EVANSVILLE, IN. – Having successfully navigated the “Road to Evansville,” the Nova Southeastern Sharks Men’s Basketball team finds itself three wins away from the NCAA Division II National Championship. As one of the eight remaining men’s basketball teams across the country, the Sharks – the top-seed in the tournament – begin their pursuit of the trophy against the eighth-seed Assumption Greyhounds on Tuesday night at the Ford Center.
Under Head Coach Jim Crutchfield, the Sharks are 20-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
Nova Southeastern (33-1) | Sunshine State Conference Regular Season & Tournament Champions, NCAA South Region Champions
Last Game: No. 2 Nova Southeastern 76, No. 3 Alabama-Huntsville 69 (NCAA South Region Championship)
Having played in the last two NCAA Division II national championship games, Head Coach Jim Crutchfield makes his tenth trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, having guided the NSU Men’s Basketball team to the tournament in each of the last four seasons. The Sharks enter the Elite Eight riding the nation’s longest winning streak, having won 20 consecutive games.
Nova Southeastern cruised to the program’s fourth consecutive Sunshine State Conference tournament title, winning each game by an average of 25 points, the Sharks’ offense slowed in the NCAA South Region tournament, as NSU averaged just 77.3 points per game. The Sharks defeated Alabama-Huntsville (33-2) bookending the Chargers season with their only losses of the campaign.
The Sharks feature three members of the recently announced NABC All-South District team, as MJ Iraldi, Ryker Cisarik, and Dallas Graziani form one of the best trios in all of college basketball. Iraldi, the SSC and D2 CCA South Region Player of the Year, is the nation’s leading scorer (799 points). Cisarik, making the fourth trip to the Elite Eight in his career, continued his superb play in the South Region tournament averaging 26 points, seven rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals.
The Sharks lead NCAA Division II in points-per-game (102.8), scoring margin (+23), assists-per-game (23.9), and assist/turnover ratio (2.27), while ranking inside the top-10 nationally in turnover margin (2nd/+8.5), steals-per-game (3rd/11.9), field goal percentage (4th/0.516), rebounds-per-game (6th/42.5), rebound margin (9th/+7.5), turnovers forced per-game (9th/18.97) and fastbreak points-per-game 19.35).