'A Special Thing': UNCW Wins 10th Straight
The Seahawks held off a pesky Northeastern team
UNCW 67, Northeastern 62
The UNCW Seahawks have won 10 straight college basketball games, and honestly, typing this sentence doesn’t make it feel any more real.
It certainly wasn’t perfect, but what has been during this winning streak?
Thursday night, the Hawks did what they’ve done for the better part of two months now, grinding out a victory behind a disruptive defense, timely buckets and the type of grit you can only build through experience.
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This one didn’t require the comebacks we’ve become used to, but the Hawks did need to buckle down in the final minutes to hold off a pesky Northeastern team 67-62 in front of a crowd of 4,146 at Trask Coliseum.
Jaylen Sims scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half, while Shykeim Phillips chipped in 17 and Jaylen Fornes continued his hot streak off the bench with 14 points and four assists.
A few takeaways as UNCW (13-5, 7-0) completed the sweep of Northeastern (6-14, 0-9).
The Streak
Back in the 2015-16 season, the defending regular-season champion Seahawks were expected to take a big step under second-year coach Kevin Keatts, and 1-2 start in CAA play that dropped it to 9-5 overall, UNCW found its stride (and then some!) when it reeled off an 11-game winning streak to set a new school record.
Not that you’d ever expect an 11-game winning streak, but that team was definitely expected to win games and compete for a CAA championship.
Seven years later, second-year coach Takayo Siddle had just seen his team lose by 29 points to fall to 3-5, and things weren’t looking so hot for a UNCW team that was projected to finish ninth in the CAA.
In the 48 days since, the Seahawks have found a way to get it done in 10 straight games, en route to a 7-0 start in conference play.
That streak has included one regulation buzzer-beater, two overtime wins, four double-digit comebacks and an average victory margin of 4.7 points vs. Division I opponents. (We’re not counting the 30-point win over Mount Olive, a Division II program).
“This is as special thing that’s going on right now and it’s all because of them; it’s nothing that we’re doing,” Siddle said. “We’re trying to prepare them, we’re holding them accountable, but those guys truly love each other, they care about winning, they’re connected, they’re tough. It’s all about them, and they’re doing a really good job with that.”
There were a few spots things got rocky on Thursday night because Northeastern wouldn’t go away, and never for a second was there any panic from UNCW.
These guys are just so confident and believe in one another, and it’s incredible and a testament to the culture they’ve built. I wish there was some profound analysis, but sometimes, you’ve just got to sit back and enjoy.
Shykeim Phillips put it best.
“Ten in a row, hey, that’s fun right there, man,” he said, smiling. “Just got to keep this thing rolling.”
From 3-5 to first place and a chance to tie the school record for longest winning streak. These dudes are amazing.
A Strange Game
The final stats are a strange mismatch of numbers that don’t make a whole lot of sense, yet somehow got us to the conclusion of a 67-62 victory.
Based on UNCW forcing 20 turnovers, shooting 50.9 percent from the field and scoring 32 points in the paint, you’d probably conclude the Seahawks completely dominated the game.
On the other side, based on Northeastern winning the rebounding battle 35-17, shooting 50 percent from the field and holding three UNCW starters to a combined 12 points, you might also conclude the Huskies won the game with some ease.
Instead, we landed somewhere in the middle because Northeastern couldn’t take advantage of its rebounding edge, managing only a 15-9 advantage on second-chance points while UNCW didn’t fully capitalize on points off turnovers and struggled with the Huskies’ physicality at times.
The Hawks led by 11 points in the first half, then 13 in the second half, but never truly found another gear because of Northeastern’s rebounding advantage. The Huskies chipped away and got within a few possessions, but ultimately, ill-timed turnovers kept them at arm’s length.
Ultimately, the most important stretch of the game came at the start of the second half as the Hawks forced six straight missed field goals and went on a 10-0 run to take a 50-37 lead.
The Hunted
In his postgame chat with radio voice Mike Vacarro, Siddle made the point that after a few years near the bottom of the CAA, UNCW has made an overnight leap back to its perch (pun absolutely intended) atop the league.
That’s a point he drove home at the half when he thought his team wasn’t fighting hard enough, and had just allowed the Huskies to make a dent in UNCW’s lead.
“I got on them at halftime — I know we were up — but I told them, I said, ‘You’re the top dog right now and people are gunning for you, so you have to have a sense of urgency with everything you’re doing,’” he said. “They were kind of looking at me, and they realized, ‘Hey, we need to step it up,’ so that’s what we did in the second half and the guys closed it out really well.”
Postgame, Sims echoed his head coach, pointing out that the staff put up a sign in the locker room that simply says ‘Humility.’
“The last three years, we’ve been the ones that have been hunting,” Sims said. “Now we just have to know that everyone is coming for us and can’t get complacent … Don’t be satisfied with just winning 10 in a row.”
Siddle had an interesting answer, especially as it relates to today’s players and the feedback and praise they’re getting through their phones.
“Now that we’re on top, it’s an ongoing battle with them, especially with kids these days,” Siddle said. “With social media, you can’t really hide from it — and I would love to, I would love to — yeah, we talk about humility a lot.
“We talk about those guys staying grounded and I’m a big stats guy and I put up on the board all the time, why we’ve been successful — our defensive numbers, our offensive numbers; just showing them why we’ve been successful. Talking to them about their qualities as a unit, the togetherness that we have, the toughness that we have, the mentality that we’ve been having. All of those things are important.”
Next Up
The Seahawks welcome Hofstra (13-7, 5-2) to Wilmington on Saturday night at 7 p.m., with the 2002 CAA championship team set to return to Trask.
Aaron Estrada dropped 30 points on Thursday night to help the Pride hold off Charleston 76-73. Hofstra comes in on a four-game winning streak under first-year head coach Speedy Claxton.
Individual tickets go on sale here at Noon.