Seahawks will play their third road game in four outings this season

UNCW (1-2) at No. 25 UConn (3-0)

8:30 p.m. | Gampel Pavilion | FS2 | Listen | Stats

UNCW Game Notes | UConn Game Notes

Ain’t no rest for the weary.

For the third time in four outings, the Seahawks will face a high-major program on the road as they visit UConn on Friday night at their on-campus home in Storrs, Conn.

UNCW, which currently has the nation’s sixth-ranked schedule, will be looking to get on track after a disappointing loss at Oklahoma on Tuesday in which very little went right for the Hawks.

Instead of having an opportunity to come home and regroup, the Hawks traveled straight to Connecticut on Thursday evening to prepare for their second Top 25 opponent of the season.

About the Huskies…

UConn was picked No. 4 in the Big East preseason poll, and so far, it has looked the part in three easy victories over Stonehill, Boston U. and Buffalo.

Preseason Big East Player of the Year Adama Sanogo (6-9, 245 pounds) is The Guy for the Huskies, and comes in hitting 65 percent of his field goal attempts en route to averages of 19 points and 9 rebounds in only 22.7 minutes. Expect to see plenty more of him in a competitive game.

He leads an offense that plays analytics-friendly basketball by getting to the rim (42 percent of field goal attempts), putting it up from beyond the arc (37.5 percent of attempts), or getting to the free throw line (24th nationally in free throw rate).

Former ECU guard Tristen Newton (14 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5 assists) is making a seamless transition at UConn, and the Huskies are expecting to have starters Andre Jackson and Jordan Hawkins back in some capacity tonight.

Huskies coach Dan Hurley was complimentary of UNCW in this quick preview from CT Insider.

KenPom rankings for UNCW: No. 210 overall; No. 214 offense, No. 205 defense.

KenPom rankings for UConn: No. 20 overall; No. 30 offense, No. 18 defense.

KenPom forecast: UConn 77, UNCW 58 (4 percent chance of victory)

First things first

We can all talk about the offense getting stagnant and the ball sticking, and we can break down where the defense wasn’t perfect on Tuesday night, but all of that is secondary to where the problems started.

For the first time in a long time, the Seahawks just didn’t look like themselves — and it was apparent from the opening tip.

“We didn’t have it tonight,” Coach Takayo Siddle said. “It was one of those nights — and you have some of those — where you’re a couple of steps too slow. We didn’t have the same type of force and energy that I’m used to us having.”

It had been 11 months — since the Jacksonville Debacle on Dec. 11, 2021 — that the Seahawks never truly recovered from taking a few early punches.

When you’re a smaller team that presses, emphasizes attacking the paint and needs guards to rebound, it all starts with energy, tenacity and toughness.

UNCW has gone 25-6 since that turning-point game season. That’s plenty of evidence to suggest Siddle will get his message across, and we’ll see the level of fight that’s become this program’s calling card.

Working Too Hard

Not only has UNCW not put itself in position to succeed offensively, it’s also suffering some bad shooting luck to compound the issue.

The offensive performance in the victory over Allen was a thing of beauty, as the Seahawks created one easy bucket after another, piling up 27 assists en route to shooting 60 percent from the field.

It couldn’t be a bigger departure from how hard the Seahawks have worked to create buckets vs. UNC and Oklahoma, managing a total of seven assists on 37 of 115 (32.1 percent) shooting, including 6 of 37 (16.2 percent) from 3-point range.

UNCW has missed some good shots — wide-open, in-rhythm looks that just didn’t go down. That will level out, just like it did last season.

For that to happen, though, the Hawks have to eliminate some of the bad shots they’re taking right now. There’s not enough ball movement, which is leading to ill-advised drives, dribbling into trouble and the occasional late-clock hoist.

According to KenPom, the Seahawks are currently averaging 19.9 seconds per offensive possession — No. 349 out of 362 teams.

The shot chart below, from CBB Analytics, shows the Seahawks’ shots vs. Division I opponents. Shooting percentages by location on the left; where they’re taking shots on the right. Red is higher than average, blue is lower.

Now, take a look at the Oklahoma game’s shot chart individually.

UNCW actually got more shots off in the paint and at the rim, took fewer mid-range jumpers and created some open 3-point looks, but still, the offense just wasn’t clicking.

“We didn’t get the ball moving from side-to-side like I wanted to,” Siddle said, “and then when we did catch the ball, we weren’t ready to shoot; we weren’t play-ready before the catch.”

What exactly does that mean for tonight?

Alongside Sanogo, UConn has Donovan Clingan (7-2, 265) and Alex Karaban (6-8, 210) helping protect the rim as the Huskies rank 35th nationally in shot-blocking rate.

The Seahawks have to change the shape of the defense tonight with quick penetration, strong cutting and crisp ball movement, because those windows will be closing quickly.

Noah’s Arc

If there was one bright spot on Tuesday night, it was freshman Noah Ross.

Ross didn’t get into the game until things had already gone sideways, with Oklahoma leading 33-18 with 4:18 to go in the first half, and it’s unclear whether his minutes were originally part of the plan or coaches were just looking for a spark.

Regardless, Ross took advantage of his opportunity and ended up on the floor for a total of 17 minutes, including 13 in the second half — more than three starters.

He didn’t put up huge numbers (4 points, 2 rebounds) or do anything flashy, but he played every possession with his hair on fire and looked plenty comfortable on the floor against a high-major team with some experience.

“I’ve got to play him more; I learned that for sure,” Siddle said.

Asked by play-by-play man Mike Vaccaro what he saw from the young guard, Siddle replied: “His effort, his competitiveness, his toughness — that’s all I ask the guys to do, and he brings that every day. I’ve got to get him on the floor more.”

It certainly doesn’t appear the stage is too big for Ross, and we’ll likely see more of him starting tonight.

Tip-Ins

• John Fanta will have the play-by-play call on FS2 with analyst Donny Marshall.

• Forward Trazarien White leads UNCW in scoring at 18.3 points — the Seahawk averaging in double-figures.

• Seahawk big man Amari Kelly has made 11 of his 12 field goal attempts.

• UNCW’s three Division I opponents (North Carolina, Oklahoma and UConn) this season have combined for 12 Final Four appearances and six national championships since 2002.

• This marks the second all-time meeting between the teams, as UConn took the first with a 94-55 win on Dec. 20, 1997. UNCW coach Jerry Wainwright was quite enamored with UConn big man Jake Voskuhl: “He knows his role; he’s 6-feet-11 and 240 pounds of glue. You put all those racing tires around that big ol’ chassis there and that really helps them. Sometimes he goes unnoticed, but he really caused us a lot of problems. You tell him if he ever wants to leave the cold and come on down to the shore, he’s already got the beach boy haircut and I’ll take him.”