Reigning National Champion Moccasins Open Home Schedule Wednesday Against Barry

Moccasin Games Notes vs. Barry

LAKELAND - The reigning NCAA Division II National Champion Florida Southern Moccasins will take the court here Wednesday evening for the first time in the 2015-16 season at Jenkins Field House as they open Sunshine State Conference play with a 7:30 p.m. match-up against 24th-ranked Barry.

Wednesday's game will mark the first of 14 regular season home games for the Moccasins and the first of its 16 SSC games on the year. The Mocs come into the game having won 10 consecutive home games dating to its 107-102 loss last season in its SSC opener on Jan. 3, 2015, to Barry.  

Florida Southern enters Wednesday's league opener looking for its first win of the 2015-16 season as the Mocs opened play last weekend with back-to-back setbacks at the SSC/GSC Challenge in Livingston, Ala. At the third annual SSC/GSC Challenge event, the Mocs opened the year with a 90-78 loss to West Alabama and then fell 77-63 this past Saturday to Delta State. The loss to West Alabama snapped FSC's school record 25 game consecutive win streak that had dated to that home defeat last season to Barry during the Moccasins' 36-1 national championship season.

"Our guys are ready to finally get the chance to play in front of our home crowd this season," said first year Moccasin head coach Mike Donnelly. "It should be an incredible atmosphere in the gym tomorrow night and I know our players will be extremely motivated and ready to play against a very good Barry team."

Prior to the opening tip of Wednesday's game, Florida Southern will hand out the national championship rings to all of last year's players. The Mocs will then unveil for the first time the banner signifying the school's 28th all-time national title and the second ever national title in men's basketball. 

"It's not too often you get to experience a national championship ring ceremony and banner unveiling, so it will be a tremendous night for our basketball program, our players, our coaching staff and especially our fans," said Donnelly, who is the 23rd head coach in the history of the Moccasin men's basketball program.

While FSC comes into the game looking to avoid starting an 0-3 start to the season for the first time since dropping its first five games to open the 1959-60 season, Barry enters the game with a 1-0 record after posting an impressive 96-56 win over Florida Memorial in its season opener last Friday. 

In that win against Florida Memorial, the Buccaneers, who were tabbed to finish first in the Preseason SSC Coaches' Poll, had four players score in double figures, led by a 26 point, 13 rebound effort from senior All-American forward Yunio Barrueta. In addition to Barrueta, freshman forward Marko Tomic added 15 points, while junior forward Adrian Gonzalez had 12 points off the bench and junior guard/forward Undra Mitchem had 10 points in the victory. 

The Bucs shot 47 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line and held a +7 edge on the boards and forced Florida Memorial into 25 turnovers. Barry had 17 turnovers in the win.

Wednesday's match-up will mark the 64th all-time meeting in the series between the two schools as FSC holds a 47-16 edge in the series. The Mocs have won nine of the last 11 games in the series with the only losses being a 94-76 setback in Miami Shores on Feb. 5, 2014 and then its 107-102 loss at home last season. Since that home loss to the Bucs, the Mocs won the two other meetings last season, including a 93-83 win in the championship game of the SSC Tournament. FSC holds a 23-5 lead in the series in Lakeland and last year's win by Barry snapped a seven game win streak by the Mocs on its home court against the Bucs.

As a team, Barry returns two starters and 11 lettermen from last season's 25-6 squad that finished runner-up in SSC in both the regular season and postseason and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA South Regional Tournament before suffering a 90-82 loss to Lynn. The 25 wins last season by the Barry were a new single season school record for victories.

Along with Barrueta, the Bucs other returning starter from last season is senior guard Anders Haas, who averaged 9.7 points per game and scored eight in the opener against Florida Memorial. Other key returners for Barry are senior forward Tray Leonard (4.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg) and junior guard Arie Williams (8.0 ppg). 

Barry is under the direction of third-year head coach Butch Estes. Estes, who is 45-15 with the Bucs, is in his 32nd season as a collegiate head coach and 20th season at a four-year school. He is 487-327 as a collegiate head coach, including posting a 315-258 record at four year schools. Prior to his arrival at Barry, Estes spent three seasons at Palm Beach State College, where he led the Panthers to three consecutive conference titles, including posting a school record 29 wins in 2012-13. Along with being a head coach, Estes was also an assistant coach at both Miami (Fla.) and Seattle University, both of which are Division I schools.

The Mocs and Barry have similar offensive philosophies as both teams like to push the ball in transition and both teams like the shoot the ball quickly and play at an up-tempo, frantic pace. In the three games last season, the Mocs averaged 94.3 points per game and Barry averaged 89.7 points per game. One of the biggest differences in the series last year was turnover margin as the Mocs have a +8 turnover margin and shot 34 more free throws than the Bucs as FSC shot 89 free throws in three games and Barry shot just 55. The Bucs did have a +7.7 rebound margin and shot 47 percent from the field against the Mocs a year ago.

This season, the Mocs offense has yet to find its groove as they enter Wednesday's game with Barry averaging just 70.5 points per game as they scored 78 and 63 in last weekend's two games at the SSC/GSC Challenge. The 63 points against Delta State were the fewest scored by the Mocs in a game since they also scored 63 points in a 71-63 road loss to Saint Leo on Jan. 9, 2013.   

Along with averaging 70.5 points per game, the Mocs are also struggling shooting the ball as they are shooting just 35 percent from the floor and 31 percent (18-for-58) from the 3-point line through the first two games. 

"We have gotten some good shots in our first two games, but we haven't be able to hit them," Donnelly said about his team's early season shooting woes.

Leading the way offensively for the Mocs is senior guard Dylan Travis (Omaha, Neb.). Travis is averaging 26.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and is shooting 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line. Travis opened the 2015-16 season with 22 points against West Alabama and then he tallied a career high 30 points against Delta State. In addition to Travis, junior guards Michael Volovic (Carmel, Ind.) and Sheldon Zablotny (Erie, Pa.) are also averaging in double figures this year as Volovic is averaging 11.0 points per game and Zablotny is averaging 10.5 points per game, respectively. 

Freshman forward Jarel Spellman (Richmond, Va.) is leading the Mocs in rebounding on the season as he is averaging 6.5 boards per game, including recording 11 rebounds against Delta State and Spellman has also blocked six shots, including five against Delta State. In addition to Spellman, senior forward Dylan Karell (North Miami Beach, Fla.) is tied for second in rebounding with Travis as he is averaging 5.5 boards per game. 

"We have yet to play a complete game this season," the Mocs coach added. 

Following Wednesday's game, the Mocs hit the road again for a 4 p.m. SSC contest at Lynn (1-0), who was the South Regional runner-up a year ago. The Fighting Knights fell 88-80 to the Mocs in last season's regional championship game.