FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The second round of the NCAA Tournament will tip-off from the Rick Case Arena on Saturday evening. The top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks Men's Basketball (31-0) team made a statement in their opening round game, defeating eighth-seed Miles 97-55 on Saturday night. #1 NSU will take on the fifth-seeded West Georgia Wolves (21-9) with a trip to the NCAA South Region Championship and Sweet-16 on the line.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
No. 1 Nova Southeastern (+42) had the largest margin of victory in the first round of the NCAA tournament, in a dominant victory over the SIAC Champion Golden Bears.
RJ Sunahara, the Sunshine State Conference and South Region Player of the Year, led the Sharks with 22-points in just 25 minutes of action.
Will Yoakum (18),
Jonathan Pierre (15),
Kobe Rodgers (13) and
Jake Maranville (10) all scored in double figures alongside Sunahara.
Fifth-seeded West Georgia won their first round matchup against Gulf South Conference rival Lee, defeating the Flames for the first time during the 2022-23 season. Four Wolves scored in double digits in their victory, including Camron Donatlan who led UWG in points (20).
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
No. 1 Nova Southeastern leads NCAA Division II in points-per-game (103.8) and is one of two program's in the country to average over 100-points – West Liberty (101.2)
During the Sharks postseason run,
Dallas Graziani has averaged nine assists-per-game. The sophomore is third in the nation in assists (196) and ranks fifth in NCAA DII in assists-per-game (6.5).
West Georgia has held opponents under 70-points in each of their last five games.
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
NCAA DII TOURNAMENT BRACKET
WHERE TO WATCH
