#18 Florida Southern Opens NCAA South Regional Play Saturday Against Montevallo

With the program's 34^th berth to the NCAA Tournament, the 18^th-ranked Florida Southern College Moccasins men's basketball team will take on the University of Montevallo, from Montevallo, Ala. and the Gulf South Conference, in the opening game Saturday, March 15 of the 2025 NCAA Division II South Region Championship. The Moccasins, the third seed in the region, will take on the Falcons, the sixth-seed in the bracket, at noon in the first of four games at Rick Case Arena on the campus of Nova Southeastern University.
 
Tournament Information
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Campus: Nova Southeastern University
Gymnasium: Rick Case Arena
Tournament Page - https://nsusharks.com/sports/2025/3/10/ncaa-south-region-tournament.aspx
Ticket Information - https://nsusharks.com/sports/2024/3/11/ncaa-dii-south-regional-tournament-ticketing.aspx
Bracket - https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-men/d2/2025
 
2025 NCAA DII South Region
The South Regional will feature four Sunshine State Conference teams with three Gulf South Conference programs while the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) received one automatic qualifier. Nova Southeastern, Florida Southern, Lynn, and Tampa represent the SSC in the tournament while Alabama-Huntsville, Valdosta State, and Montevallo represent the GSC. Savannah State won the SIAC championship and flipped into the no. 8 seed after Miles had been in the top 8 for the previous three rankings.
 
(3) No. 18 Florida Southern takes on (6) Montevallo in the regional's first game of the weekend at noon on March 15 followed by (2) No. 3 Alabama-Huntsville and (7) Tampa at 2:30 p.m. SSC Champion (1) No. 2 Nova Southeastern will take on SIAC Champion (8) Savannah State at 5 p.m. with (4) No. 15 Valdosta State facing (5) Lynn in the night cap at 7:30 p.m.
 
The Matchup
It's the second overall meeting between the Moccasins and Falcons where it's the first since November 8, 2008 when Florida Southern earned a 73-58 win at the Disney Tip-Off Classic. The two teams meet for the second time in another neutral site environment, where it's Florida Southern's third trip to Rick Case Arena this season.
 
Distance to Regional
(3) #18 Florida Southern – 214-220 miles, 3 hr 40 min to 3 hr 51 mins
(6) Montevallo – 731-761 miles, 11 hr 27 min to 11 hr 39 min
 
 
3^rd Seed - No. 18 Florida Southern College Moccasins (25-8)
Florida Southern enters at 25-8 overall after finishing second in the Sunshine State Conference regular season and as tournament finalists falling at Rick Case Arena 103-89 to the Sharks. It's the second consecutive appearance in the South Regional where the Mocs advanced to the regional championships after knocking off Clark Atlanta in the first round in 2024, 80-72, before taking down no. 2 seed West Georgia, 93-87 in overtime. Florida Southern finished just short against Nova Southeastern in the 2024 Regional Final 98-66.
 
The 2024-25 season opened with Florida Southern knocking off the 2024 defending national champions, then-no. 1 Minnesota State Mavericks 91-86 in overtime in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. The Mocs then returned to the hardwood the following day and came up just short against a high-powered offense in Point Loma, 90-85.
 
Florida Southern posted an 11-2 out of conference record with a 14-6 mark in league play. Leading the charge for the Mocs this season were All-Sunshine State Conference First Team selections Jadin Booth and Alex Steen. Steen was tabbed the SSC Defensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive season where he was joined by Peyton Gerald on the All-SSC Defensive Team.  
 
As a team, the Mocs average 93.0 points per game and hold opponents to 84.9 (+8.1) while shooting 47.0% from the field and 35.9% from the beyond the arc. Florida Southern is 78.4% from the free throw line, which ranks 14^th overall in Division II while the 93.0 ppg is sixth in DII. Behind the lengthy forwards, Florida Southern leads the nation in blocks per game (7.0) with Alex Steen leading the way in sixth place out of 247 ranked players (2.55). Peyton Gerald is 13^th (2.09) and Amare Miller 139^th (1.06). The trio are all inside the top 90 players in DII in total blocks with Steen in third (84), Gerald eighth (69), and Miller 90^th (35).
 
Jadin Booth leads all scorers for Florida Southern with 702 total points this season for a 21.3 ppg average. Steen is second at 18.5 ppg (612) followed by Gerald at 14.3 ppg (471), and Dominck Denny at 11.7 ppg (387). Joe Moon IV is fifth on the team at 8.1 ppg (266) having started all 33 games this season.
 
Steen leads Florida Southern in rebounding with 351 heading into the regional which is second overall in the nation, averaging 6.82 defensive boards and 3.82 offensive boards, both in the top 30 of players, where he averages 10.6 per game to average a double-double. Adding 17 double-doubles through 33 games this season so far, Steen moved up to 33 total for his career. He enters the weekend chasing history with 192 total blocks where he is five shy of breaking a program record set by Jarel Spellman in a two-year sting (2016-17) of 196.

Four players this season for Florida Southern have scored their 1,000th collegiate point with Jadin Booth knocking the door down first on Nov. 29, 2024, to become the 47^th player in program history to score 1,000 points. Steen and Gerald were next, on the same night, in a win on Feb. 12, followed by Dominick Denny on Feb. 15 in a loss to Barry. Steen and Denny were the 48^th and 49^th players, respectively, in program history to eclipse 1,000 career points in the Red and White.

Jadin Booth and Alex Steen have led Florida Southern in awards and recognitions as the duo were named to the Bevo Francis Award Top 100 and Top 50, presented by Small College Basketball. Steen has led all Mocs in SSC weekly awards with seven Defensive Player of the week's while Booth earned three Players of the Week. Amare Miller was named the Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 18 as Florida Southern finished with 11 total weekly awards from the SSC.
 
6^th Seed – Montevallo (20-10)
Montevallo advances to the NCAA South Regional for the first time since the 2015-16 season after posting a 20-10 overall record. The Falcons average 79.7 points per game and hold a slight advantage over opponents (76.2) for a 3.5 scoring margin. Montevallo has a group that averages double-figures in scoring led by Brandon Fussell at 18.0 ppg (540 total points). Jaylen Curry is second at 16.3 (489) ahead of Derek Moore, 14.3 (429), and Camden Andrews at 10.0 (281). Moore is the team leader in rebounding this season with 188 total (6.3 rpg) as the team pulls down an average of 34.9 per game.
 
The Falcons opened the season with a 93-81 win over Barry before falling 104-87 to Nova Southeastern in the season-opening GSC/SSC Challenge in Montevallo, Ala. Montevallo posted a 5-3 out of conference record while going 15-7 overall in league play, falling to Valdosta State in the Gulf South Conference semifinal.
 
Montevallo saw a pair of players earn All-GSC honors for the first time since 2020-21 in Brandon Fussell and Jaylen Curry. Fussell proved to be one of the league's top scorers in his sophomore campaign with an average of 17.6 points per game which ranks ninth among GSC leaders. The Guntersville, Ala. native scored his team-high average on 47.3-percent from the floor while shooting 37.3 percent from deep and 87.0 percent from the stripe. Fussell also led Montevallo with 3.6 assists per game and 2.1 steals per game while adding an average of 3.1 boards per contest. Fussell scored over 30 points on four separate occasions with his 35-point outing against West Alabama being the seventh-most points scored by a GSC player this season. The sophomore's performance against the Tigers tied a Montevallo record with nine threes made and is tied for the most threes by a GSC player this season.
 
Curry ranked second on the squad with an average of 16.6 points per game on 47.3-percent shooting and 36.7 percent from deep while adding 6.0 rebounds per game and leading the team with a total of 15 blocks on the season. Curry's 16.6 points per game rank 10^th in the Gulf South while his 6.0 rebounds per game rank 13^th among league leaders. The Hazel Green, Ala. tallied seven 20-point games on the season with a season-high 31 points coming on a 10-for-16 mark from the floor in a road meeting with Alabama Huntsville on Jan. 9. The junior forward has also tallied a pair of double-doubles with a 14-point 12-rebound outing against Union and a 15-point 13-rebound game against West Florida.