UNCW will look to push its win streak to six on Tuesday at Trask

UNCW (6-3) vs. East Carolina (6-3)

7 p.m. | Trask Coliseum | FloHoops | Listen | Stats

Finally, the Seahawks are back at Trask Coliseum, and for the first time in 290 days, they’ll be joined by a Division I opponent.

Riding a five-game winning streak, UNCW returns home on Tuesday night to meet East Carolina, ending a two-year hiatus with the 68th all-time meeting between the programs.

Here’s what to watch for as the Seahawks tip off an important homestand after taking a major step forward in winning the Baha Mar Nassau Championship, then following it up with a gritty victory at Coastal Carolina.

UNCW Game Notes | ECU Game Notes

KenPom rankings for UNCW: No. 159 overall; No. 212 offense, No. 127 defense.

KenPom rankings for ECU: No. 210 overall; No. 204 offense, No. 218 defense.

KenPom forecast: UNCW 69, ECU 64 (70 percent chance of victory).

About the Pirates

Personnel: PG Javon Small (17.7 points, 5.9 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 38.2 percent 3PA), F Brandon Johnson (13.4 points, 8.8 rebounds), G RJ Felton (12.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 54.5 percent 3PA), G Jaden Walker (5.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 50 percent 3PA).

Coach Mike Schwartz appears to already have ECU headed in the right direction, just a few games into his time in Greenville.

The Pirates have a few nice victories already, beating Toledo, Campbell and Mercer, and largely, they’ve done by taking — and making — a ton of threes. ECU is taking about 47 percent of its field goal attempts from beyond the arc, a proportion that ranks 22nd-highest nationally.

Small (above) runs the show, and while he’s plenty comfortable getting shots up, he ranks 19th nationally in assist rate. Johnson and Felton will get their share of buckets too, but the Pirates could go as much as 10-deep, and everyone has a chance to contribute.

Notable Results: Wins vs. Toledo 86-75 on Nov. 22, beat Campbell 79-69 on Friday, beat Mercer 77-75 on Nov. 8. Lost to South Carolina State 73-68 on Nov. 29.

Mirror, Mirror

Given Schwartz comes from the Rick Barnes coaching tree, we’d better be expecting an all-out fight from the Pirates. It’ll be a battle for 50/50 balls and on the boards.

UNCW coach Takayo Siddle sees plenty of parallels between the teams.

“I know his team is going to be prepared; they play tough, they guard you well,” Siddle said. “They remind me a lot of us, where they’re very talented — deep — but still trying to figure out how to win consistently … really good guard play. They have a post guy that’s really good, so I think it’ll like playing against ourselves, to be honest with you.”

Between the rivalry and the nature of a physical, emotional battle on the floor, it certainly seems conditions are right for a vintage performance from the Trask crowd — and that can only be a good thing for this group of Seahawks.

“More than anything with our guys, is bringing that level of toughness and competitiveness,” Siddle said. “I always talk to them, ‘You have to have that if you want to win a game,’ and bringing that shocking energy to the game, and not playing into the crowd and playing possession-by-possession.

“If we do those things, we’ll have a chance to win.”

Catching Their Breath

After thousands of miles and a stretch of four games and six days, the Seahawks finally had a chance to sleep in their own beds, hang out in their locker room and practice on their home court.

With five entire days back in Wilmington, UNCW has finally gotten a chance to heal up some bumps and bruises, and spend some time making real adjustments rather than just trying to change things up on the fly.

With the Seahawks’ defensive performance continuing to improve, Siddle said he’s emphasizing that commitment.

“What we’ve done in this short break that we’ve had, is I put on the board, and I talk to them about why we’ve been successful … in our last five games,” he said. “We talk about it on both ends of the floor, we talk about it overall as a program — just some different things — and I ended it by saying, ‘We’ve won because of our defense. Here’s why…’”

A few stats from that five-game stretch, per CBB Analytics:

• 6.4 assists allowed per game (100th percentile)

• 55.2 points allowed per game (98th percentile)

• 86.1 Defensive Rating (96th percentile)

• 21.8 percent defensive turnover rate (92nd percentile)

• 24 points/game allowed in the paint (90th percentile)

• 13.3 percent shot-blocking rate (88th percentile)

• 18 points off turnovers per game (82nd percentile)

• 8.4 steals per game (78th percentile)

Those numbers came against three premier mid-majors (North Texas, Vermont, Missouri State), one solid regional opponent (Coastal) and a Division II opponent (Mount Olive).

Needless to say, things are going exceptionally well on defense for the Hawks, and Siddle sees it as where this team can hang its hat.

“We have to keep defending at a high level, because it travels,” he said. “We may have some games where we’re struggling to score, but we can always defend, and I think they understand that.”

With the Pirates success from deep, expect UNCW to focus on running them off the 3-point line on Tuesday night.

“They shoot 27 threes a game and they make — in their wins — they make 11 a game,” Siddle said. “So, guarding the 3-point line is the number-one key for us defensively.”

Feels like Shy Time

It’s been tough to predict whose night it will be for the Seahawks this season, which has definitely been a benefit.

“It’s kind of hard to prepare for that if you’re our opponent, you never know who’s going to step up and have a big game,” Siddle said.

But with Shykeim Phillips, a native of Winterville, getting his first shot at his hometown team — the Perch is willing to go all-in on him having one of his best nights of the season.

Phillips (10.1 points) has had a couple of big games this season along with a few uncharacteristically quiet ones of late, making 2 of 18 field goal attempts on his way to six points over the past two games. That did include the eventual game-winner at Coastal, though.

Siddle said he spoke with Phillips on Friday and pointed out that the junior guard has gone from a complementary scoring option last season, to the top of every opponent’s scouting report this season.

“He has to have some patience with himself, as he’s coming into a new role, and he understands that,” Siddle said.

What was different for Phillips in his 22-point performance vs. Vermont in Nassasu?

“He got in a groove, and I thought it all started with his defense,” Siddle said. “He got some pick-six opportunities for layups, and he was really active pressuring in the full-court; I thought he did some really good things defensively.

“He wasn’t as worried about scoring, and it kind of just came to him as his defense was at a really high level.”