FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - As the final buzzer rang through the Rick Case Arena on February 15, 2020, the fifth-ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks Men's Basketball team walked off the court following a 102-96 defeat at the hands of the sixth-ranked Florida Southern Moccasins. In the over five years and 80 home games that have passed since that game, the Sharks have yet to leave the Rick Case Arena as the losing team again. As fate would have it, with Nova Southeastern on the cusp of setting the NCAA Division II record for consecutive home court victories, the Sharks match-up against the Mocs in the Sunshine State Conference tournament championship game.
During the winning streak, that will have spanned 1,838 days by tip-off on Sunday afternoon, Nova Southeastern Men's Basketball has become one of the premier basketball programs across all levels of collegiate basketball. Over the last four seasons, led by four-time Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year Jim Crutchfield, NSU has accumulated a record of 128-5, going 77-3 in SSC play, while winning four consecutive league championships, three straight SSC tournament titles, appeared in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight as champions of the South Region three times, and also appearing in two national championship games, winning the 2022-23 title as the sixth undefeated national champion in the history of NCAA Division II men's basketball.
Both match-ups between the SSC rivals this year have been high-profile. NSU hosted Florida Southern in the first top-10 match-up among SSC teams since the February 15, 2020, contest on January 15 and the Sharks clinched the program's fourth consecutive, fifth overall, SSC regular season championship at the George W. Jenkins Field House on February 19.
The Sunshine State Conference title tilt will feature five of the top-50 candidates for the Bevo Francis Award, as MJ Iraldi, Ryker Cisarik, and Dallas Graziani will represent the Sharks, while Jadin Booth and Alex Steen represent Florida Southern.
Nova Southeastern and Florida Southern have met in high stakes games before, meeting in last season's NCAA South Region Championship game, but the last time the Sharks and Mocs faced each other in the SSC tournament was the 2022 semifinals.
No. 2 Nova Southeastern (29-1, 19-1 SSC) | Sunshine State Conference regular season champions
Quarterfinals: (1) No. 2 Nova Southeastern 116, (8) Barry 79
Semifinals: (1) No. 2 Nova Southeastern 104, (5) Tampa 80
The Sharks have cruised to victory in the first two rounds of the SSC tournament, winning each game by at least 24 points and enter Sunday's title game riding a 16-game winning streak.
The Sunshine State Conference has gone through the Rick Case Arena for over half a decade, as the Sharks have played in the SSC tournament championship game for six consecutive years, while winning the previous three Sunshine State Conference tournament titles.
Jim Crutchfield, a four-time recipient of the Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year award, will look to lead the Sharks to the program's fourth SSC tournament title in program history. During his tenure as the NSU bench boss, Crutchfield is 12-6 against Florida Southern, having won nine of the last ten contests and the last each of the last four contests.
MJ Iraldi, the third Sharks Men's Basketball player to be recognized as the Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year, averaged 22 points and 7.5 rebounds in the regular season matchups against Florida Southern. Ryker Cisarik, a second-team All-Conference and all-defensive team selection, was stellar in both games versus the Mocs, averaging 25.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, as well as both a block and steal in each game, while shooting 61.5%. Tyler Eberhart scored a season-high 26 points against FSC at the Rick Case Arena on January 15th, and Dallas Graziani, the second NSU player on the all-SSC first-team, tallied 20 points and 10 assists for his eighth double-double of the season.
Iraldi and Cisarik combined for 60 points in the second regular season contest between the programs, as the Sharks clinched the SSC regular season title for the fourth consecutive year.
No. 23 Florida Southern Moccasins (25-7, 14-6 SSC)
Quarterfinals: (2) No. 23 Florida Southern 90, (7) Rollins 69
Semifinals: (2) No. 23 Florida Southern 88, (3) Lymm 83
After a dominant victory over the Tars in the quarterfinals, Florida Southern needed a pair of late defensive stops to hold off Lynn in the semifinal round on Thursday evening.
Led by a pair of first-team All-Sunshine State Conference honorees, Jadin Booth and Alex Steen, the Mocs enter Sunday's title game on a five-game winning streak. When the Mocs took on the Sharks at the Rick Case Arena on January 15, Booth gave NSU all the Sharks could handle, scoring 40 points, shooting 60% from the field and 75% from beyond the arc, while Dominick Denny added 23 points and 10 assists. NSU was able to limit Steen's involvement, holding him to just 12 points and six rebounds. Florida Southern went into halftime leading NSU 63-57, shooting 59.5% as a team from the field.
In the second match-up of the season, Steen went for 24 points and 14 rebounds, but the Sharks were able to hold Booth in check, limiting the star guard to just 17 points.
Florida Southern has beaten the Sharks in the last two meetings of the program's in the Sunshine State Conference tournament, winning the 2019 and 2020 titles against NSU.
It's the Sharks. It's the Mocs. It's the Sunshine State Conference tournament championship game. Shark Fans, be sure to arrive early, wear white and TURN UP THE TANK! To purchase tickets, click here. To stay up-to-date on NSU Men's Basketball, be sure to follow on Instagram & X at NSU_MBasketball. To support the Sharks Men's Basketball program, click here.
