Talkin' to Takayo: Promising Freshmen, Getting Buy-In and Which Coaches are 'Good Cop/Bad Cop'
Here’s what UNCW Coach Takayo Siddle had to say on his radio show Monday
With the Seahawks riding an eight-game winning streak into the final nonconference matchup on the schedule, UNCW coach Takayo Siddle had plenty to talk about during his weekly radio show on Monday afternoon.
He looked back on an interesting 85-82 victory over High Point which included some really nice stretches for UNCW, but about 10 minutes of officiating-inspired insanity at the end — although Siddle took the high road on that.
Also, Siddle had much to say about freshman Noah Ross, who was named CAA Rookie of the Week after his career-best performance on Sunday with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists.
With the breakout performance, Ross became the 11th Seahawk (9-3) to post a double-digit scoring effort in 12 games this season.
The highlights from the conversation between Siddle and radio voice Mike Vaccaro in this week’s edition of ‘Talkin’ to Takayo’, with an eye toward Wednesday’s matchup at Campbell:
On his team’s eight-game winning streak…
Our guys deserve all the credit. Our coaching staff has done a wonderful job with preparing them, but they have to go out and do all the heavy lifting so they deserve all the credit. They’ve earned all eight wins we’ve had in a row, and I couldn’t be more proud of those guys. The buy-in; the buy-in to everything we’re doing on both ends of the floor is at a high level. Those guys are only caring about winning; what can they do on each end of the floor, what can they do for this team to help us win ball games? If we continue to make that top priority, I think we’ll continue to have success
On keeping his team focused when everything is going well…
That’s always a concern of mine, especially, you’re doing something special right now. Again, being on an eight-game win streak, we’re doing some wonderful things, and for me, that’s always a concern with young men getting complacent and looking too far ahead or not maximizing the day that they’re in.
That’s why we start so early in the spring and the summer to make sure that’s at the forefront of our program, winning each day. I think it’s engrained in their minds right now and they know anything other than that is not going to be tolerated in our program. It’s part of our culture, and the guys are working at it every day.
On relating lessons from last year’s 12-game winning streak to this one…
I don’t know if I necessarily can with this group. last year’s group, I had more older guys and guys that are more mature. I had to coach them through that time, but with these guys being young and experienced … I’m always just approaching it, talking to those guys about being humble and showing a lot of humility on the way. We just kind of take it one day at a time and focus in on being humble and making sure we maximize our days.
On playing with exceptional effort in every game…
I’ve seen that more times than not on this win streak that we’ve had.
Last night, I didn’t like what I saw at times. Every loose ball that’s on the ground, I want us to be first on the floor, I want us to dive and get it and be really stingy with plays like that. We are being tough; I do want us to toughen up more and be tougher more consistently and be really stingy with those loose balls and dominate them. That’s one of our standards — dominate effort plays.
We’re doing it pretty consistently, but I want to dominate them.
On the feeling anyone is capable of having a big scoring night…
I think so … our guys are always in the gym working, working on their games, staying ready for when their number is called. So, on any given night, a guy off the bench can have a huge night. A guy in our starting lineup that doesn’t normally score a lot for us, can have a big night for us because they’re staying ready for the moment and staying ready for when their number’s called.
On whether a coach has to adjust to ride the hot hand with a team this deep…
You absolutely do and with (Ross) I always play him the first three or four minutes and sub him out. Last night, I let him go a little bit longer because he was our offense for a while. It’s just having a feel and seeing those guys get started early, and if they’re having success early, I let them stay in a little bit longer.
On a freshman like Ross’ effort getting the older guys fired up…
You remember they used to call Tyler Hansbrough, “Psycho T?”
Well, that’s “Psycho N, Psycho N.R.” He is a guy that’s built off toughness, built of competing. You know, our whole group they feed off his energy and the way he competes, so I think they really like that out of him, and they feed off of it.
Is that type of effort and energy required in college basketball today?
I think for me, and my style, it’s being a self-starter and a guy that it doesn’t take much to get you going. I think those are the guys we do well with, and we have a team full of them.
On their gameplan for High Point…
We harped on how good they are offensively. One of the most potent offenses that we’ve played all year, and we talked about how many points they score a game, we talked about their players and their pace of play is something we haven’t seen all year. We really harped on transition defense and guarding one-on-one in the halfcourt and not fouling, because they get to the free throw line a ton — which they did in the game, a lot late.
For us offensively, being able to get paint touches and share the basketball and get on the backboard is something we talked about to the guys. I thought for the most part, we controlled the game, then the last 12 minutes of the game, it really got out of hand.
On how they prepared for High Point’s transition offense…
As we were preparing for them, we were going at a high pace. We weren’t taking the basketball out on made baskets — we were just going up and down. I told our coaches, ‘This is going to help our transition offense a little bit,’ and it did.
We felt like, going into the game, we could really hurt them in transition too, and we did for the most part. Like I said, in the second half, it got out of hand with some fouls, losing guys for open threes, guys were getting to the rim and finishing. But for the most part, I thought we controlled the game.
On how Ross’ hot start changed the beginning of the HPU game…
It opens it up because High Point, going into the game, he probably wasn’t even close to the top of the scouting report. They probably didn’t talk about him much offensively, and when he started making shots from the perimeter, it opened up some driving lanes for Shykeim and it opened up some post-ups for Trazarien (White) and Amari (Kelly) and Maleeck (Harden-Hayes). So, it helps us a lot when he’s making shots.
On Trazarien White’s consistent success this season…
He’s playing hard on defense; his energy is there and it’s opening up a lot for his offense. We’re putting him in post-up situations to get him a little closer to the rim, and he’s making really good decisions from there, other than the offensive fouls he was called for yesterday. He’s making really good decisions.
The one word people always use when they describe him is his, ‘Pace.’ His pace is really good — he goes at his own pace — and he’s really unorthodox with some of his finishes and the way he moves around a little bit. He’s playing really good right now.
We wanted to get him a little closer to the rim so he wouldn’t have to drive it from the perimeter as much. Get him a little closer and let him use his pivots and shot-fakes around the rim — that’s something he’s really good at it.
Is it easier to relay your halftime message when your team is losing or winning?
It’s all feel. For me, I told the assistant coaches — because we have our coordinators — I told them, ‘You guys go in there and talk to them about your areas. I’m more focused on how tough we’re being, and I don’t think we’re being tough enough right now.’
So, when I came in the locker room, that’s what I talked to them about; toughening up, rebounding better and getting all the 50/50 balls and being locked-in mentally. Those are some of the things I talked to them about; it wasn’t necessarily offense, defense with me.
We came out in the second half, and we fought harder. We took a 22-point lead at one point, then it kind of got out of hand, like I said.
On the difficulty of maintaining this level of effort and intensity for 40 minutes…
Well, we want to work toward that.
We always talk about getting to a point where we’re playing 40 good minutes. We were playing some guys at the end of that first half that we normally wouldn’t play in those moments, and also, everybody needs to realize this is — when you talk about game-experience — we’ve got a pretty immature group when it comes to game-experience.
We’re learning on the fly, so for us to be able to go through as much adversity as we went through yesterday and still come out with a win, I thought was pretty impressive.
On why the bench guys have been so successful in their roles…
They’re buying into their roles. When you come off the bench you can have a mentality where, ‘I’m coming in to try to prove myself and try to get a starting spot,’ which I don’t think those guys think that way.
‘What can I do to help the team? How can I do my role to the best of my ability?’ That’s what those guys are doing — just trying to help us win and playing their role to the best of their ability.
On Maleeck Harden-Hayes’ continuing progress…
He’s more comfortable and he’s really starting to get comfortable making his 3-point shots. Add that along with his ability to get on the offensive glass and get in the passing lanes and getting some easy ones and cutting off the ball and getting some easy ones. I think he’s just more comfortable overall and that’s what you’re seeing right now.
I’m happy for him because he really works on his game, and he wants to be good. He’s a people-pleaser, so he wants to do whatever he can to help this team out. I’m happy for him.
On Jamahri Harvey providing 10 points off the bench on Sunday…
That’s what I can expect out of him. I know when game-time comes, he’s going to be ready to play and produce. I know he wishes he had some of those open looks back, because I know he’ll knock them down next time, but he’s a guy that I can count on, a guy that I trust.
On how High Point was able to rally over the final 12 minutes on Sunday…
High Point had a lot to do with it — they had a whole lot to do with it. They were in panic mode, and like I told you after the game, we got in chill mode, cool mode. For us, as I think about it, like I said before, it’s impressive that we were able to go through the adversity that we went through and pull out the victory. We had foul trouble, we had some different, funky lineups in there. We were playing Maleeck at the five a little bit, Noah had to come in and play some four/five — it was a lot of different factors that played in us giving our lead up. But for us to go through that and have success was important, because we haven’t had a game like that yet.
When you think about our season so far on this eight-game win streak, we’ve won games in the 50s, we’ve won games in the 60s, games in the 70s and that was our first time — well, we scored 81 against Jacksonville — we scored 85 points, which is High Point’s average. We scored 85 points after an eight-day layoff, so did some good things and being able to win all types of different game, different styles is the sign of a team that can be really good.
On being able to beat an opponent at its own game…
We had to outscore a team that can really score the basketball, so for us to be able to do that, you’ve got to tip your hat to our guys for coming out and getting the job done.
On how he handles things when officiating doesn’t seem to be going your way…
Well, you just don’t really think about it. You try not to think about it, you try not to let your guys get into making excuses or arguing with the referees — you try to stay focused on what you need to accomplish, and that’s winning a ballgame and playing the right way.
It is frustrating, but they have a job to do — they have a tough job. It’s tough to referee us because we’re so pressure oriented, I think we’re pretty physical. So, it’s tough to referee a team like us, and High Point is the same way. So, they have a tough job, but it’s not my job to critique them or tell them what’s a good call or what’s a bad call. I have my opinion about it, and they have their own opinion, so that’s really all I can say about that.
On conditioning the officials to UNCW’s style of play…
I obviously talk to Coach Wainwright a lot, and we talk about his teams that he had, and they were physical. He said if it’s only one guy being physical, ‘Yeah, I get its’ a foul, but our whole team is doing it, so you have to referee us a little different.’ I think as we get going, referees will start to realize that a little bit more.
On establishing a firm rotation…
I’m getting closer to it, but it’s still hard, especially when you put a guy like Nolan Hodge in and he’s playing the way he’s been playing lately. So, I want to play him more, so just taking a look at that.
Even with our next opponent coming up, I think it’ll be more of a guard-oriented type of game, so our rotations will be a lot different in that game. I’m getting closer. I know for sure, seven guys that will be in our rotation on a consistent basis, but the other two spots, three spots, are kind of up for grabs.
On freshman Nolan Hodge…
I keep telling you, Mike, he’s going to be special — he is, man. His basketball feel is off the charts. Some of the plays he made when he came in: couple one-more (pass) threes to his teammates, pushing the basketball up, just getting the ball out of his hands at the right time. He stuck a three on the left wing, made his free throws. He’s going to be special.
On Hodge’s size at point guard…
You know I like that. Our best player last year was Jaylen Sims, and he was 6-6 running the point, so I really love having a big point guard. I’m going to work Nolan in a lot more than what we have.
Player of the Week – Noah Ross
He can be a Seahawk great — both of those young men (Ross and Hodge) can be greats.
He really works at it; he really, really works at it. It’s like Jaylen Sims, those type of guys. He’s obsessed with the process. Talk about a guy that’s getting up every morning at six, he reads his Bible, he meditates, he makes sure he eats breakfast, he makes sure he’s in the gym — that’s him, that’s the type of kid he is, and his parents have done an unbelievable job raising him. All he cares about is winning and helping the team out in any way that he can; what a selfless young man. I’m very, very happy he was able to have a career night and do some special things (Sunday).
I know what I’m going to get with him, and anything else is an added bonus. For him to score 15 points is an added bonus, but I know I’m going to get a high level of toughness and competitiveness from him.
On his team’s balance and depth
Every day when I write my practice plan up, I put on the top of it, “Team First.” I tell my guys that every day; it’s all about team, and it’s all about UNCW. We’re going to continue to remind them of that. I’m glad Noah got Rookie of the Week, and we’ll talk about that, but he doesn’t get that honor without his teammates, and I think they’ll really be excited about that for him. It’s all about team.
The star-power, do we have it? It’s not the same as it was last year. We have really good players, and players that will have a chance to make all-league and do wonderful things, but we have the makings to be a really, really good team — No. 1 all the way down to 13.
On unselfish play rewarding everyone on the roster…
It does, and the system is kind of designed for everybody … we always say, ‘Everybody can eat if we share the basketball, and make the right basketball play.’ If we can continue to do that, I think we’ll continue to have success.
Will you get a chance to relax and take time off around Christmas?
It’s hard to do that because, for me, I always use this time to go back and look at our numbers and reevaluate our team and see what we need to do when we get back off break to make sure we go into conference play ready to roll.
Maybe a day, maybe a day I’ll get a chance to spend some time with my parents and take a day off or so, then we’ve got to get ready. We practice on Christmas night, so I’ve got to be ready for the guys when they come back.
Is there anything special you’ll do for Christmas?
We normally like to go out to eat on Christmas Eve and spend some time together because I don’t get to see them every much. Just hang out and catch up and spend some quality-time together.
Is it tough to find balance and get time away from basketball?
I try to, as much as I can. I love trying all the new restaurants, doing some things like that. Right now, at this point in the year, we’re locked in on basketball.
Do you lean on someone experienced like Kurt Kanaskie to help find that balance?
He’s not the guy that I lean on for that — he never turns it off, ever. I feel like I have a really good balance. When I go home, I may spend an hour or two looking at some games or what not, but I think I do a good job of separating and getting away from it when I can.
Are you able to watch a basketball game for fun?
I try to, but sometimes I catch myself just watching something else because I want to get away from it. The Ohio State-North Carolina game was on the other day, and I was like, ‘You know what, I’m going to take me a nap.’ So, I took a nap, and I didn’t even check the second half out.
On the break his team will get for Christmas…
They get three full days off, and we’ll let them go home after the Campbell game and then we’ll bring them back on Christmas evening. We’ll practice about 5 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and we’ll probably be on the court for about an hour, hour-and-a-half and try to shake the rust off a little bit. Those practices are always fun, right, for coaches and players. Try to shake the rust off a little bit, then really start to hone-in on our next opponent the day after Christmas.
On the difficulty of preparing for the last game before Christmas…
I’m not sure that they will like me leading up to the game, today, tomorrow on gameday — I don’t know how much they’ll like me. I’m really sensitive at this point of the year because I know they’re thinking about going home.
One of my assistants said, ‘It’s probably good that we’re playing on the road so they’re not at home, worried about I’m leaving right after the game and my parents are waiting on me.’ So, they won’t like me very much; I’ll be on them, just making sure they’re staying focused on the task at hand.
On which roles the coaches play in ‘Good Cop/Bad Cop’
I’m always the ‘Bad Cop’.
Who’s the ‘Good Cop’?
Probably say Coach (Craig) Ponder and Coach (Paul) Hemrick. Sometimes we go into our coach-player meetings and I’m ‘Bad Cop’ all the time. You never know how Kurt Kanaskie is feeling, so he likes to go ‘Bad Cop/Bad Cop’ with me; I’m like, ‘Kurt, you can’t be Bad Cop, dude — I was Bad Cop.’
So, it’s always Coach Ponder and Coach Hemrick, they do a really good job of balancing us out.
On how they’ll approach Campbell…
When you play a team that, they beat you with the pass — we beat you with the bounce, right — they beat you with the pass. They’re really good with their speed-cuts, their backdoors; they’re really high-I.Q. players that understand that they’re not as athletic as most people they play against, and they try to beat you off the pass, they try to beat you mentally more than anything. So, it’ll be a different gameplan for us.
On balancing your defensive pressure vs. Campbell…
It takes a lot of focus and a lot of locking-in to the gameplan. It’ll be completely different from how we play every night. We’re going to be very sensitive to the back-cuts, and at the same time, be up close enough to where we can contest shots, chasing the loose balls down.
It’ll be a different gameplan, and we’ve always — knock on wood — we’ve had good success versus Campbell, and our guys have done a good job locking into the gameplan we’ve put in front of them. Hopefully, it can be the same thing on Wednesday.