Seahawks Fall in CAA Opener, Prepare for Rematch
UNCW’s offense struggles as Towson dominates in the paint
Towson 72, UNCW 69
Next: UNCW at Towson, 1 p.m. today.
Well, that wasn’t an ideal way to start 2021, and yet, UNCW was one favorable roll from stealing a game that it had no business winning.
The Seahawks, who were without forward John Bowen, missed their first nine shots, battled foul trouble and never truly found their footing in a game that lacked flow, as Towson held off UNCW for a 72-69 victory on Monday afternoon.
Jaylen Sims made a living at the free throw line en route to 19 points, while Mike Okauru kept the Seahawks afloat with 18 points and seven rebounds early on.
Here’s what we took away from UNCW’s CAA opener, and what to look forward to in Tuesday afternoon’s rematch.
Stagnant Offense
The offensive surge that helped lift the Seahawks (6-4, 0-1) to a three-game winning streak was nowhere to be found, which wasn’t unexpected after 27 days off. Rhythm and momentum are something that simply can’t be replicated and sustained through practice.
Sometimes you shoot poorly and that’s part of the game, but the Seahawks could have done more to help themselves on Monday as they managed just seven assists on 26 buckets.
Movement — both ball and player — wasn’t consistently good enough to take advantage of UNCW’s mismatches, shot selection got iffy, and when it counted, the game devolved into four guys watching Sims go to work.
Here’s how the game’s final six possessions went down:
3:06, 64-68 – After four passes in the halfcourt, Sims drove to the bucket, got fouled and converted two free throws.
2:16, 66-79 – After two passes, UNCW cleared the lane for Sims to attack from the top. With Towson preparing to help, Sims hit Jamahri Harvey for a 3-pointer from the wing.
1:36, 69-70 – After a pass from Okauru, Sims drove to the basket and lost the ball when a help defender collapsed in for a steal.
:49, 69-70 – After three passes, Sims created a decent look with a spin move on the block, but missed the shot. The offensive rebound went to Okauru, whose 3-pointer rimmed out.
:26, 69-71 – Sims drove the lane and missed a tough fading layup.
:18, 69-72 – After a three quick passes on the wing, everyone cleared out for a Sims 3-point attempt. He didn’t have much space, but the shot came up just short.
Sims is a great offensive player who has proven he can score at all three levels and is getting to the free throw line at an absurd rate, but UNCW’s offense is too dynamic to settle for that many one-on-one scenarios in a close game.
“We got the ball in the hands of the guys we wanted to get it to in their sweet spots,” UNCW coach Takayo Siddle said. “They just didn’t fall for us tonight. I like our group; we’re fighting. I told them in the locker room, ‘These conference games are precious and you can’t keep letting game slip away.’”
Look for the Seahawks to move the ball quicker and with more intention on Tuesday, leading to better looks for everyone.
Big Trouble
UNCW can’t afford to lose anyone in an already-thin rotation, and it certainly couldn’t afford to be without Bowen and his 16 minutes in the four and five spots.
Towson (2-5, 1-0) puts a premium on hitting the boards and the Tigers did just that, finishing with a 40-29 rebounding advantage, using 10 offensive rebounds to score 10 second-chance points.
“I thought they imposed their will in the paint,” Siddle said. “Whether it was paint touches by driving or getting it inside, I thought they really imposed their will on us.”
Along with controlling the boards, Towson also dominated in the paint, outscoring UNCW 44-26 — but it’s not just a matter of big men easily finishing at the rim.
“I thought they imposed their will in the paint,” Siddle said. “Whether it was paint touches by driving or getting it inside, I thought they really imposed their will on us.”
The Seahawks are going to give up some easy buckets in the paint sometimes. That’s part of the trade-off with pressing and playing with speed, but that balance got out of whack on Monday at every level of the defense, as UNCW struggled to defend on the perimeter and didn’t generate an advantage in scoring off turnovers or on the fast break.
The challenge for Siddle will be figuring out whether, with a shortened rotation, to look to create more turnovers with pressure or sit back and pack the paint on Tuesday.
“I know we need to sit down and guard the basketball better and then we have to do a better job on the interior of guarding their post players,” Siddle said. “I thought we let them catch it too easy, we laid behind them, we let them catch it too deep, we didn’t pressure the ball so they couldn’t throw it in.”
A Very Strange Day
Everything about this one was weird — the games being pushed back from the weekend, the weekday afternoon tipoff, the long break leading up to it and the 40 fouls called by officials.
Siddle was careful not to make excuses, but there’s no doubt the long layoff played a role for UNCW.
“I think it affected us but I’m not one guy to make excuses, because Towson came off a layoff as well,” he said. “I thought we came out a little lethargic and not the same pop I’m used to us having, but we still had a chance to win the game and Towson did a great job closing it out.”
Consider the statistical oddities of Monday:
Averaging 16.9 points and 11.3 field goal attempts per game coming in, Ty Gadsden finished with seven points on just one shot.
Joe Pridgen, who came in with a top-10 offensive rebounding rate, got just one on Monday — 3.7 percent of available offensive boards.
20 field goals and 35.1 percent from the field were UNCW’s lowest outputs of the season.
Shooting 31.6 percent from 3-point range was the Seahawks’ worst mark since the season-opener.
Six players accounted for 188 of 200 minutes and every entry on the stat sheet aside from one block, one rebound and one foul from Imajae Dodd.
Obviously, life becomes a little tougher in CAA play as opponents get more familiar, but there’s not much evidence to suggest Towson’s defense could derail the Seahawks offense like that.
There is, however, plenty of evidence that suggests this was more of an aberration for a UNCW offense that really hit its stride in the past month.
If the Perch were a betting blog, it would bet a Jerry Allen’s bar tab on Gadsden taking more than one shot and UNCW hitting better than 35 percent from the field on Tuesday.