Florida Southern College men's basketball will make its 33
rd NCAA appearance when the Moccasins travel to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and the Rick Case Arena March 16-19 for the 2024 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball South Region Tournament, hosted by No. 1 overall ranked Nova Southeastern University. The Mocs will take on sixth-seed Clark Atlanta University Panthers at 12 p.m. Saturday to tip-off the tournament.
Tournament Page
Ticketing Information
The Moccasins drew the third seed in the regional after posting a 21-9 record throughout the 2023-24 season which started with a 2-0 start at the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic Nov. 4-5 with wins over then-RV Virginia Union (79-62) and then-no. 8 UNC Pembroke (87-82).
Florida Southern is led by 2023-24 Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year and First Team All-league selection,
Luke Anderson. Anderson, a native of Lakeland, Fla., was tabbed the player of the year after guiding the Mocs to a second-place finish in the league standings at 15-5 overall.
Joining Anderson in league selections was sophomore
Alex Steen, who was tabbed the SSC Defensive Player of the Year as well as a Second Team honor and named one of five players to the All-Defensive Team. Graduate student and first year player for the Mocs
Akol Arop was named to the SSC All-Defensive Team.
Anderson, a 6-7 forward, led the team and Sunshine State Conference in scoring on the year averaging 20.0 points in 30 games played with 35.8 minutes per game, while sitting second on the team in rebounding at 8.3 per game. Steen, a 6-9 forward from Panama City Beach, Fla., averages a double-double with 17.2 points per game and a team-best 10.9 rebounds per game, which is second best in the league.
Arop, a forward from Omaha, Neb., is third on the team in scoring at 13.2 ppg and is third in rebounding at 8.2 on his way to his postseason accolades. He has an increase in production in his 29.0 minutes per game, as he notched a career-high 37 points against Saint Leo (2/14/24).
Head Coach
Mike Donnelly completed the trifecta for the Moccasins in Sunshine State Conference awards as the ninth-year leader picked up his second SSC Coach of the Year Award (2019-20) in his tenure and the program's 17
th overall.
In the history of the program in the NCAA tournament, Florida Southern boasts a 45-31 record and will look to add onto that in the first appearance since the 2019-20 campaign. The Mocs have advanced out of the first round in 23 trips including the last three journey's to the postseason. After winning the NCAA DII National Championship in 2015, Florida Southern returned to the big dance in 2018 and 2019 with narrow wins in the opening game before falling to conference-foes.
The path in the 2024 tournament resembles the 2015 trip where the Mocs face a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) team in the first round before facing off against the Gulf South Conference (GSC). In 2015, the Mocs lined up against Benedict before taking down West Georgia to play in the regional championship and then won the national championship.
Florida Southern's path will stand against #6 seed Clark Atlanta, the 2024 SIAC Champion, and pair up against #2 seed and 13
th-ranked West Georgia or #7 seed Lee; Florida Southern is 4-0 all-time against West Georgia in the postseason tournament and would meet Lee for the first time in NCAA tournament play.
The meeting between the Mocs and Panthers will be the first of the programs. Clark Atlanta is making the program's sixth appearance, first since 2018, and the Panthers are 0-5 in all appearances. It will mark the fifth time since the century turned Clark Atlanta has been in the tournament with appearances in 1996, 2010, 2011, 2017, and 2018.
The Panthers posted a 25-5 record overall on the season with a 16-5 mark in the SIAC. Clark Atlanta dropped its regular season finale to then-no. 22 Benedict (93-91), who also is making an appearance in the tournament as the eighth seed, before going on to win three straight over Savannah State, Benedict and Miles to capture the league title.
Alfred Jordan, a 2009 graduate of CAU and Clark Atlanta's head coach, was tabbed the SIAC Coach of the Year and the BOXTOROW HBCU National Coach of the Year in just his second year after turning Clark Atlanta from an 8-20 2022-23 season to the 25-5 mark this season.
The Panthers swept the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, just like the Mocs. Chris Martin was named the player of the year while Kharye Cayne earned the defensive honor. Martin was the lone Panther to earn All-SIAC honors with a first team bid.
Martin averages 18.4 ppg, 2.7 apg, and 2.0 spg. Cayne is currently ranked 2nd in Division II in blocks with 104 total on the year (3.5 bpg). Twins Andrew and Elijah Stewart started their career at CAU, transferred to cross-campus rival Morehouse College and are now back at CAU as graduate transfers, helping lead the Panthers to a SIAC title. This 2024 squad boasts three Division I transfers, including Shemani Fuller (Western Michigan), Silas Mason (UNC Asheville), and Jalen NeSmith (Jacksonville U).
Game times in Fort Lauderdale are:
12 pm #3 Florida Southern vs #6 Clark Atlanta
2:30 pm #2 West Georgia vs #7 Lee
5 pm #1 Nova Southeastern vs #8 Benedict
7:30 pm #4 Alabama-Huntsville vs #5 Embry-Riddle
