UNCW needs to put a strong 40-minute effort together vs. Stony Brook

UNCW (21-8, 11-5 CAA)
vs. Stony Brook (10-19, 6-10)

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

This one doesn’t have anything to do with the standings — it’s all about the Seahawks playing to a standard.

UNCW returns home for the first of two games to close out the regular season, opening the weekend slate with first-time visitor Stony Brook on Thursday night at Trask Coliseum.

With no tournament implications hinging on the result, there’s something even bigger at play — how do the Seahawks bounce back from a disappointing loss at Delaware?

Luckily, there are reinforcements on the way tonight.

A few things to watch…

UNCW Game Notes | Stony Brook Game Notes

KenPom rankings for UNCW: No. 162 overall; No. 233 offense, No. 104 defense.

KenPom rankings for Stony Brook: No. 334 overall; No. 331 offense, No. 300 defense.

KenPom forecast: UNCW 70, Stony Brook 57 (88 percent chance of victory.)

Stony Brook personnel: G Tyler Stephenson-Moore 15 points, 4.5 rebounds; F Frankie Policelli 13.3 points, 9.2 rebound; C Keenan Fitzmorris 9.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 55.7 FG%; F Kenan Sarvan 8 points, 3.5 rebounds; G Toby Onyekonwu 7.1 points, 2.6 assists; G Tanahj Pettway 6.9 points, 3.2 rebounds.

When last we met: UNCW 62, Stony Brook 51

It was an absolute slog as the Seawolves packed the paint and dictated a physical, plodding game in which neither team shot it particularly well. Luckily for the Seahawks, Maleeck Harden-Hayes took over, scoring 25 of his career-best 31 points in the second half to close out a much-needed victory.

Stony Brook has some big dudes, so expect them to do more of the same in clogging the paint and daring the Hawks to beat them from the perimeter. As always, it’ll be about taking those inside-out threes rather than just settling from the outside.

In the Standings…

This game won’t haven impact on CAA Tournament seeding one way or the other, as UNCW and Towson are locked into the Nos. 3 and 4 spots. No matter what happens for either team tonight, Saturday’s winner takes the third spot, and the loser falls to fourth.

He’s Back

After a month sidelined with a fractured foot, Noah Ross returned to practice this week and is cleared to play tonight.

The freshman wing still has a ways to go with his conditioning before he’s back at full-speed, but expect him to see a few minutes this weekend, in preparation for a more significant role at the CAA Tournament.

Any minutes he can provide will go a long way, as analytics rate Ross’ two-way presence in the lineup as UNCW’s most impactful player.

According to CBB Analytics’ On/Off Ratings, the Seahawks are 19.4 points better per 40 minutes with him in the lineup. The offense is 9.7 points better, and the defense gives up 9.7 fewer points.

Despite averaging just 3.7 points and 2.9 rebounds, Ross rankings in the 95th percentile (!!) nationally for net impact. Essentially, the Seahawks have been playing without their glue guy 10.5 games — it was a bit naive for us to expect things would continue smoothly.

(FYI: Maleeck Harden-Hayes has the best overall offensive impact, and Trazarien White has the best overall defensive impact. In just CAA play, Shykeim Phillips has the highest net impact based on a massive defensive rating.)

The Lesson at Delaware

Looking back on the loss at Delaware, UNCW coach Takayo Siddle had a pretty simple explanation for why the Seahawks managed to make it close.

“We started competing like we’re capable of,” he said Monday on his radio show.

Siddle was clearly frustrated in his postgame interview with radio voice Mike Vaccaro, mentioning the Seahawks came out “too cool”, egos got in the way, and for some reason, they didn’t come out ready to play. He also pointed out that shouldn’t be a conversation in the 29th game of the season.

Most disappointing was that laissez-faire first half followed one of UNCW’s better wins of the season, as they gutted out a two-overtime win at Drexel.

Naturally, it’s fair to say the game at Drexel — with some guys going over 40 minutes — fewer than 48 hours earlier, might have had an impact on UNCW’s energy.

Siddle pointed out that just can’t be the case for a team with March aspirations.

“In order for us to win a championship and become the team we’re capable of, we just have to go up there and get it done, and not lean on those excuses and let those factors creep into our locker room, creep into our mind,” he said. “Hopefully, we can learn from that.”

That loss could turn into something positive, if the Seahawks allow it. One half like that from here on, and it’s going to have massive consequences — either in tournament seeding or the end of the season altogether.

We’ll find out quickly on Thursday if the message on urgency was received.

Trazarien’s Turn

It’s not a coincidence that the Hawks hit a few bumps around the time White did.

For a five-games stretch from Jan. 16 vs. Elon through Feb. 2 vs. N.C. A&T, White averaged 7.6 points and 3.8 rebounds with 2.4 turnovers. Over that run, he generated just 18 free throw attempts — probably the biggest indicator of how out of sync he’d gotten.

In the five games since then, he’s mostly been back to himself — save one night at Charleston — averaging 19.6 points and 6.6 rebounds on 50.7 percent shooting from the field. Over the current stretch, White has attempted 33 free throws.

Siddle credited White for making the effort and focusing on getting back to his identity.

“His work habits and his attitude,” Siddle said. “It’s very simple; when you have a great attitude and when you work at it, good things happen for you.

“I think leading up to his really good stretch, he had been kind of inconsistent with both, and he’s really turned it on over the last month. Hopefully he can continue to do that, and raise the level of some of his teammates, too.”

From his perspective, the slump seemed to make a real impact on White.

“He’s got great character and he cares, so I think it really did humble him,” Siddle said.

Nothing Free

After a rough start with turnovers at Drexel, the Seahawks stopped the bleeding and finished up with only 11 in the victory. Saturday’s 16 turnovers were the sixth time the Hawks have reached that number or more — four of which have happened since Jan. 19.

Too many of the turnovers aren’t coming in the face of pressure, but rather, forced passes and dribbling too far into traffic.

Siddle said he’d feel good if his team can limit turnovers to around nine per game — a mark the Hawks have hit nine times this season, winning eight games.

“That’s one of my biggest concerns with this group, is we’ve been turning the ball over a little too much for my liking,” he said.

If it appears the Seahawks are initiating the offense a bit quicker as of late, that’s intentional.

“We want to pierce the ball in the middle on the blocks, so we know where we want to go, and we try to get there as quick as possible, to limit our ball reversals,” he said, “Because I don’t think right now we’re a great decision-making team, and passing and catching, right now, has been a little suspect at times.”

Around the CAA

Heading into the final weekend set of the regular season, more than half of the league still has a chance to finish dead last in the standings. Not great! If the upper half of the league had really separated and dominated the weaker teams, Charleston’s tourney hopes would probably be a little better.

Towson at Charleston, 7 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

This is gonna be fun. The Cougars and Tigers have been the league’s best offenses — albeit in very different ways — since conference play began. A victory keeps Charleston in the regular-season title race, needing Hofstra to slip on Saturday vs. Northeastern.

Elon at William and Mary, 7 p.m. (FloSports)

Since an 0-8 start in CAA play, the Phoenix has won six of its past eight games and has an outside shot at finishing as high as No. 6. Heck of a finish for first-year coach Billy Taylor.

Delaware at N.C. A&T, 7 p.m. (FloSports)

Nelson might have to carry the Blue Hens in this one, so expect highlights.

Northeastern at Drexel, 7 p.m. (FloSports)

Drexel, at home, is basically the ‘96 Bulls.

Monmouth at Hampton, 7 p.m. (FloSports)

An early preview of the play-in game!