MIAMI – The Nova Southeastern men's basketball team had a historic night Tuesday, defeating NCAA Division I FIU at the U.S. Century Bank Arena, 77-59. It is the program's first NCAA DI victory since joining the NCAA. Below are postgame comments from head coach Gary Tuell:
 
"You can't say enough about the work ethic and character of the guys on this team. Not many teams can start the season 0-5 and still maintain their confidence or come to practice every day determined to give effort, determined to grow together as a team and determined to fix the things that were hampering our performance. It's especially difficult when some of your problems require introspection on the part of both coaches and players. But we're a close family and we're in this together. 
 
"I am so proud of our guys and how hard they have worked. They've embraced our tough schedule and are beginning to enjoy the challenges in front of them every night. We out-worked FIU, and that's a real compliment to our players because the only chance they had to pull off this upset was to work harder than their opponent. Anytime you play a DI team, especially one with FIU's talent, you have to play with exceptional focus and effort. I don't know if this was the biggest win for our program since I've been here, but beating a DI opponent by 18 on their floor is special and certainly doesn't happen very often.
 
"As well as we played the last two games, we can't get too high or too low because the next game is always going to be as tough or tougher than the last one. But we're finally learning to compete and to embrace the moments, and it's fun for the coaching staff to watch these guys grow and improve.
 
"I don't know if we can start five guards and continue to do what we've done the past two games. Obviously having five guards on the floor has its advantages, but it creates a myriad of problems, too. I don't think starting five guards is the difference in our last two games. I think our improvement has come more because our guys are learning to play hard, work hard, and learning to enjoy playing together as a team. We've stayed flexible as a coaching staff, too, and been willing to think outside the box. Our players have embraced that thinking and they're certainly rewarding us with tremendous effort, which is very gratifying.
 
"I'm sure we caught both Belmont Abbey and FIU by surprise in some of the things that we're doing. As teams scout and prepare for us we'll lose the element of surprise. But if our effort and attitudes stay the same, we'll have a chance to continue to compete and create some problems for people.
 
"We really took this game at FIU by the throat from the start. We jumped out early and never let them get too close. Every time we needed a stop we got it, but more importantly every time we needed a big basket we got it. I don't care who it was – Justin Jeangerard (Jr., Weaverville, Calif.), Maurice Fuller (Jr., Westfield, Ind.), Brian Cahill (Jr., Arlington, Va.), Casey Carroll (So., Youngstown, Ohio), Chris Page (So., Plainfield, Ind.) – they took turns stepping up when the pressure was on and making big baskets or big plays. And I thought Stian Berg (Jr., Baerum, Norway) did a great job running our team and keeping us steady. 
 
"We knew FIU would hurt us on the glass. Every team we play hurts us on the glass. We have to live with that. But our little guys competed and battled and scrapped for loose balls and rebounds below the rim. We took the fight to them and never backed down. Obviously FIU is a very good team. They won seven of eight coming into this game and there's no doubt in my mind that their kids didn't take us seriously or respect us. But that doesn't diminish the things our guys did to win the game. We were the more aggressive team, the team that attacked and moved the ball to open shooters. We forced the tempo all night. So you can't discredit the effort of our players.
 
"Someone suggested after the game that we should be a more confident team going into our conference opener Saturday against Florida Southern (4 p.m. at the NSU Arena). But honestly, these guys never lost confidence in themselves despite the slow start to our season. They believe in themselves and they believe in each other. They just needed their coach to get a little smarter and figure out a way to help them, and hopefully we've done that. Florida Southern is ranked fourth in the nation. I saw one poll today that had West Liberty number one, and we've already played them. So we know what it's like to play a great Division II team. We won't see anything from Southern that we haven't faced already. On the other hand, Southern might be the best team we will have played this year. They are a terrific basketball team. They are more athletic and more talented than the team that went to the Elite Eight last year. I know we'll compete. I just don't know if we're good enough to compete at their level yet. But that's the fun part of playing games. You get to learn a lot about yourselves every night when you play good teams. We're looking forward to the challenge Saturday and I know our guys will do their best. That's all a coach can ask."


FIU entered the game at 7-3 and had not lost at home all season. They had won seven of their last eight games, with the loss coming at South Carolina. Below is an excerpt from head coach Anthony Evans' postgame interview that can be found HERE.

"Nova played a great game tonight. They outplayed us in every facet and I tip my hat to them. They came in with a great game plan and they won the basketball game. 

 
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