Seahawks Bounce Back vs. Hens, Go for Sweep on Sunday
UNCW executes a great gameplan to get its first CAA victory
UNCW 77, Delaware 70
Next: Delaware at UNCW, 1 p.m. today.
Whew. That’s more like it.
The Seahawks execution wasn’t always perfect on Saturday, but energy and effort were there, as was the commitment to the identity that Coach Takayo Siddle wants his program to build.
The execution was pretty darn good, too, as UNCW shot 50 percent from the field, forced 17 turnovers and overcame a 40-27 rebounding deficit to earn its first CAA victory.
Jaylen Sims bounced back from a rough trip to Towson with 22 points and four rebounds — including a dagger in the final minute — while Mike Okauru was masterful at point guard, finishing with 20 points, six rebounds, six assists and just one turnover.
Here’s what we took away from the victory over the Blue Hens (4-7, 2-4) and what adjustments the UNCW (7-5, 2-1) might need to make for Sunday’s game.
Move it or Lose it
The flow of UNCW’s offense was a night-and-day difference from the mess we saw at Towson.
“My main message was for us to play as a team and play unselfish,” Siddle said.
He made an excellent move to generate more movement on the perimeter with a weave that got both players and the ball going.
From there, the Seahawks got down to business and played their game, using high ball screens to create one mismatch after another with a Delaware team that relies on playing two post-oriented big men.
(Editor’s Note: In order to deliver the best analysis on these back-to-back weekends, we’d like to know what you’re most interested in from Saturday’s games and looking ahead to Sundays. More highlights? More quotes? More analytics? Let us in the comments!)
Every time Mike Okauru or Jaylen Sims got a one-on-one look at the Blue Hen bigs, they had their way with getting to the bucket or creating space for easy looks in the mid-range.
With 10 assists and a season-low five turnovers, UNCW’s 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio was easily its best of the season against a Division I opponent.
That’s what happens when the ball and players are moving with purpose, coming off screens with an idea of the next move.
Sunday’s Adjustment: Beating Zone
After watching UNCW’s guards get into the lane at will for about 25 minutes on, Delaware went to a 2-3 zone that had some success in slowing down the Seahawks.
After a few possessions with Joe Pridgen serving as the facilitator in the middle, Sims took over as the guy responsible for breaking down the zone, with great results. Expect plenty more of that on Sunday.
Okauru still managed to beat his man off the bounce several times with and without the aid of screens. When the Blue Hens’ wing defenders crashed, Ty Gadsden got a few good looks from the wing, as did Jake Boggs.
The Seahawks shot 6 of 18 from 3-point range with generally good looks on Saturday.
UNCW is in a bit of a 3-point slump at the moment, hitting 19 of 62 from beyond the arc over the past three games, while Gadsden in particular has struggled, hitting 8 of 26 over his past five games.
At some point, with looks as good as the ones UNCW got Saturday, they’ll start going in.
Bouncing Back
Both numbers and the eye-test say Sims struggled at Towson. Advanced stats from Pivot Analysis, in fact, say he was UNCW’s worst player in the two games — something unthinkable earlier this season when he was carving up opponents.
All of that was a distant memory on Saturday, as Sims came off the bench to deliver his best performance in over a month.
The junior guard played within himself and within the offense, taking what the defense gave to him — something that was a major point of emphasis over the past few days.
“Coach talked about my shot selection from Tuesday,” Sims said. “He said I could have shot some better ones and I was missing my teammates, so for today’s game I was just focused on taking better shots and then when they stopped me, looking for my teammates who did a great job of making shots.”
Sims managed to attack without over-dribbling and stayed confident without trying to be the hero. Instead, the ball found him down the stretch for a few big buckets.
Afterward, Siddle said he didn’t bring Sims off the bench to send a message, but rather, Jamahri Harvey had earned the spot.
“Jaylen is an unbelievable kid and somebody that I respect a lot,” he said. “I want our current and our future recruits to really pay attention to him and how he conducts himself; he’s going to be a special player in our program and our system. He’s so talented, but there’s a few things we needed to clean up with him to get him to the point where he is that all-league guy, potential player of the year guy.”
It’s especially neat to see a kid struggle with something, get back up, make adjustments and immediately have some success while having a great attitude about it.
Sunday’s Adjustment: Sit him!
Just kidding, but hey, Sims is averaging 18.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 turnovers in the two games he’s come off the bench this season.
He’s been pretty good as as starter, too.
Dealing with Bigs
Already shorthanded in the post, UNCW was again without John Bowen, although play-by-play announcer Mike Vaccaro said the senior big man was hopeful to return on Sunday.
That was an especially tall order against Delaware’s Andrew Carr (6-9, 210) and one of the league’s best big men in Dylan Painter (6-10, 235), who piled up 23 points and 19 rebounds to help the Hens to a 40-27 rebounding advantage.
The Seahawks will have challenges all season with size, but on Saturday, they made several key adjustment to limit the damage.
Against Towson, UNCW’s perimeter defense didn’t put up much of a fight on entry passes, and in turn, allowed the Tigers to catch the ball in prime position too easily.
That wasn’t the case vs. Delaware.
“On the perimeter we talked about having great activity with our hands and ball pressure, so it was a collective group effort,” he said. “I thought we executed our gameplan on both ends.”
When Painter and Carr did manage to get the ball on the block, the Seahawks swarmed. At halftime, the coaching staff noted Painter was spinning to the baseline every time he caught the ball, and with that in mind, sent weak-side help.
“I thought our traps came a little quicker and I thought we were more aggressive and we came with high hands,” Siddle said.
Sunday’s Adjustment: Play Harder
The cards are on the table for both sides at this point and neither has the depth to truly change its personnel beyond a few minutes here and there.
Delaware will have the motivation coming off a loss and it has the personnel to truly dominate the game from the paint. This one is about who wants it more and who’s able to play the most physical game for 40 minutes.
To finish off the sweep, UNCW will have to get a little more rebounding from its guards while maintaining the same level of activity and attention to detail that it used to slow the Hens on Sunday.
In conclusion…
A great program victory by sticking to the blueprint and proof of how the system works.
With eight players dressed and six of them playing 195 of 200 available minutes, the Seahawks played at their pace, shared the ball, took great shots and dug in to make plays when it counted.
Because of what happened in the previous two games, it’s especially meaningful to see how quickly and effectively Siddle and his team made corrections and adjustments.
“I thought our guys responded,” he said. “I challenged our guys this week and it wasn’t fun for them. I gave them a lot of tough love and they responded and that’s what I wanted and expected. That’s got to be something we can build on, going forward, our program.”