Seahawks Make a Statement vs. Tribe
UNCW did a complete 180-degree turn in a bounce-back victory
UNCW 92, William & Mary 70
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
The exact verbiage changes based on when you hear it and who it’s attributed to, but the old adage feels especially appropriate for how the past 48 hours have played out for the Seahawks.
After a disappointing performance at Elon on Thursday, there was chatter about UNCW’s sudden vulnerability. Opponents had figured out the Hawks and would get payback on the second half of the schedule. Towson was waiting to take first place. That UNCW faced an absolute must-win on Saturday.
Lingering concerns were quickly put to bed as the Seahawks raced to a double-digit lead and never looked back, hitting 17 3-pointers en route to a dominant 92-70 victory over the Tribe on Saturday at Kaplan Arena.
Mike Okauru scored a career-high 30 points thanks to eight 3-pointers, while graduate guard Jaylen Fornes hit five 3-pointers as part of a 19-point, nine-assist performance.
Here’s what we took away from UNCW’s win over the Tribe.
Statement Game
The mark of good coaches, great teams and the right culture is adjusting and responding to adversity, and Thursday night certainly represented the biggest piece of adversity that UNCW has faced since early December.
Elon not only executed better and won the game, but the Phoenix were tougher, more physical and brought more energy than the Seahawks in a game that might have given the rest of the league a blueprint.
On Saturday, UNCW did a complete 180-degree turn, and Siddle saw it coming from Saturday morning’s shoot-around.
“Coming out, I knew we had the right energy this morning when we woke up, and we did our walkthrough and we came over here and shot around, the guys had great energy,” he said. “They had the right mindset. I thought we came in here with one thing in mind and that was to win the ballgame.”
The zone defenses that stopped the Hawks on Thursday night, were a death sentence for the Tribe, as UNCW shared the ball and knocked down one open shot after another.
The Seahawks weren’t perfect defensively, but they brought enough energy to make things tough on William & Mary and keep them from dominating in the paint.
The mark of great coaches, good teams and excellent culture is the ability to bounce back, and Saturday, the Seahawks addressed every single failure from Thursday with a step in the right direction.
Okauru was incredible from the jump. Shykeim Phillips finished with 18 points and five steals. The list goes on, but each player looked like they took it personally and wanted to make a statement.
Sure, William & Mary is a struggling team — but it says something to go on the road and completely dominate a game.
Fornes the Win
When Fornes came back to UNCW, the most obvious impact he brought was a familiarity with Siddle’s style and an experience winning in the CAA.
Beyond that? His role was tougher to figure out after an inconsistent start that saw him move out of the starting lineup.
It’s safe to say that as soon as league play began, Fornes brought exactly the kind of veteran presence that Siddle needed out of a sixth-year player who’s already helped hang a banner in Trask.
Fornes was phenomenal on Saturday, ensuring the ball never stuck on the perimeter — something that doomed UNCW vs. Elon — and finding his spots to knock down shots.
He handled the ball confidently and decisively, playing 30 minutes with just one turnover.
Per KenPom, it was the single most efficient offensive performance of his career, posting a rating of 191. It’s a natural step for a player hitting 44.6 percent of his 3-point attempts in league play, while elevating his CAA scoring average to 11.4 points.
Elsewhere…
UNCW is back into a two-game lead in the CAA standings, thanks to Northeastern’s 58-53 win over Towson on Saturday.
The Huskies had been winless in the league until finally breaking through with a win over the second-place squad.
In a matter of two days, we’ve seen the league’s two best teams drop road games against the league’s two worst teams. A good reminder of how little separation there is in the CAA, where 16 of 53 games have been decided by four points or gone to overtime — a total that ranks fourth nationally.
The Tigers, at 8-4, still represent UNCW’s biggest threat in the league, while Delaware and Hofstra are hanging around at 6-4.
Most significant in that group, Towson and Delaware still need to complete a game that was suspended with the Blue Hens leading early in the second half.