TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Florida Southern is set to open its 86th season of men's basketball on Thursday evening as the Moccasins face Stillman in an 8:30 p.m. EST non-conference, South Region contest at Fair Park Arena in Birmingham.
The game, which was originally scheduled to be played on campus at Stillman in Tuscaloosa, was moved to Birmingham's Fair Park Arena last week due to renovations at Stillman's gym are not yet completed.
Stillman, who was picked to finish first in this year's Preseason SIAC Western Division Coaches' Poll after concluding the 2011-12 season with a 17-11 overall record and 14-10 in the SIAC, enters the game with an 0-1 record this season after falling 79-76 in overtime on Tuesday in its opener at ninth-ranked Montevallo.
Meanwhile, the Mocs, who are ranked 15th in the Preseason Division II Bulletin Poll and received 47 votes to be second among teams earning votes in the Preseason NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll, will playing its first game of the season as they haven't played since dropping an 89-85 exhibition contest at home to Saint Thomas (Fla.) on Nov. 2. Since that loss to STU, the Mocs have had nearly two weeks of practice, including a workout on Wednesday afternoon at the University of Alabama's practice gym inside its on-campus arena - Coleman Coliseum.
"We're excited to get things rolling tomorrow night and see the improvement we've made as a basketball team since our exhibition game," Mocs head coach Linc Darner said following practice on Wednesday. "This will give us a good test. Stillman is a very good team and will present us some challenges, but if we play defense and not make things easy for them, we have a chance to be successful."
Thursday's opener is a rematch of the 2011 NCAA Division II South Regional semifinals when the Tigers collected a 92-86 win over the Mocs in Huntsville, Ala. In that game, FSC led 51-38 at the half after shooting 62 percent from the field, but in the second half, Stillman shot 61 percent from the field and outscored the Mocs, 54-35 to post the come-from-behind victory and end the Mocs season.
The Mocs are 61-24 all-time in season openers, including going 11-2 in season openers since the 1999 season. FSC, though, has dropped its last two season openers as they fell 87-82 to Alabama-Huntsville in Valdosta, Ga., to open the 2010-11 season and then suffered a 73-43 loss at the Lakeland Center to South Florida to open the 2011-12 season.
Darner, who is entering his seventh season at the helm of the Moccasins, welcomes back all five starters and nine lettermen from last season's 20-10 squad that won the Sunshine State Conference Tournament and advanced to the NCAA D-II Tournament for the fifth consecutive season. The Mocs finished tied for fourth in the SSC regular season standings with a 9-7 mark, before winning two games on its home court to take home its 20th all-time SSC Tournament Championship.
"This is the deepest team that I have probably had in my time here at Florida Southern," said Darner, who is 129-60 at the helm of the Mocs. "This team has a lot of experience and that should help us out with a very tough non-league schedule."
Darner said his reasoning for playing a tough non-conference slate is it gets your team ready for the rigors of conference play.
"Our non-conference schedule will help us prepare for SSC play. We may stub our toe a few times early, but I think it gets us prepared for the end of the season."
Among the key returners for the Mocs is senior guard and Preseason Division II Bulletin Honorable Mention All-American Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.). Evans, who averaged an SSC-best 18.2 points per game and shot an SSC-best 42.7 from the 3-point line, en route to earning First-Team All-SSC honors and was a member of the SSC All-Newcomer Team and was named the SSC Tournament MVP. He finished last season as the NCAA D-II national statistical champion in 3-point field goal made per game (3.50) and was one trey shy (105) of tying the school record for three-pointers made in a season. The record is 106 set by former Moc Tim Gatz during the 1994-95 season.
"Seth shoots the ball very, very well, but he can do a lot of other things beside shoot 3-pointers," said Darner. "At one time last season, he was leading the nation in free throw shooting. He can really get up and guard and can really handle the ball for us."
The other returning starters for the Mocs are senior forward Brett Bailey (Davie, Fla.), junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.), senior forward Garrett Putman (Washington, D.C.) and sophomore guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio). In addition to those four players, two others, sophomore guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.), who named the SSC Freshman of the Year and was named to the Division II Bulletin All-Freshman Team and sophomore guard Cameron Vines (Columbus, Ohio) also started games a year ago. Overall, the Mocs return 97.1 percent of its scoring (2,316 points) and 84 percent of its rebounding (971 boards) from last season's team.
Other key players returning for the Mocs this season is senior forward Jon Gardner (Anderson, Ind.) and redshirt senior guard Jay Hubble (Pendleton, Ind.), who sat out last season with an injury and earned a medical redshirt.
Along with 10 returners, Darner and his coaching staff also brought in several key newcomers, including senior 6-foot-10 forward Brant Leitnaker (Lancaster, Ohio), who played three seasons at Indiana State, junior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio), who is a transfer from Walters State and freshman guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.).
"We have got some new guys that have come in and battled since the preseason began and they will help us out," the Moc coach added.
In the exhibition loss to Saint Thomas, Bailey and Putman, two of the Mocs key inside players, sat out the game with injuries. Darner, who is 4-2 in season openers with the Mocs, said he expects both of those players to play in Thursday's opener.
Unlike the Mocs, Stillman returns just two starters and six lettermen from last season's 17-11 squad. Among the key returners for the Tigers are senior forward Ladarius Rhone, who was named a Preseason All-SIAC selection after averaging 13.7 points and 9.9 boards per game last season, junior guard Jeffery Wherry, who averaged 12.5 points and 3.6 assists per game and earned Preseason All-SIAC honors and senior guard Damien Ford, who earned Preseason All-SIAC honors after averaging 11.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game primarily off the bench last season.
Among the key newcomers fifth-year Tiger head coach Michael Grant brought in were junior guard D'uanaway Barnes, who is a transfer from Big South Community College and junior guard Markeith Madison, who is a transfer from Lawson State Community College. In the season opening loss to Montevallo, Barnes led the way with a game-high 22 points off the bench, while Madison started the game and tallied 10 points.
In the opener against the Falcons, who are the defending NCAA Division II National Runners-up, the Tigers trailed 42-35 at the half, but outscored UM, 34-27 in the second half to force overtime. In the overtime session, UM hit 4-of-5 free throws en route to outscoring the Tigers, 10-7 to earn the 79-76 victory. In the game, Stillman shot 38 percent from the field and 31 percent from the 3-point line, but stayed in the game thanks to forcing 22 turnovers and shooting 77 percent (13-for-17) from the free throw line. UM shot 51 percent from the field and 36 percent from long distance, but connected on just 61 percent (17-of-28) of its free throws.
"Stillman looks to pick you up full court defensively and make you take bad shots on offense," Darner said. "If you make them (Stillman) play defense and move the ball, you will get good shots, but you have to be patient. Additionally, we have to take care of the ball and limit our turnovers."
Following Thursday's opener, the Mocs will begin the home portion of its schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 20 against Puerto Rico-Bayamon. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. EST at Jenkins Field House.
Stillman College Game Notes
