NSU men advance to D-II finals game
B-e-n-d … but don’t break.
The Nova Southeastern University men’s basketball team, ranked No. 1 in the nation in NCAA Division II, beat the 20thranked Cal State Bernardino Coyotes 91-77 on Thursday afternoon in Evansville, Indiana.
NSU (32-2), which won the program’s first national title last season, will play for its second consecutive championship Saturday afternoon in Evansville. The Sharks will face either Minnesota State or West Texas A&M.
On Thursday, the Sharks led by as many as 15 points. But the Coyotes (27-8) cut the deficit to one point with 12:30 left in the second half … without ever taking the lead.
NSU was led by 6-10 center Shane Hunter, formerly of St. Thomas Aquinas. Hunter had 24 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and two steals in 30 minutes.
The Sharks are now 98-3 over the past three seasons.
ELSEWHERE
Florida Atlantic: After working a dozen years for two of the most successful programs in the nation,
John Jakus is getting a shot to lead his own program.
Florida Atlantic announced late Wednesday that it hired Jakus as its head basketball coach. Terms of the deal weren’t revealed, but Jakus received a five-year contract, according to multiple media reports.
Jakus, 48, takes over the Owls after spending the past 12 years at Baylor and Gonzaga. After joining the Bears as a graduate assistant for two seasons, he moved to Gonzaga to serve as the director of basketball operations under head coach Mark Few. In 2017, he rejoined Baylor as an assistant coach under Scott Drew.
The Bulldogs reached the national championship game in Jakus’ tenure in 2017 and the Bears won the national championship in 2021. In his 12 seasons as a Division I coach, Jakus has seen his teams appear in five Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and two Final Fours with the one national championship.
The Owls made a surprising run to the Final Four as a No. 9 seed last season under head coach Dusty May, losing on a buzzer-beater to San Diego State in a national semifinal.
Finishing the 2023-24 regular season with a 25-8 record, the Owls were seeded eighth in the East Region but fell 77-65 in overtime to No. 9 seed Northwestern in the first round on Friday.
Earlier this week, May was hired as Michigan’s new head coach.
Florida: Gators guard Riley Kugel is entering the transfer portal.
Kugel averaged 9.2 points and 3.5 rebounds and shot 39.4 percent from the field in 33 games (11 starts) this season as a sophomore but lost his starting job in December.
The previous season, Kugel averaged 9.9 points and 2.8 rebounds and shot 45.6 percent in 32 games (17 starts). He averaged
17.3 points over the final 10 games of the season and earned Southeastern Conference All-Freshman honors.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers introduced new basketball coach Darian DeVries on Thursday, and he confirmed that his son, Tucker, will transfer to the school from Drake.
The elder DeVries spent six seasons as the head coach at Drake before behind hired to lead the Mountaineers. Tucker was Drake’s leading scorer in the 2023-24 season, averaging 21.6 points as well as a team-leading 3.7 assists and 6.7 rebounds.
Olympics: USA Basketball announced the 14 players invited to training camp for the women’s national team on Thursday and it included one college player — Iowa star Caitlin Clark.
The training camp is set for April 3-5 in Cleveland, and Clark’s participation is contingent on how the Hawkeyes progress through the NCAA Tournament. Iowa will play Colorado in a Sweet 16 game on Saturday with hopes of eventually advancing to its second straight Final Four.
This year’s Final Four begins April 5 in Cleveland.
Clark, 22, has won three gold medals on USA Basketball junior national teams. She is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft in April.
The women’s national team this year will represent the United States in the Paris Olympics as the Americans attempt to win their eighth consecutive gold medal.
Also picked to take part in the training camp are nine Olympians: Ariel Atkins, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young.
Team USA will play its first game in the Paris Olympics on July 29 against Japan.