UNCW Falls For Second Consecutive Day
UNCW dropped its second game in as many days to Towson in Maryland on Tuesday. The Seahawks made a late push, but the Tigers managed to hang on down the stretch with multiple big defensive stops.
This game was an ugly one for both sides, as Towson turned the basketball over a whopping 15 times, and UNCW faced a seven-plus minute stretch in the second half where they only managed to score four points.
Positive Takeaways
Mike Okauru recorded a career-high 25 points, including seven points in a nine second span late in the second half. Okauru took over the game for the Seahawks amid a horrific offensive second half. He showed leadership and savviness Tuesday afternoon, despite not being able to finish the job.
True freshman Jamahri Harvey had a career day, as he recorded a career-high 21 points, and complimented his scoring effort with a pair of rebounds, one assist, and one steal in a career-high 31 minutes of action. Harvey has played with confidence since the moment he stepped on the floor for the Seahawks, and it appears that confidence is starting to turn into on-court success for the freshman. Harvey also drained five of UNCW’s seven made three point field goals on a night that the Seahawks struggle to shoot the ball effectively.
Joe Pridgen may have missed the game-tying layup attempt in the waning moments of the game, but he was the only Seahawk to battle against Towson’s trees in the paint consistently throughout the contest. Pridgen grabbed a game-high ten rebounds, blocked one shot, and converted all four of his made field goals in the paint.
Negative Takeaways
Stagnant offense and inconsistent shooting has been an issue for UNCW throughout the season, and that trend proved true once again vs Towson on Tuesday. The Seahawks shot seven of 25 from three, 23 of 64 from the field.
After a scorching hot start to the season, Jaylen Sims has cooled off considerably. Sims didn’t play much in the second half, and didn’t see the floor at all during crunch time as the Seahawks made a surging comeback effort late. Sims has shot above 40% from the field just once in the past five games. UNCW will need the junior guard to break out of his slump and retake the offensive leadership role he possessed early in the season if they want to make a run at the CAA championship.
Rebounding has been an issue all season long for UNCW, and losing John Bowen to injury certainly didn’t help fix the issue. Towson out-rebounded the Seahawks 40-25 on Tuesday, after out-rebounding UNCW 37-27 the day before. Jake Boggs has been forced to play the center position for almost all of his minutes over the last two games, which not only takes away a lot of his versatility and quality characteristics, but also forces him to matchup defensively with bigger, stronger, and more experienced players at that position.
Up Next
UNCW (6-5, 0-2) returns home for another back-to-back matchup over the weekend. The Delaware Blue Hens (4-6, 2-3) will make the trek from Newark, Delaware, to Wilmington for games on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The player to watch for Delaware is forward Dylan Painter, a 6-10 big man who’s averaging 12.5 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. Painter, a Hershey, Pennsylvania, native, played for Villanova for two seasons before transferring to Delaware.