UNCW Begins Final Stretch at Drexel
The Seahawks are tied for first place in the CAA standings
UNCW (19-8, 13-3) at Drexel (14-12, 9-7)
7 p.m. | Daskalakis Athletic Center | FloHoops | Listen | Stats
Finally, a quiet week for the Seahawks to rest up and recuperate.
All it took to get here was a wild three-game week that included an overtime victory, a dramatic senior night rally that included a bench-clearing fracas, and a disappointing performance in the league’s biggest matchup of the season that saw a rotation player go down with injury.
And from that chaos all that chaos? Not much in the way of clarity, as UNCW begins the final weekend of CAA play in the center of a three-team sprint for the conference’s regular-season title.
Game Notes: UNCW | Drexel
Tonight, the Seahawks will look to take a step closer a worst-to-first turnaround in Philadelphia, where they’ll meet a dangerous Drexel team at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.
Here’s everything you’ll need to know to get ready for tonight’s game.
KenPom rankings for UNCW: No. 210 overall, No. 189 Offense, No. 226 Defense.
KenPom rankings for Drexel: No. 141 overall, No. 135 Offense, No. 161 Defense.
KenPom forecast: Drexel 73, UNCW 66 (27 percent chance of victory).
When Last We Met…
It’s going to be hard to top this one.
Trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half, the Hawks turned up their defensive pressure, became a little more intentional in their shot selection and completed the comeback for a school-record 12th straight victory.
The Dragons started hot, hitting four 3-pointers in the first seven minutes before UNCW locked in and provided any resistance on the defensive end.
Once the Seahawks extended their pressure, they completely dominated the game and built a comfortable lead in the second half.
Jaylen Sims scored 19 points to lead UNCW, while Mike Okauru added 16 and James Baker had a solid night with 11 points and eight rebounds.
One Big Adjustment
When UNCW coach Takayo Siddle speaks to his team for the last time before tipoff tonight, it’s a good bet he won’t be talking about the first offensive set or how they’ll be handling screens.
He laid out the biggest key to beat the Dragons plainly during his radio show on Monday.
“Just wanting the game more than them; making all the toughness plays, making sure we don’t beat ourselves,” Siddle said. “I think that’s more important than any type of scheme or strategy we can come up with; just going out there and competing and being tougher than them is the main thing.”
Toughness has defined the Seahawks this season, in ways that analytics and stats can’t.
More often than not this season, UNCW has been the tougher team when it matters most, going 11-3 in games decided by six points or fewer this season. When leading with five minutes to play, the Seahawks are 16-1.
Sometimes, it takes a few minutes for that toughness and focus to get activated, though, as we saw in the first 10 minutes when these teams met in Wilmington.
There’s also the aspect of physical toughness, which opponents have zeroed-in on as of late in attempt to keep the Seahawks out of the lane.
Elon, Hofstra and Towson have all used the same recipe to some extent in beating UNCW: fill up the lane, get as physical as the officials will allow and hope the Hawks don’t get hot from the outside.
It’s good coaching, and such is college basketball right now that it’s going to be allowed. Last week, ESPN’s Jay Bilas wrote about just how physical the game has gotten.
It’s late February, championships are on the line, and given the way the Hawks attack the basket, they’re going to have to show up ready for a rock fight.
On the Break
Having four full days between games will come in handy for the Seahawks, as they’re likely to spend a good portion of the game on the run.
UNCW’s fullcourt pressure was devastating that night in Trask, forcing 19 turnovers — 12 of which were steals — as the Hawks piled up 29 points off turnovers, including 13 fastbreak points.
The 29 points off turnovers were the Hawks’ highest total of the season, while the 19 turnovers and 12 steals were each UNCW’s second-best performance of the season in those areas.
Drexel’s high-scoring Camren Wynter (15.3 points) had a season-low eight points on 2 of 12 shooting, including missing all five of his 3-point attempts.
The performance was out of character for both Wynter and the Dragons, who rank 60th nationally in turnover rate (16.7 percent). Because they were so out of sorts, they weren’t able to fully utilize their size advantage with big men Amari Willians and James Butler.
Obviously, Drexel will make some adjustment in how it handles the press, but that’s not likely to change the pressure UNCW brings.
The Seahawks have been the best version of themselves when they’re trapping, running and finishing easy buckets, and it’s definitely an area Siddle emphasized this week.
“Our transition offense, I’m going to talk to them about it today, we’re kind of trainwreck in transition,” he said. “We need to clean that up. We haven’t had a lot of time to work on it, but we need to clean that area up.”
The Sweet Spot
Here’s UNCW’s shot chart from the first game, which reveals an interesting trend with regard to points in the paint.
UNCW ended up with 34 points in the paint, despite having a bad shooting night from heart of the lane.
“I thought too many times, we tried to challenge the big fellow, and he caught us in the air and blocked our shots — I think he had five or six blocked shots — so we have to make sure we lock-in on that,” Siddle said.
It was only three blocks, but it felt like more, because the Drexel bigs altered a few more shots in there when the Seahawks didn’t get easy layups.
Here’s how Jaylen Sims got to his 19 points vs. Drexel the first time around.
Rather than wildly flying into the lane, Sims used those mid-range jumpers that he loves so much to have a really great night.
Okauru also played to his strengths that night, taking the majority of his shots at the restricted area and below.
Not that anyone has had much success stopping Sims lately, as he’s gone for 22 or more points in four straight games, but it seems that he and Okauru should have an opportunity to again put up big numbers based on what the defense is giving them.
Shy’s Sweet Spot
It’s been an up-and-down ride for Shykeim Phillips over the past five games, ranging from a career-high 24 points vs. William & Mary to two-point outings vs. Hofstra and Towson.
A look at his shot chart covering that five-game stretch might just explain why:
Now, a look at his shot chart for the first 11 conference games:
Lately, Phillips hasn’t used one of the best tools in his bag from earlier in the season: his lightning-quick, pull-up jumper from right around the free throw line.
Given Drexel having rim protectors in the middle, this would be the perfect night for Phillips to use the trusty elbow jumper to help mix things up and make himself an even tougher cover in the paint.
After shooting 4 of 20 from the field over the past two games, it’s hard to imagine that slump will continue for a player that has been so good at manufacturing tough buckets.
Around the CAA
Going into tonight’s games, UNCW and Towson (13-3) are tied atop the CAA standings, but the Tigers own the tiebreaker by way of sweeping third-place Hofstra, which sits at 11-4 in league play.
Towson topped James Madison 84-65 last night in a game that was closer than the final score indicates. The Tigers have two games remaining, traveling to JMU on Saturday before finishing the suspended game vs. Delaware on Monday night.
Elsewhere tonight, Hofstra plays host to Elon, Charleston visits Delaware, and William & Mary travels to Northeastern.