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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University men's basketball team, winners of three of their last five games in conference play (and four of six overall), look at avenge an early season loss to Rollins, tangling with the Tars Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Winter Park.
After this recent stretch, the Sharks (9-11, 4-7 SSC) have moved all the way up into a tie for fifth in the Sunshine State Conference standings. Back on Dec. 4, they all but had victory in hand against then-No. 17 and undefeated Rollins (15-6, 7-3 SSC), but gave up leads of 14 (at 6:02) and eight with just 1:28 left, falling 75-74.
Since then, the Tars have gone 6-6, but have won their last four. They sit just two slots ahead of NSU in the standings, by four games in the loss column. Wins as of late have come against Florida Southern, Tampa and Eckerd, the latter an 82-79 decision on Wednesday.
The Sharks' win Wednesday came as they held off Florida Tech, 79-77.
Chris Page (Sr., Plainfield, Ind.) poured in 29 points, nearly a career high, and
Harrison Goodrick (Jr., Sydney, Australia) continued to dominate on both ends. He amassed his fourth consecutive double-double and is now averaging 17.3 points and 11.4 rebounds against conference opponents. In the earlier matchup with Rollins, he had his second (of now seven) double-doubles this year, with 14 points and 13 boards.
NSUSharks.com and head coach
Gary Tuell conversed ahead of the game No. 21 for the team:
Q: Wednesday's win over Florida Tech is the team's second in a row, and outside of PBA, third in five conference games. You've preached patience, but don't things seem to be coming together as of late? GT: "In any sport, you're only as good as your last game. We're doing some things better but still need a lot of work on the defensive end. Obviously
Harrison Goodrick and
Chris Page have stepped up. Harrison has been terrific and Chris is beginning to trust his teammates more and doing things to make us all better. It was great to see
Casey Carroll playing Wednesday without a lot of discomfort. We need him. We're improving, but we're not where we want to be yet."
Q: The FIT win was a bit of a reversal of previous games, with your team holding off the opposition instead of the other way around. Does anything they do now surprise you? GT: "Nothing a Billy Mims team does surprises me. You can't prepare much for them because just when you think you have Coach Mims figured out, he'll throw things at you that you haven't seen or weren't prepared for. You just have to take care of your own business and do the best you can. Tech has five outstanding players who start and a couple good ones off the bench. They are all capable of having big games, as Jordan Majors and Patrick Anderson did against us. You just hope you play them on a night when everyone isn't at his best because they're terrific when all of their starters are clicking."
Q: Possibly most importantly, you've now moved into a tie for fifth place in the SSC standings. As the season gets closer and closer to tournament time, are you a scoreboard/standings watcher? GT: "I read the box scores as a fan more than a coach. I try to keep up with the other teams just to see how certain individuals are playing. There are a lot of games left and I've learned in this league that nothing is ever settled until the last weekend. You just keep grinding and hope in the end you've done enough to make the tournament."
Q: The first game against Rollins, especially the last six minutes, surely leaves a sour taste in your mouth. At the same time, at least on that night, it proved how you match up against a very good Tars team. How do you use that game towards this Saturday? GT: "We blew a 14-point lead in the final six minutes and an eight- or nine-point lead in the last two minutes. I just hope we're in the same position with six minutes to go at Rollins on Saturday because I don't think we will do that again! Rollins is very good. They have multiple shooters, play three zone defenses that are tough to crack, and they always play well at home. We will have to take and make good shots and find a way to contain at least a few of their shooters. Our teams are similar and we both play well, so it will be an interesting game."
Q: To even a casual observer, these endings continue to be stressful. For you as the coach, how are you personally handling these high-pressure final minutes of almost every game? GT: "Haha. We're definitely the Cardiac Kids. With one or two exceptions, almost every game has come down to the final couple of possessions. I'd like to see us play a complete, 40-minute game instead of playing in spurts, but we're just not mature enough to maintain our focus for an entire game. We don't do a great job of paying attention to the things that matter: defending with urgency and effort, blocking out and rebounding as a team, and taking care of the ball. A perfect example was the first half Wednesday against Tech. We gave up nine offensive rebounds in the first half, and I reminded our guys that we couldn't win if we allowed that to happen in the second half. So they go out and give up nine offensive rebounds again in the second half, which is ridiculous. But they made a liar out of me by managing to win the game despite our failure to block out Tech's players.
"We'll never be the team we hope to be or find ourselves with a comfortable lead in the final couple of minutes if we ignore the things that matter. As coaches, we preach it every day in practice. Some days I think we get it, but other days we don't. It would make all our lives easier if the guys would just do the things they're told to do. But we don't always listen, which is probably true of most young people today. We teach them math and we teach them chemistry and history and English. But we're not doing a great job of teaching young people how to think and how to listen. There's still time. We won't stop teaching and trying to be the best we can be until the final whistle. I have always liked our potential, and I still do. We've won some games recently but I'm not sure we're a significantly better team. I don't pay that much attention to winning or losing. I pay much more attention on how hard we're playing and how well we're focused on the defensive end, and how well we think and listen. When we do those things we can beat just about anybody. When we don't do those things we can lose to anybody. With three or so weeks left in the season we have time to get better. And we need to get better because we have the top three teams in the league coming up in the next couple of weeks."
