammates. A lot has changed in the 35 years or so that I've been coaching basketball, but those are universal truths that have been a part of this game for as long as the game has been played. Doesn't matter if you're talking about a high school, college or NBA team. Doesn't matter if the player is the star or the last guy on the bench. If the player is thinking about his stats and his minutes, he's a team killer. So hopefully on Saturday we'll discover the chemistry we've been missing most – but not all – of this season. People might not be able to define good team chemistry or a winning culture, but they can recognize it in a team when they see it. I've seen flashes of it this year with our team. But not enough. Obviously we wouldn't have the record we have or constantly be fighting from 15 or 20 down if we had it.
"And it's not the fault of one or two guys; it's up to everyone. If the players can't take care of it in the locker room and weed out the guys who don't want to have a winning culture, then we have to do it as coaches. We're not looking at the stat sheets or the scoreboard Saturday. We know who the best players are. But the best players don't necessarily make the best team, and this is a team game. Ideally, as a coach you hope your best players are your hardest workers, your most selfless teammates and your leaders on and off the court. But sadly that's not often the case. So we'll be looking beyond stats and scores Saturday. We're looking into the heart and soul of this team and searching to see if we can discover who wants to start building a winning culture and who doesn't. We have some guys who get it, we have some guys sitting on the fence and we have some guys who don't get it. That probably makes us like 99 percent of the teams playing college basketball. But we're trying to build a different culture than those 99-percenters. We're trying to do something special here. If guys want to get on board, great. If not, the train is going to leave without them. Saturday's game at PBA is an opportunity for them to punch their ticket. Hopefully everyone gets on board because it would be a lot more fun with everyone coming along for the ride."
