Mocs Seek 10th Straight Win, Host Nova Southeastern Saturday

Moccasin Game Notes vs. Nova Southeastern

MOCCASIN QUICK NOTES
* - This is the 88th season of Moccasin basketball.
* - The Moccasins began the 2014-15 campaign by posting an 86-75 home win over Warner in an exhibition contest on Nov. 12.
* - FSC opened the 2014-15 season with a 93-76 win over West Alabama in the SSC/GSC Challenge in Lakeland. It marked the third consecutive season and the 13th time in the last 15 years that FSC had opened the season with a victory. 
* - The Mocs opened the season with an 11-0 record for the second consecutive season and 10th time in school history. Last year, FSC opened the season by winning its first 18 games. 
* - FSC finished the 2013-14 campaign with a 26-5 record. The Mocs took home the regular season SSC title for the second straight year and won its third consecutive SSC Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time consecutive season.
* - The Mocs were tabbed to repeat as the SSC Champions in the Preseason SSC Coaches' Poll and was ranked sixth in the Preseason Division II Bulletin Poll. 
* - The Mocs were ranked ninth in the Preseason NABC/D-II Coaches' Poll and it marked the 13th time since the NABC began a preseason poll in 1996-97 that FSC has been preseason ranked and the second consecutive year they were ranked in the Top 10 as FSC was ranked ninth in 2013-14 preseason poll. 
* - The Mocs are ranked second in this week's 10th regular season NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll. The Mocs have been ranked in the Top 10 for 24 of the past 26 regular season polls.
* - FSC returns two starters and five key players from last season's squad, including senior guard Kevin Capers, who averaged 21.5 points per game last season en route to earning consensus All-America honors.  
* - Over the past seven-plus seasons, FSC is the second winningest NCAA men's basketball program in the state of Florida as they have won 194 games. Only Florida has won more games (202) over that same span than the Mocs. 
* - FSC stands 18th all-time in wins in NCAA Division II with 1,359 wins and is one of 23 D-II programs to record more than 1,300 all-time victories.
* - The Mocs have now won 20 or more games for eight consecutive seasons. FSC is one of just three Division II schools (West Liberty and Findlay) to post 20 win campaigns the past seven seasons.
* - FSC has won an SSC-best 21 regular season titles and 22 SSC Tournament titles and made its 28th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance last season, which is third-most all-time in Division II.
* - The Mocs have advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament the past seven seasons and are one of just two Division II schools to play in the NCAA Tournament the past seven seasons, the other one being Seattle Pacific, who earned its 10th consecutive tournament berth in 2013-14. 
* - Moccasin head coach Linc Darner is in his ninth season in Lakeland and he has won five SSC Coach of the Year honors and is second on the school's all-time win list with 202 all-time victories.

SECOND-RANKED MOCS SEEK ITS 21ST WIN SATURDAY AT HOME AGAINST NOVA SOUTHEASTERN
Second-ranked Florida Southern (20-1 overall, 8-1 SSC) is set to return home to Jenkins Field House (1,800) on Saturday, Feb. 7 as they begin a two-game homestand by hosting Nova Southeastern (9-10 overall, 5-5 SSC) in a 7:30 p.m. SSC match-up. Saturday's game will mark the second meeting this season between the two teams as the Mocs earned a 77-74 win in Davie on Jan. 10. FSC is playing its 14th home game of the season on Saturday and its first since collecting a 74-70 win over Rollins on Jan. 28. The Mocs are 12-1 at home on the year and have won three straight games since suffering its only loss of the season on Jan. 3 to then 11th-ranked Barry (107-102) and is 3-1 at home in SSC play. The game will also be the second of a doubleheader at Jenkins Field House as the Moccasin women (9-10, 3-6 SSC) will face the 24th-ranked Shark women (16-4, 8-2 SSC) at 5:30 p.m.

FSC, who is ranked second in this week's 10th regular season NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll, enters Saturday's action looking to extend its win streak to 10 straight games since suffering its first and only loss of the season at home on Jan. 3 to Barry. FSC's latest win in this stretch came just 72 hours ago as the Mocs opened the second half of its SSC slate with an 88-79 win in Miami Shores against third-ranked Barry. The win at Barry came just four days after the Mocs concluded its regular season non-conference schedule with a 93-67 win at Palm Beach Atlantic. The victory over PBA  extended the Mocs regular season non-conference win streak to 31 consecutive games dating to the 2012-13 season and came just two days after the Mocs closed out the first half of SSC play with its 74-70 home win over Rollins.

Along with picking up wins over Barry, Palm Beach Atlantic and Rollins during its current 10-game win streak, FSC has also collected home wins over Eckerd (80-62) and Florida Tech (109-96) and road victories over Saint Leo (71-66), Nova Southeastern (77-74), Tampa (81-75) and Lynn (87-77). The loss to Barry in its SSC opener on Jan. 3 was FSC's first loss of the season after opening the 2014-15 campaign by winning its first 11 games. The loss to Barry to open league play was its first since falling 84-78 at Rollins to open the 2011-12 SSC slate. With its eight straight wins in SSC play, the Mocs have now won nine of its last 12 conference games dating to last season, including winning seven of its last eight SSC road games with the only loss being a 71-69 setback in its final regular season road game last season at Tampa.

FSC comes into Saturday's action sporting a 20-1 overall record and are 8-1 in SSC play. With its win over Barry, the Mocs achieved its eighth consecutive 20 win season and has posted a 72-12 overall record and a 31-9 record in SSC since the beginning of the 2012-13 season. 

NINE GAME WIN STREAK IS FIFTH LONGEST ACTIVE STREAK IN D-II         
FSC comes into Saturday's home contest with Nova Southeastern having won nine consecutive games, which is the fifth longest active winning streak in Division II men's basketball.

Angelo State (20-1) currently holds the longest active win streak in Division II as they have won 15 straight games, while Augustana (21-1) is second on the list as they have won 14 consecutive games and Minnesota State-Moorheard (24-1) is next as they have won 12 straight games.

Mount Olive (21-2) is fourth on the list as they have won 10 straight games, while FSC (20-1) is fifth with a nine-game win streak and Western Oregon (18-3) and Virginia State (16-5) are tied for the sixth longest streak as they have each won eight straight games.  

CAPERS BECOMES NO. 2 SCORER IN SCHOOL HISTORY, NEARING 2,000 CAREER POINTS
Moccasin senior guard Kevin Capers is continuing his climb up the school's all-time scoring chart as he enters Saturday game with Nova Southeastern having scored 1,989 points, which is second on the all-time chart as he passed both Kris Kearney (1986-89) and Rion Rayfield (2007-11) on the school's career scoring chart after scoring 19 points in the Mocs 109-96 home win over Florida Tech on Jan. 17 and is now just 11 points shy of 2,000 career points.

Through 21 games this season, Capers, who is the second leading active scorer in Division II, has scored 455 points and is averaging 21.7 points per game, which leads the SSC and is 16th nationally in the latest Division II statistics. He has scored in double figures in 19 of 21 games this season and had a streak of 13 consecutive games of scoring 10 or more points, including tallying a career-high and an FSC NCAA Tournament record 46 points in FSC's South Regional Tournament game last season against Tuskegee, snapped after scoring a season-low six points against Miles in FSC's final game of the 2014 calendar year. In addition, he has scored 20 or more points in 15 of his last 23 outings, including 13 times this season. 

FSC-NOVA SERIES 
Saturday's game with Nova Southeastern will mark the 29th all-time meeting in the series and the second of two meetings this season. The Mocs hold a 23-5 lead all-time in the series and have won six straight and 15 of the last 16 meetings with NSU's only win coming in Davie on Jan. 7, 2012 as the Sharks collected a 90-79 victory. The Mocs won the team's first meeting earlier this season, 77-74 in Davie. FSC holds a 14-1 mark in Lakeland and leads 9-4 in Davie and has won three straight game on the Sharks homecourt since that win in 2012. Darner is 15-4 all-time against Nova as the Mocs coach.    

SCOUTING NOVA
Nova Southeastern enters Saturday's game having won three straight games, including picking up a 64-59 home win on Wednesday over Eckerd, since dropping threee consecutive games. The three game win streak has upped NSU's record to 9-10 overall on the season and has moved the Sharks into a tie with Tampa for fourth in the SSC standings with a 5-5 record. Since suffering a 77-74 home loss to FSC on Jan. 10, the Sharks have posted a 4-3 overall record with the wins coming at Rollins (55-53), at Tampa (75-61) and at home against both Eckerd and Saint Leo (70-60). NSU's three losses came against Barry (91-76), Florida Tech (77-74) and at Palm Beach Atlantic (62-60).

NSU has been strong at home this season as they have posted a 7-5 record on its home court and has won two straight games. While the Sharks have been strong at home, they have struggled away from home as they are just 2-5 on the road and have two of its last three road games with its only win being its 75-61 win over Tampa in its most recent road game last Saturday. NSU, who was tabbed to finish third in the Preseason SSC Coaches' Poll, is looking to move to .500 on the season with a win against the Mocs and is three league victories shy of tying last year's eight SSC wins.   

The Sharks are coached by Gary Tuell (Louisville, '73), who is in his 11th season with the Sharks and has compiled a 138-159 record. In his 21-year collegiate coaching career, Tuell has posted a 448-364 record and in his 11 years at NSU, he has led the Sharks to three winning seasons, including posting a 15-12 record in 2012-13. Last season, NSU posted a 13-17 overall record and tied for fifth in the SSC with an 8-8 mark.         

NSU returns all five starters and eight lettermen from last season's 13-17 squad that ended the season winning five of its last 10 games, including defeating Rollins 75-71 in overtime in the first round of the SSC Tournament. Among the key performers this season for the Sharks is junior guard/forward Chris Page. Page, who has played in just 16 games and is a two-time SSC Player of the Week, is averaging 19.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game and is shooting 51 percent from the field, 44 percent from the 3-point line and 78 percent from the free throw line  and has scored in double figures in 14 of 16 games, including three straight double-digit scoring efforts. Page has also scored 20 or more points in nine games, a season-high 28 points in NSU's SSC opener against Tampa.

In addition to Page, senior guard Justin Jeangerard is averaging 11.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game and is shooting 49 percent from the field, 49 percent from the 3-point line and has reached double figures in 11 games, including four straight double-digit scoring games, while sophomore forward Harrison Goodrick is averaging 10.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and is shooting 51 percent from the field and 38 percent from the 3-point line. The Metro State transfer has recorded nine double figure scoring efforts and one double-double.

Other key performers for the Sharks are senior guard Brian Cahill, senior guard Maurice Fuller and senior guard Stian Berg. Cahill is averaging 8.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game and is shooting 45 percent from the field, 39 percent from the 3-point line and 71 percent from the free throw line and has blocked seven shots and has had just 12 turnovers and has a 2.5 assist/turnover ratio on the season, while Fuller is averaging 6.8 points and 2.1 rebounds per game and is shooting 34 percent from the floor, 32 percent from the 3-point line and 96 percent (22-for-23) at the free throw line and has reached double figures in six games and Berg is averaging 6.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game and is shooting 38 percent from the field, 34 percent from the 3-point line and is fourth in steals with 19.        

As a team, the Sharks are the top 3-point shooting teams in the league as they lead the league in both 3-point field goal percentage (39.6 percent) and made 3-pointers per game with an average of 11.6 per game and have had five players connect on 20 or more triples on the season. In addition, NSU is fifth in the league in both free throw shooting (73.7 percent) and is averaging 71.5 points per game and has scored 70 or more points in 11 games, including three time  times in its four last three outings. On defense, the Sharks are fourth in the SSC in scoring defense as they are allowing 68.9 points per game and are allowing its foes to shoot 46 percent from the floor and 35 percent from the 3-point line has a +1.8 turnover margin and are fourth in the league in steals (8.4) and fifth in assists (15.5).