FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – With the regular season in the rearview mirror and one Sunshine State Conference title already in hand, the Nova Southeastern men's basketball team will shift its focus towards another league crown when the SSC Tournament officially begins on Tuesday.

As the SSC regular season champions, the Sharks have earned the tournament's No. 1 seed, and as a result, will meet eighth-seeded Florida Tech in the quarterfinal round at home Tuesday at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to Thursday's semifinal round, where it'll meet either Florida Southern or Tampa.

As long as NSU takes care of business, the SSC Tournament will run through Fort Lauderdale, as the higher seed in each matchup will be deemed the host. If the regular season is any indication, all signs point to an exciting week of hoops inside the Rick Case Arena.

Following Saturday's 94-85 road victory at Embry-Riddle, NSU became the first-ever team in the SSC to finish the regular season undefeated, doing so with a perfect 25-0 record including 20-0 in league action. What makes it even more impressive is how the Sharks have gotten to this point. Despite not competing for the entire 2020-21 campaign due to COVID-19, head coach Jim Crutchfield's bunch hardly missed a beat to begin the season. The Sharks were then riddled with injuries, at times suiting up for games with just 8-9 healthy players. Still, NSU steamrolled its way through the SSC, winning all 20 contests by an average of 18.5 points per game. While Crutchfield's teams typically make the headlines for their scoring production – rightfully so – this group not only led the league in scoring offense (93.8 pgg) during SSC play but also scoring defense (74.4 ppg).

NSU likes to attack inside out, and has arguably the two best forwards in the conference in Player of the Year candidate Sekou Sylla (22.7 ppg and 9.9 rpg) and Defensive Player of the Year candidate RJ Sunahara, who leads the SSC in both field goal percentage (61.5%) and blocks (2.7 bpg). The unquestioned leader, though, is point guard Nick Smith, who will enter Tuesday night with a school-record 107 consecutive starts already under his belt. Smith not only leads the league, but ranks No. 1 in NCAA Division II in assists (7.9 apg), assist-to-turnover ratio (4.9) and steals (3.2 spg). He appears to be finding his shooting stroke at the right time, too, having averaged 20.5 points on 57.1% from beyond the arc in NSU's previous two games.

In addition to NSU taking on Florida Tech and Florida Southern hosting Tampa, Tuesday's quarterfinal matchups also include No. 2 Embry-Riddle vs. No. 7 Palm Beach Atlantic and No. 3 Barry vs. No. 6 Rollins.

Throughout the tournament, ticket prices will be set at $7 for adults, $5 for seniors (ages 65+) and free for ALL children 12 and under, as well as for all NSU faculty and staff and SSC-affiliated students with a valid ID.

For all SSC Tournament information, click here.

For complete coverage throughout the week, visit the schedule page on NSUSharks.com or follow the Sharks on Instagram and Twitter at @NSU_MBasketball.