This basketball player has been a key for Nova Southeastern University’s playoff run

Mark Matthews heard the sing-song chants directed at him:

“Over-rated! Over-rated!”

On Feb. 20, the fans at Lynn made their feelings known about Matthews, a 6-6, 220-pound redshirt junior for the Nova Southeastern University Sharks. Other rivals and fans have also doubted Matthews — not that he minds.

“Maybe it’s weird, but I like it,” Matthews said. “It elevates my game.”

Matthews, who finished the regular season ranked second in the Sunshine State Conference in rebounds (9.5) and third in scoring (19.7) and field-goal percentage (58.4) while earning first-team all-league honors, helped NSU make history.

Under the direction of second-year NSU coach Jim Crutchfield, the Sharks (26-3) are ranked third in the nation in NCAA Division II. The Sharks won their league’s regular-season title for the first time in school history and then followed that up by reaching the conference tournament final for the first time, too, before losing to Florida Southern.

Along the way, NSU swept two games from Lynn, and Matthews responded to those taunts by hitting a game-winning put-back with 0.5 seconds left in the first contest between the teams.

“They started something they really didn’t want,” Sharks 6-1 senior point guard David Dennis said of the catcalls directed toward Matthews. “Mark has that little bit of swagger. Those fans messed with the wrong guy.”

But it’s not just Matthews. The entire Sharks team seems to play with an edge — a feeling of having been slighted at some point in their careers. Redemption, however, could be at hand.

On Saturday at 5 p.m. against visiting Miles College (Fairfield, Alabama), NSU will start what it hopes is a run toward a national championship. It’s certainly possible — the Sharks would have to win six straight games to accomplish their goal, but they will get the first three at home, assuming they continue to advance.

Having Crutchfield on their side is a big boost for the Sharks. For coaches with at least 10 years at the helm, Crutchfield’s .855 win percentage at West Liberty (West Virginia) was the best in the nation, and he led that school to the NCAA Elite Eight four years in a row.

At NSU, Crutchfield inherited a 6-20 team and immediately transformed the program with a 17-10 record in 2017-2018.

Crutchfield’s first big move for 2017-2018 was bringing in Dennis, an Ohio native who had played for him at West Liberty. Dennis then became the first Sharks player to win the SSC Newcomer of the Year award and also became just the fourth Sharks player to earn first-team All-SSC honors.

Dennis finished second in the nation in steals (3.56) and 10th in assists (6.8) last season, setting school records in both categories.

“He’s great at finding open guys,” NSU teammate Mikkel Kolstad said of Dennis, who also led the league this season in assists (5.7) and ranked 11th in scoring [16.0]. “He has played four years in [Crutchfield’s] system.”

Kolstad, a 6-4 junior from Norway, leads the league in three-point shooting percentage (52.6), and teammate Eddie Puisis ranks second (45.8 percent).

Puisis, a 6-2 sophomore from Ohio, had a 28-point breakout game this season and made vast improvement from a freshman year in which he shot just 17.5 percent on three-pointers (7-of-40).

Kolstad, who transferred before this season from NCAA Division II Augusta University, played high school ball in Norway, where he said basketball paled in comparison to his nation’s obsession with sports such as hockey and skiing.

“I’ve always been able to shoot pretty well,” Kolstad said. “I would go shoot at 6 a.m. and live at the gym just about all day.”

Beyond Dennis at the point, Matthews in the post and shooters such as Kolstad and Puisis, NSU’s rotation includes Nick Smith, a 6-1 sophomore guard from Pittsburgh; Dwayne Gibson, a 6-5 senior wing from Indianapolis; and Connor Zinaich, a 6-6 junior from Maryland.

Gibson, who ranked fourth in the league with 1.4 blocks per game, is the only key player Crutchfield inherited from the previous coaching staff.

NSU is 5-1 in games decided by four points or less or overtime and 4-0 against teams ranked in the top 25 nationally at the time of the game.

Crutchfield said he believes his team is “way ahead of schedule” in terms of this being just the second year here for this coaching staff.

“It hasn’t been perfect because we didn’t win our conference tournament, but it’s been great overall,” Crutchfield said. “We’ve won nine of our past 10 games, and we’ve had some luck on our side.

“We have a group of guys who have a chip on their shoulders as far as wanting to prove how good they are, and I think that’s a good thing.”

You can contact Walter Villa at wvilla07@yahoo.com