Mocs Welcome Nova Southeastern for Senior Night Saturday, Looking to Snap Two-Game Losing Skid

OPENING NUMBERS OF NOTE...
1,240 - # of career points scored by Dominique Williams. He is the 40th Moccasin to score 1,000 points and currently stands 16th on school's all-time scoring list and is now the 16th Moccasin in school history to score at least 1,200 points.
205 - # of career coaching wins for Mike Donnelly entering Saturday's game with Nova Southeastern.
167 - # of wins for the Mocs since beginning of the 2009-10 season, which is the second most among South Region schools.
89 - # of seasons of Moccasin men's basketball entering 2015-16.
50 - # of years for Jenkins Field House entering 2015-16 season.
31 - # of wins for the Mocs during the 2015 calendar year.
31-8 - FSC's record during the 2015 calendar year.
29 - # of NCAA Division II Tournament appearances all-time.
26-15 - FSC's record in SSC openers all-time in school history.
23 - Single game school record 3-pointers hit by the Mocs in its 128-84 win against Miles on Dec. 20, 2015.
8 - # of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the Mocs.4 - # of consecutive SSC Tournament titles for the Mocs.
2 - # of Division II basketball national titles won by FSC (1981 & 2015).
2 - # of triple-doubles in school history - Dylan Travis recorded the school's first triple-double against Miles (11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists) while Jarel Spellman earned the second on Feb. 3 with 10 points, a career-high 13 rebounds, and a school record 12 blocked shots vs. Palm Beach Atlantic.

MOCCASIN QUICK NOTES
* - This is the 89th season of Moccasin basketball.
* - The Mocs played two Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponents in exhibition play as they opened the exhibition slate with a 112-68 loss at reigning Division I National Champion Duke on Oct. 30 and then fell 96-54 to Syracuse on Nov. 8 to conclude exhibition play.  
* - It is the first time the Mocs opened the season with an exhibition game against an NCAA Division I foe since falling 110-88 to Florida to open the 2013-14 season. FSC also faced Tennessee during exhibition play in 2013-14. 
* - FSC opened the season with back-to-back losses at the SSC/GSC Challenge last weekend in Livingston, Ala., as the Mocs fell to West Alabama (90-78) and Delta State (77-63). The 0-2 start to the season is the first for the Mocs since the 1978-79 season. 
* - After losing its first two games this season, the Mocs reeled off four consecutive victories, including opening SSC play with wins at home over Barry and on the road against Lynn, before dropping four straight games at Saint Leo, at home against Florida Tech, at Stillman and at Palm Beach Atlantic. 
* - Since the win over Eastern New Mexico on Dec. 17, the Moc have won just five of its last 16 games with the only wins coming at home against both Miles (128-84) and Tampa (93-75), on the road at Nova Southeastern (84-79), at home vs. Palm Beach Atlantic (91-77) and at Tampa (73-72) last Wednesday.
* - FSC comes into Saturday's regular season finale having lost two straight and four of its last five games overall with its only win being a 73-72 victory last Wednesday at Tampa.
* - With its wins over Barry and Lynn to open SSC play this season, it marked the third time in the last four seasons that the Mocs had opened SSC play by winning its first two games. 
* - FSC finished the 2014-15 season with a school record 36 wins and posted a 36-1 overall record and captured the school's second-ever national title in men's basketball and first since 1981. In addition, the Mocs also won its third consecutive Sunshine State Conference regular season title and took home its fourth straight SSC Tournament championship.
* - The Mocs were tabbed to finish third in the Preseason SSC Coaches' Poll and earned 36 votes in the Preseason NABC Division II Coaches' Poll. In addition, the Mocs were ranked 15th in Preseason D2SIDA National Media Poll. 
* - The Mocs came into the 2015-16 season having won a school record 25 consecutive games since suffering a 107-102 loss to Barry in its SSC opener on Jan. 2, 2015, before dropping its season opener against West Alabama. Since that loss to the Bucs, the Mocs closed last year's regular season by winning its final 16 games, before winning all nine of its games in the 2015 postseason.  
* - FSC returns four key reserves from last season's national championship squad, but must replace all five of its starters who were seniors a season ago.
* - The Mocs opened the 2014-15 season with an 11-0 record for the second consecutive season and 10th time in school history last season. In 2013-14, the Mocs opened the season by winning its first 18 games. 
* - Over the past eight seasons, FSC is the second winningest NCAA men's basketball program in the state of Florida as they have won 219 games. Only first year NCAA Division II member Embry-Riddle has won more games (224) over that same span than the Mocs.
* - FSC stands 17th all-time in wins in NCAA Division II with 1,385 wins and is one of 20 D-II programs to  record more than 1,350 all-time victories. In addition, FSC's .638 all-time winning percentage is 18th best in Division II.
* - The Mocs are seeking to win 20 or more games for the ninth consecutive season in 2015-16. FSC is one of just two Division II schools (West Liberty is the other) to post 20-win campaigns the past eight seasons.
* - FSC has won an SSC-best 22 regular season and 23 SSC Tournament titles and has made 29 NCAA Tournament appearances, which is third most in Division II.
* - The Mocs have advanced to the NCAA Tournament the past eight seasons and is one of just two Division II schools to play in the NCAA Tournament the past eight seasons, the other being Seattle Pacific, who earned its 11th consecutive tournament berth in 2014-15. 
* - The Mocs finished 2014-15 ranked No. 1 in the final NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll. The Mocs have been ranked in the Top 10 for 29 of the past 31 regular season polls, including being ranked No. 1 in the final five polls of last season.
* - FSC earned 36 votes in this year's Preseason NABC Coaches' Poll and is third among the 40 schools earning votes in the Preseason poll. It marked just the seventh time since the NABC began a preseason poll in 1996 that the Mocs have not been preseason ranked and the second straight season that the defending Division II national champion wasn't preseason ranked. 

MOCCASINS CLOSE REGULAR SEASON AT HOME SATURDAY WITH MATCH-UP AGAINST NOVA SOUTHEASTERN FOR SENIOR NIGHT
The reigning NCAA Division II National Champion Florida Southern Moccasins (10-17 overall, 5-10 SSC) will close out the 2015-16 regular season portion of its schedule on Saturday, Feb. 27 as they host Nova Southeastern (10-15 overall, 5-10 SSC) in a 7:30 p.m. match-up at Jenkins Field House. The game will mark the final home game of the season for the Moccasins, who are 6-7 on the season at home and have lost two straight home games since earning a 91-77 win over Palm Beach Atlantic to open the month of February. The Nova Southeastern game is the second half of a doubleheader at Jenkins Field House as the Moccasin women (22-4 overall and 11-4 SSC) faces the 18th-ranked Nova Southeastern women (22-4 overall, 13-2 SSC) in a 5:30 p.m. game.

Florida Southern, who is playing its eighth home game in 2016 and 14th overall home game this season, is 6-7 at home during the 2015-16 season and needs a victory to finish the season with a .500 home record. The Mocs have not finished a season with a losing home record since the 1966-67 squad posted a 7-10 record at home. 

The Mocs come into play Saturday having lost two straight and 11 of their last 14 games with the only victories being an 84-79 win at Nova Southeastern on ESPN3 on Jan. 16, a 91-77 non-conference home win over Palm Beach Atlantic on Feb. 3 and a 73-72 win last Wednesday at Tampa. In fact, since the beginning of the 2015-16 calendar year, the Mocs have posted a 4-10 record with two of those four wins coming at home. 

WILLIAMS CLIMBING UP ALL-TIME SCORING CHARTS
Senior guard Dominique Williams made history in the Mocs game on Jan. 9 against 12th-ranked Eckerd as he scored 17 points to become the 40th all-time member of Florida Southern's 1,000 Point Club. He entered the Eckerd game needing just one point to reach the 1,000 point plateau and he scored that one point he needed on a free throw just 72 seconds into the game.

In his three-plus seasons as a Moccasin, Williams has now scored 1,240 points, including scoring 514 points in 26 games this season and is currently sitting 16th on the school's all-time scoring chart. Williams is now the 16th Moccasin to score at least 1,200 career points. 

Williams, who is the ninth Moccasin to score 1,000 points since the 2006-07 season, is averaging 10.2 points per game in his career as he has shot 425-for-959 from the field (44.3 percent) and is 178-for-441 (40.4 percent) from the 3-point line in his Moccasin career. He has reached double figures in 50 career games, including 25 straight games and has scored 20 or more points in a game 17 times in his career, including 13 times this season. 

SSC TOURNAMENT SEEDING ON THE LINE SATURDAY
With a win on Saturday, the Mocs will secure the No. 5 seed in next week's SSC Tournament and will travel to No. 4 seed Saint Leo for a 7 p.m. first round SSC Tournament match-up on Wednesday, March 2. In fact, the winner of Saturday's game will earn the No. 5 seed as Nova Southeastern due to tiebreakers can also earn the No. 5 seed in the upcoming SSC Tournament.

If the Mocs lose on Saturday, they will fall to the No. 8 seed in the SSC Tournament as they will be tied in the league standings with Florida Tech, who finished league play with a 5-11 record. The Mocs would fall to the No. 8 seed due to the fact that Florida Tech owns the tiebreaker over the Mocs thanks to winning both meetings this season.  

SCOUTING THE MOCCASINS
Florida Southern comes into a game fresh off an 84-72 loss on Wednesday at 20th-ranked Eckerd. The loss was the second straight for the Mocs as they also dropped a 102-92 home game last Saturday against Embry-Riddle to close out non-conference play. The Mocs are currently sitting tied for sixth in the SSC standings with Nova Southeastern and needs a win on Saturday to secure the No. 5 seed in the SSC Tournament. 

With its win at Tampa last Wednesday, the Mocs recorded its ninth straight season of winning at least 10 games. In addition, it snapped a two-game losing skid for the Mocs. Since earning an 84-79 win at Nova Southeastern on Jan. 16, the Mocs have posted a 2-8 record with its wins coming at home against Palm Beach Atlantic (91-77) and at Tampa (73-72).

The Mocs continue to be led offensively by Travis and Williams. Travis enters Saturday's action averaging 22.0 points per game and also leads the team in rebounds (7.5), assists (4.8) and steals (2.1) and is shooting 45 percent from the field and 41 percent from the 3-point line and is fourth in the SSC in free throw shooting at 84 percent. Travis has reached double figures in all 22 games he's played in this season and has had 14 games of scoring 20 or more points and has had two 30-plus point games, while Williams is averaging 19.8 points per game and is shooting 45 percent from the field and is fifth in the league in 3-point shooting (41.2 percent) and is second in the SSC in made treys per game (3.2). 

Freshman forward Jarel Spellman notched the program's second-ever triple-double against Palm Beach Atlantic, scoring all 10 of his points in the second half, while pulling down a career-high 13 rebounds in the game and blocking a school record 12 shots. He grabbed another 10 rebounds at Florida Tech on Feb. 6 and blocked four more shots to give him 21 blocks over his last three games. His efforts garnered him SSC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Feb. 5. Over his last five games, Spellman is averaging 6.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.0 blocked shots per game and has now blocked 88 shots on the year, which is third most in single season school history. He is four blocks shy of tying Inncent Kere for second on the school's single season block chart as Kere blocked 92 shots 1998-99 season.  

Sheldon Zablotny has added 13.1 points per game while adding 66 three-pointers in his first season with the Moccasins. He has scored in double figures in eight of his last 11 games, including a career-high 28 points at Florida Tech on Feb. 6. Michael Volovic is fourth on the squad in scoring as he is averaging 12.9 points per game and is averaging 12.2 points per game and is shooting 50 percent from the field, 35 percent from the 3-point line and 100 percent at the free throw line over his last five games.

Florida Southern has attempted the most three-pointers (845) of any team in the Sunshine State Conference and only five other teams in the NCAA Division II have shot more from the three-point line. The Moccasins are sixth in the NCAA in three-points made (319) and fourth in treys made per game (11.8). Both categories are tops in the SSC as is the Mocs' 137 blocks and 1,043 rebounds. The club is second in the league in scoring offense (85.1), assist/turnover ratio (+1.3) and blocks per game (5.1), as well as, being third in free throw shooting (75.8). 

FSC-NOVA SOUTHEASTERN SERIES
Saturday's game with Nova Southeastern will mark the 31st all-time meeting in the series and the second of two meetings this season. The Mocs hold a 25-5 lead all-time in the series and have won eight straight and 17 of the last 18 meetings in the series with NSU's only win coming in Davie on Jan. 7, 2012 as the Sharks collected a 90-79 victory. The Mocs picked up an 84-79 win earlier this season in Davie. FSC holds a 15-1 mark in Lakeland, including winning 10 straight games on its home court and also leads 10-4 in Davie. 

SCOUTING NOVA SOUTHEASTERN
Nova Southeastern comes into Saturday's action having dropped two straight and four of its last five games overall with the only win being a 105-91 home victory on Feb. 13 against Barry. Since that win over the Buccaneers, the Sharks have lost at Embry-Riddle (60-57) and at home to Eckerd (60-56).  

The Sharks have struggled away from home this season as they are 3-10 away from home, including being 2-5 on the road in SSC play. NSU has lost two straight road games since earning a 79-78 win at Palm Beach Atlantic to close out the month of January. NSU's lone road wins in SSC play have come at Florida Tech (88-83) and at Tampa (73-69). 

NSU is coached by Gary Tuell (Louisville, '73), who is in his 12th season with the Sharks and has compiled a 152-180 record. In his 29-year collegiate coaching career, Tuell has posted a 455-397 record and in his 12 years at NSU, he has led the Sharks to three winning seasons, including posting a 15-12 record in 2012-13.      

Nova Southeastern is paced by the play of senior guard Chris Page, who is averaging 21.2 points per game and is shooting 46 percent from the field, 37 percent from long distance and 83 percent from the free throw line. In the game earlier this season against the Mocs, Page scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds.

In addition to Page, the Sharks second double-digit scorer is junior forward Harrison Goodrick is averaging 15.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game and is shooting 58 percent from the field and 71 percent from the foul line and scored 19 points and had nine boards in the earlier meeting this season against the Mocs. 

As a team, Nova Southeastern is averaging 76.1 points per game and is shooting 45 percent from the field, 35 percent from the 3-point line and 70 percent from the free throw line. The Sharks, though, have been held under 60 points in its last two games as they scored 57 against Embry-Riddle and had 56 against Eckerd. On defense, NSU is allowing 78.0 points per game and their foes are shooting 43 percent from the field and 35 percent from the 3-point line and are getting outrebounded by 1.4 boards per game and are averaging 3.2 blocks per game.