LIVINGSTON, Ala. - Florida Southern is set to open its 89th season of men's basketball here this weekend as they play in the third annual Sunshine State Conference/Gulf South Conference Challenge event at Pruitt Hall in Livingston, Ala., on the campus of the University of West Alabama.
The Moccasins, who received 36 votes in the Preseason NABC Division II Coaches' Poll and are ranked 15th in the Preseason D2SIDA National Media Poll, begins the two-day SSC/GSC Challenge event on Friday, Nov. 13 against West Alabama at 3 p.m. Eastern, before facing Delta State on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. Eastern. Eckerd is the other SSC team competing this weekend in the season opening event.
"We are really excited to get going finally. The exhibition games were great experiences for us and we learned a lot about our team and the areas we need to improve and now we finally get to tip it off for real this weekend," first-year Moccasin head coach Mike Donnelly said. "Everyone is excited to get going against two very good opponents and as we said to the guys the other day that if our goal is the make the NCAA Tournament this year, we have to make sure we get off to a good start, because we're going on the road and opening up against two high-quality region opponents."
This weekend's games will mark the regular season debut of first year Moccasin head coach Mike Donnelly. Donnelly, who was named the 23rd Moccasin head men's basketball coach on May 1, 2015, comes to Lakeland after spending the past five seasons at Southern Connecticut State. In five years at SCSU, Donnelly led the team to 97 wins and a trip to the Elite Eight in 2014.
At last season's second annual SSC/GSC Challenge hosted by the Mocs and held at Jenkins Field House, FSC opened the 2014-15 campaign with a 93-76 win over West Alabama and then collected a 97-80 victory over Delta State.
West Alabama is one of three NCAA Tournament teams the reigning Division II National Champions Moccasins' will face in its first four games this season as FSC will face 24th-ranked Barry in Lakeland and Lynn in Boca Raton next week to open SSC play.
"It will be a good test for our team this weekend. Both West Alabama and Delta State are very good programs and I expect both games to be hard-fought contests," said Donnelly, who is 195-152 in 12 seasons as a collegiate head coach. "I know going on the road isn't easy, but we'll make sure our focus level is where it needs to be at so we can go out and pick up two quality wins heading into our conference opener Wednesday at home against Barry."
The Mocs, who lost all five starters and six seniors from last season's school record 36 win team that captured the school's second ever national title in men's basketball, welcome back three of its top six scorers and a total of six lettermen from a year ago.
Among the key returners this season for the Mocs are senior guards Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.) and Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) and junior guard Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.). Travis is the team's leading returning scorer from a year ago as he averaged 11.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game and shot 44 percent from the field, while Williams was the team's No. 5 scorer a season ago as he averaged 9.6 points per game and shot 47 percent from the field and 44 percent from the 3-point line and Volovic averaged 7.6 points per game and shot 38 percent from the 3-point line. The team's fourth returner from last season's playing rotation is sophomore forward Tyler Ross (St. John, Ind.), who averaged 1.1 points and 1.2 rebounds per game in 25 games.
To prepare for the regular season, the Mocs, who enter the 2015-16 season having won 25 consecutive games since falling 107-102 at home to Barry on Jan. 3, faced off against Division I powerhouse programs - Duke and Syracuse in exhibition contests. The Mocs fell 112-68 to reigning Division I national champion Duke Blue Devils in Durham, N.C. on Oct. 30 and then fell 96-54 to Syracuse this past Sunday in its exhibition finale at the Carrier Dome.
In FSC's two exhibition games, Williams led the way offensively for the Mocs as he averaged 19.0 points per game, including scoring 23 points against Syracuse and also hitting a team best five treys in two games. In addition to Williams, junior guard Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.), who is a transfer from Niagara County Community College, averaged 9.0 points per game and Volovic was the team's No. 3 scorer in exhibition play as he averaged 8.0 points per game.
As a team, the Mocs averaged just 61 points per game and struggled shooting the ball as they hit on just 35 percent of its field goal attempts and shot just 25 percent from the 3-point line. Additionally, the Mocs turned the ball over 40 times, including 28 times against Syracuse and were outrebounded by a -11.5 margin. FSC also shot just eight free throws in the two games, including just three free throws against Duke.
"We can kind of now hold guys accountable for their mistakes, not so much in a negative way, but in a positive way," Donnelly said when asked about the exhibition games. "With eight new guys and a new coaching staff, there is a learning curve and as much as we want to be really good right now, be close to perfect in those exhibition games that's not reality. It was good for the guys to be humbled and also good to see where we need to improve and hopefully holding them (the players) accountable for their mistakes will help us prepare to play much better this weekend."
Donnelly said that the big thing his team needs to do is to this weekend is to continue to improve and make progress each time they step on the court.
"We are nowhere close to being a finished product as a basketball team, so we have to see improvement each time we take the floor," the Moccasin coach added. "I expect we'll be better this weekend than we were last Sunday at Syracuse. That is the goal."
In addition to those four key returners from last season, the Mocs added eight newcomers to its roster this season, including six transfers, among them being senior 6-foot-10 forward Dylan Karell (North Miami Beach, Fla.), who is a Division I transfer from UCF.
The other key newcomers besides Karell and Zablotny are junior guard Trey Moore (Omaha, Neb.), freshman forward Jarel Spellman (Richmond, Va.), sophomore forward R.J. June (Sanford, Fla.). In addition, redshirt sophomore forward Stephen Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) rejoins the team after sitting out the entire 2014-15 campaign due to injury.
Donnelly said several of the keys for his team this weekend will be to play fast, to rebound better, limit fouls and get to the foul line more.
"We have to play fast and that is something we've been working on in practice this week. We also need to be able to rebound the ball better, limit our fouls and get to the foul line more as those were things that really hurt us in the exhibitions," said Donnelly.
But perhaps the one area Donnelly hopes to see improvement this weekend is his team's ability to take care of the basketball.
"We have to do a much better job of hanging on to the ball and not turning it over. We only had 12 turnovers against Duke, but every turnover was converted into a transition basket on the other end by the Blue Devils and the same thing with Syracuse as they beat us 45-5 in points off turnovers," the Moc coach said. "Just because we aren't playing Duke and Syracuse now and we're playing Division II opponents, doesn't mean that's going to happen. If we don't take care of the ball, good teams will exploit you and make you pay and we know our two opponents are good teams, so we have to take care of the ball and get good shots on the offensive end this weekend."
The Mocs season opening opponent, West Alabama, will look a lot different than the team that ended last season with an 80-79 loss to West Georgia in the first round of the South Regional Tournament in Lakeland last March. The Tigers, who won a school record 22 games a season ago and finished tied for first in the GSC, return just two starters and four lettermen from last year's squad. In addition, second year head coach Allen Sharpe also brought in nine newcomers, including two Division I transfers and five junior college transfers.
Among the key returners for the Tigers are senior guard Deontaye Ewing and senior forward Dakari Mayo. Ewing started all 34 games in 2014-15 and averaged 9.3 points per game and shot 46.9 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line, while Mayo averaged 3.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game and blocked 70 shots, which is fifth all-time in school history. Despite those two returning starters, Sharpe must replace four of his team's top five scorers from last season.
"They (UWA) had a really good year last season, won 22 games, advanced to the NCAA Tournament and have three guys back that played a lot last year, but they also have brought in nine new players, including eight transfers - 2 Division I and six really good junior college players," Donnelly stated. "It's a team, even though, they are new, they are a little older, a little more mature and experienced. We expect it to be a physical, athletic game because we know West Alabama is very talented."
In the Preseason GSC Coaches' Poll, the Tigers were tabbed to finish fifth.
Donnelly said he doesn't know what to expect from the Tigers with only four returning players from last year.
"It's hard to gauge what they will do with so many new players this season, plus they didn't play any exhibition games. I know from watching film from last year, they were really good defensively, ran a lot of sets in the half-court and were really patient on offense, but we don't know if they'll play that way this year," said the Moccasin coach. "We have really tried to familiarize ourselves with their personnel and have an idea of they might play, but mostly, we're focusing on how we want to play, which is to speed the game up and get up and down the floor quickly."
Meanwhile, the Mocs opponent on Saturday, Delta State, comes into the season looking to rebound from a disappointing 15-14 season a year ago. The Statesmen, who were tabbed to finish fourth in the Preseason GSC Coaches' Poll, return three starters, including two All-Americans and five lettermen from last season's team. The Statesmen advanced to the finals of NCAA South Regional Tournament in 2014 before falling to Tuskegee in the championship game.
"Delta State has three really good players returning and have brought in some good newcomers," Donnelly said. "Coach (Jim) Boone is as good as it gets in coaching at this level, he's been doing it for a long time and has had a lot of success. Delta State is a quality basketball program and I expect a dogfight from them in that second game on Saturday."
Among the key players for the fourth-year Statesmen head coach Jim Boone are junior All-American guard Devin Schmidt, senior guard Jack Madgen and sophomore forward P.J. Davis. Schmidt averaged 21.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game last season as a sophomore and has scored 1,111 points in his two year collegiate career, while Madgen is one of the top 3-point shooters in Delta State history as he has hit 139 career treys and is just 133 points shy of 1,000 career points and Davis, who was a Freshman All-American last season, averaged 9.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in 2014-15.
"I think Devin Schmidt will be one of the better overall guards in Division II this season and he's only a junior and P.J. Davis made the National Freshman Team last season and is 6-6 and they have a 6-5 guard in (Jack) Madgen, who is a very good 3-point shooter," Donnelly said when asked about Delta State's top three returning players.
The Statesmen tuned up for the regular season by playing two exhibition games, including a exhibition at Division I Arkansas. They picked up a 66-54 win in their exhibition opener against Bethel (Tenn.) and then fell 74-40 to Arkansas on Tuesday.
"Delta beat a really good Bethel team in their first exhibition and then lost at Arkansas in its final exhibition, but they were in that game for a long stretch against the Razorbacks," added Donnelly. "We know they are really good half-court defensive team that is physical and aren't going to beat themselves. They are going to look to get Schmidt, Davis and Madgen in prime scoring opportunities, but they aren't going to force the issue. That will be on us to really get out on them, pressure them and try to disrupt what they want to do and make them play a faster up-tempo game."
Friday's game with West Alabama will mark just the second ever meeting between the two schools, while FSC holds a 4-1 lead all-time against Delta State, including opening the last two seasons with wins over the Statesmen.
