Talkin' to Takayo: Early Turning Point, Transfers Settling In, and White Continues to Grow

Here’s what the UNCW coach had to say during his Dec. 12 radio show

Following a two-victory week, UNCW coach Takayo Siddle sat down with play-by-play voice Mike Vaccaro for another Monday edition of his radio show.

With the Seahawks riding a seven-game winning streak into the exam break, Siddle reflected on the dominant wins over East Carolina and Jacksonville, as well as taking a look back at the path his team has traveled to reach this point.

As always, he was willing to share plenty of behind-the-scenes insight on what has allowed the Seahawks, and certain individuals, to take leaps forward this season.

Catch the show at Noon on Mondays at Buffalo Wild Wings, or watch on Facebook Live.

The highlights from the conversation:

On whether the poor performance at Oklahoma was a turning point…

It was, and it wasn’t on the court. Not for me, not for me, it wasn’t on the court. I didn’t think we were showing humility. When I say that, we weren’t executing, we weren’t buying into all the little things that it takes to win ballgames consistently. We weren’t showing enough humility; we had a lot of immaturity going on, a lot of bickering going on about stuff that didn’t really matter. We were disconnected, we just didn’t show enough humility to, and we weren’t mature enough to win — even try to compete in those games.

We had a big meeting the morning after the game, and I broke it all down to them. We have seven core values that we talk about all the time, and I went down each one of them and told them, gave them examples of them not doing those core values or exhibiting those core values and what it really looks like. We had a heart-to-heart; they had a heart-to-heart team meeting. We came out and we really competed; I thought we out-toughed them, or at least matched UConn with the toughness and competitiveness — they were just better than us, and they’re really good, as we can see.

I thought that needed to happen after the Oklahoma game, and it’s helped us up to this point — it really has.

On the early schedule helping this team grow…

I think the tough times that we went through has helped us get to this point right now. I always revert back to those three tough opponents that we had early on; we learned a lesson in each one of those games and we made sure we talked about it, and we stayed true to the process, and we kept working, we kept learning and we hit our stride, and now we’re on a seven-game win streak and the guys deserve all the credit.

On his team’s balance and the offense getting going…

We’re a little more structured now, Mike. Early on, we were kind of letting them freelance a little bit within our base offense and it wasn’t going well for us; our shot selection wasn’t great. We talked about that every one of our games, and then as a coaching staff, we just decided we wanted to be a little more structured early on, and definitely in the middle of the game, toward the end of the game and our guys are buying into it.

We’re getting more quality looks on that end of the floor, and we’re continuing — our defense was always ahead of our offense — and we’ve continued to grow in that area. I want to continue to build on the success that we’ve had on both ends of the floor.

How important is self-scouting?

That’s the most important thing, and that’s what I really focus on more than anything. Obviously, I watch our opponents and our coaching staff, they do a wonderful job with scouting. We pay attention to our opponents, but fot me, I’m more focused on our team; always evaluating our team, whether we’re winning or losing to make sure we’re doing the right things to help us be successful later on in the year.

Always evaluating the team and making sure that I point out what we’re doing well and why we’re doing it well, and on the other side, if we’re not doing it so well, what we need to do to improve in those areas. That’s the most important thing to me — getting our team better and showing them what it looks like.

On the progress of younger players…

The culture is really helping them out, the culture of everything we do. I think the returners from last year are really helping them grow and showing them the way, and they’re continuing to stick to the process and work really hard every day and be very coachable. They’re all wonderful young men that want to get better, and they all love the process, so I think it’s a combination of those things that you’re seeing. Getting that in-game experience, you can’t really substitute that. So, I think all of those things are helping them out, and they’re just sticking to the process.

On preparing for ECU…

We knew we had to guard the 3-point line, first and foremost — 47 percent of their points came from behind the arc. We knew they took a lot of threes, and they make a lot of threes … then, making sure we don’t foul them. They get a lot of their points from the free throw line, 17 a game in their wins, and then we knew we had to clean on the backboard, because they do a really good job of getting to the offensive glass and getting second chance points. So, we knew we had to cover those areas. Our guys understood what we needed to do.

On the other side, it was like playing against ourselves: they get out in passing lanes, they’re athletic, they’re long, so we knew our shot selection was going to be huge, playing inside-out. I thought we did a really good job on both ends of the floor for about 30, 32 minutes out of that game.

On executing the scouting report vs. ECU…

I thought we did a really good job taking away their strength, and that was shooting 3-pointer sand making 3-pointers, what were they? 2 for 14? They get up 27 and they make 11 a game in their wins, so I thought we did a really good job taking away something that do really well — probably the best thing that they do offensively. I thought we did a really good job. Now, we needed to clean up our rebounding and we fouled a little too much for our liking — they didn’t make a lot of them — but I thought we did a really good job executing the scouting report for the most part.

On the early timeout vs. ECU that seemed to get things going…

We ice ball screens on the side, which means we force it to the sideline; that’s our base coverage, that’s our primary coverage. Our secondary coverage is switching one through five, and so leading up to the game, we hadn’t switched one-through-five in a few games. We were a little bit loose with that; our switches weren’t as tight as we needed them to be, we weren’t as play-ready as we needed to be, before the play started. They were cutting behind us and driving us a little too much, so we just needed to tighten up.

I knew it was going to be an issue because we drill icing so much — we work on it so much — that’s been what we’ve done in games, I knew our (starters) were going to struggle a little bit, but we tightened up and we were able to disrupt them to finish the half off.

On whether getting the ball to Trazarien White early was a goal vs. ECU…

was, it was. We want to make sure that we get him as many touches as possible, close to the basket. He’s really good at driving the basketball, but it takes a toll on his body, it takes a toll on him. Offensively, it makes us a little stagnant, so we wanted to make sure we posted him up a little bit and got him closer to the basket. He made some really good plays.

Not only did he score from that position, he made some really good passes out of some double-teams they were throwing at him. He’s coming along; I just want him to continue to grow.

On Amari Kelly…

He’s really matured, just overall, on and off the court. He’s really worked hard on his game to improve. He’s become really coachable. He didn’t get as many opportunities last year because James Baker was pretty good — he was pretty good for us. Amari did help us a lot last year, but he’s stepped into a bigger role, and he’s continued to get better every day.

He’s able to relax a little bit because he knows he’s going to play a lot, and he can take his time and let the game come to him, versus going out and forcing a lot. I felt like he did that a little too much last year; he was pressing a little bit. He’s able to settle in and get his rhythm. He’s doing a really good job on the backboard right now, which is I’m on him about more than anything. His pick-and-roll defense and his post defense is starting to really improve, and we need him to be one of the best guys in our league at defending pick and rolls and defending post touches. So, I’m looking for him to continue to grow too. He’s doing a really good job right now.

On sticking with a 10-man rotation…

We’ll see how that plays out; I don’t know. I’d like to play 10 guys if possible, but you just never know any given night, somebody may be having an off-night, or there may be foul trouble, but I do feel comfortable playing 10 guys right now.

Who’s been the biggest surprise on this team?

I would say, and this is crazy because he doesn’t really play a lot, Nolan Hodge — our freshman from Greensboro. I think he’s going to be a really, really elite player here, I do. I want to continue giving him a look. Probably him. I knew he was a talented kid, but I didn’t know he could do some of the things he’s shown me in practice, and I think he’s going to be a terrific player.

He’s just a really, really smart and good basketball player. His dad is a coach, and so you can really see that if you know basketball. You can see that his IQ is another level. He’s got great basketball feel. Like I said Mike, I think he’s going to be a terrific basketball player — I do.

On Maleeck Harden-Hayes hitting his stride…

He’s not so worried about scoring anymore. I think he understands his role is to be the best defenders on the court, one of the best rebounders the court. He’s really making a lot of effort plays, he’s increased his toughness; he’s playing some really good basketball right now.

The one thing that I think of when I think about Maleeck is, he’s a selfless guy. He’s a selfless guy.

On what he was seeing that upset him vs. ECU…

Obviously, you try to stay in the moment and be in that game, but I’m always thinking about improving during the game. I wanted us to … the one thing going into this year with this group is, I was worried about our maturity, and having that in-game maturity — when you have your opponent down — to continue to do the things you were doing to get the lead and finish strong. I didn’t think we did such a good job of that in the middle part of that first half; I though we let up a little bit and got a little undisciplined.

That was what I was unhappy about because I know the potential of this team and I want us to take those moments serious and grow in those moments, and I think we have grown from that game in our maturity. I’m proud of the team, and I think there’s a lot of good basketball left in this group.

Did they post last season’s score for motivation vs. Jacksonville?

We posted it all in our locker room and we put it on the scoreboard in the gym, we put it on the jumbotron. They were mad; they were telling me to take it down. Right before they game, they started ripping it off in the locker room, throwing it in the trash. I don’t think they really cared much about it after a couple hours, but we talked about it a little bit. We wanted to make sure that they understood that they had the same team returning, and how good they are. I think they understood that as we led into our scouting report with them, and we were really locked in. The guys, they were really locked in and they were ready to get at Jacksonville.

On what allowed them to get off to a good start vs. Jacksonville…

We always want to play inside-out, and we’ve been doing it a lot early on, going inside, throwing it inside to either Armari or Tra. I think they were expecting us to do something different. Last year, we went up there and we were really ball-screen heavy, and they bottled us up. I think they were expecting the same thing coming into this game, and it completely threw them off-guard and we were able to get some really good looks by playing inside-out.

Our guys capitalized by stepping in and making shots, we got them on the backboard a little bit, drove them a little bit, got them in transition. Our guys came out, I told them to hit first, and they hit first and kept on swinging.

On why he was upset at halftime vs. Jacksonville…

We got on our heels a little bit and we started turning the basketball over, and we started being lackadaisical with our energy. I just want us to continue to grow. We talk abotu having a killer instinct and when we get people down, jsut to try to bury them. I didn’t think we were as focused as we needed to be when we had the big lead, and we got really loose with some of the things we were harping on. I wasn’t happy about that.

When I went in the locker room, they were in there going off on each other and holding each other accountable, which was great to see as a coach. So, they understood where I was coming from. They want to be great; we know we want to compete for championships, and we know we have to be more focused for an entire game if we want to continue to work toward that.

Was that the most complete performance this season?

I would think it’s one of them. I thought we played a pretty complete game against North Texas; I could feel it when we played them, I thought we played a complete game up there. But a dominant performance? This was the most dominant performance we’ve had since I’ve been here, and the guys deserve all the credit. When you talk about them being able to buy into the scouting report, to take hard coaching, to go out and execute it on the court — they deserve all of the credit for that. I really like this team and the qualities we’re starting to develop.

On defending Jacksonville’s Kevion Nolan…

That was our number-one defensive key, locking in on him. We haven’t played against a team that one guy counts for so much of their offense, whether it’s scoring or assisted baskets, and he accounts for 37 percent of their points, whether that’s scoring our assisting his teammates. We knew we had to do a good job on him in order to have success, and I thought we took that personal. We really got after him, made him take some tough shots, we made it look really crowded for him when he was trying to drive. We really locked-in to him, and we made him have an inefficient game.

On Trazarien White’s performance vs. Jacksonville…

He played really composed. He let the game come to him; defensively, he was tremendous. I was on him in the second half about continuing to improve his defense and staying locked in, so his energy was there on that end of the floor. The one thing that’s not on that stat sheet is that he had 10 deflections, and he got the Toughness Chain because of that. He’s really growing, he’s really growing on that end of the floor, and we really need him to be one of the better defenders in the league, too.

Do you have a team captain, and is Trazarien becoming that guy on this team?

We don’t have captains. He’s a leader by example, he’s a leader with his actions. The guys respect him; they know how good of a player he is; they know how good of a worker he’s becoming, but we don’t have team captains.

On Donovan Newby getting more comfortable and finding a rhythm…

When you start seeing guys like him and Maleeck have success, for me, I immediately go to, ‘They just care about winning.’ When you’re thinking about scoring, when you’re thinking about yourself and doing things that make you look good, you struggle.

Those guys have thrown themselves into the team, and all they really care about is winning, and that’s what you see out there with Donovan and Maleeck. We have a lot of guys like that; I just want to get a couple of more guys on-board with that, to just throw themselves into the team and only care about UNCW.

Player of the Week — Trazarien White (17.5 points, 11 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2 steals)

He had a really good week for us, and we need him to play well in order for us to be at our best. The one thing that I keep coming back to him is, his practice habits have improved. I’ve been on him so much about it, because last year, he was a young freshman. Coming into this summer, we had some hiccups, and then, the preseason, we had some hiccups. So, he’s really buying into, ‘If you practice well consistently, you at least give yourself a chance to play well.’ And he’s been more consistent with that, and he’s starting to play some good basketball.

He understands now that he’s at the top of everybody’s scouting report, and that he needs to be able to make the right play — whatever that is. If that’s scoring, if they’re not converging on him. If they’re converging on him, kicking it out. He’s starting to make the right play more and looking for his teammates, and if he can continue to do that — him, along with Shykeim and some of the other guys — if they can continue to make the right play, it’ll make our team better.

Does the exam break bother you, given how well you’re playing?

I’m not concerned about that. We’ll practice … (today) we’ll have a team practice. Probably give them off on Wednesday and start getting ready for High Point on Thursday. As long as they stay confident, as long as they stay confident, as long as they keep buying into our system and what we’re trying to do on both ends of the floor, I’m not concerned too much about it.

How do you take advantage of the break?

Just evaluate our group. We had set aside, for this time right now that we’re in, things that we know we have to get better at, both on offense and defense. We’ll spend some time (today) really working on ourselves and trying to grow in certain areas. Probably Thursday, we’ll do the same thing and then after we finish practice, we’ll give them High Point personnel so we can move on and start getting ready for them. We’ll focus really hard on ourselves on Tuesday and Thursday.

Looking at the schedule in the preseason, it seemed crazy. Is that massive challenge beginning to pay off now, not just in the results, but how you’re playing?

I was thinking the same thing when I looked at the schedule. You can’t really look at the whole thing; you can’t look at the whole schedule. You have to take it game-by-game, because if you look at the whole schedule and you start saying, ‘Maybe we can get this one, maybe can get that one,’ it overwhelms you. That’s not how we operate; we operate one day at a time.

So, we did put it together and make it challenging so our guys could be ready for league play, and I knew there were going to be lessons early on that we needed to learn, and there will be lessons all throughout the season — but those were the most important ones, staying confident and sticking to what awe believe in, and learning from those tough losses we took early on, it helps shape who we are right now.

I think it’ll really pay off as we go on throughout the season. I think it’s helped us out, I do.