Talkin' to Takayo: Shemar's Minutes, Shy Time, and Busting Through the Door

Here’s what Takayo Siddle had to say on his radio show Monday

With the Seahawks making a quick stopover in Wilmington before heading back out on the road, UNCW coach Takayo Siddle joined play-by-play man Mike Vaccaro for another edition of his radio show on Monday afternoon.

This time around, Siddle looked back on the Georgia Southern game and the entire nonconference slate, and talked specifically about Shykeim Phillips, Shemar Rathan-Mayes’ extended minutes on Saturday and what allowed KJ Jenkins to have a solid performance.

Watch Monday’s entire Talkin’ to Takayo via Facebook Live

The Hawks head north to visit Marshall in Huntingdon, W. Va. on Thursday night in their final game before the Christmas break, but first, here’s are the highlights from Siddle’s discussion with Vaccaro on Monday.

On how quickly the season is moving along…

I’ve been in it for, this is my 15th, 16th year, and it does go by fast. It does go by fast, and that’s why we’re always talking about in the summertime and the preseason of getting ready — as ready as possible — because the games come at you quick and you don’t have much practice time. You don’t have time to keep going back to things.

So, I think the way we approached this summer has really helped us navigate through this nonconference. And I was telling Coach Kanaskie the other night when we got on a bus to be sitting at eight and two right now with the schedule that we’ve taken on, all the road games and the short prep days, man, we’re in a really good place right now.

I’m very proud of our guys for staying focused throughout it all. They’ve been coachable, they’ve been great along the way and we’ve shown some really good qualities as a basketball team through this 10 games. 

On this team’s maturity as it relates to success on the road…

We’ve matured, Mike, I’ve said that to you a few times. We’ve matured along the way to have experience, to have veterans that have been through it, that know me, know the expectation, know our culture. I think that’s really carried us along the way throughout this stretch, and that’s a big reason why we’ve been so successful on the road this year. 

How helpful has it been that you’re able to work with your team more during the offseason?

Yeah, it is extremely important. It’s extremely important.

I’ve always said this, that’s the most important time that we’ll have together is building that foundation in the summertime, in the preseason. It’s so important to us.

It is exhausting. It is, because the normal human nature, when the summertime is here, we like to relax and do whatever we do in our spare time, but our weeks are very strenuous. We demand a lot of our guys in the summertime and it’s a foundational period for us to really lay a solid foundation to where when we get into the preseason, we can just build on it. When we get into the non-conference, we can build on it and it helps us get through it.

It helps us get through our non-conference slate and it carries us through our conference season as well. But it’s the most important time that we’ll ever have together. 

With the recent gaps in the schedule, do you go back to the fundamentals when you have this time?

Yeah, we have to. And we’ve had to when we had those little pockets of time to work on ourselves to really get back and hone-in on the fundamental part of the game and on both ends of the floor, it’s just not a lot of time to do it.

You’re worried about what’s very important to you, what your identity is, and then you’re worried about your opponent a little bit, so you don’t have much time to do that, but when we have time, we do go back and hone-in on the fundamental things that make us who we are.

What does it tell you about your team, that they’ve only turned the ball over 10 times in the past two games?

Well, it tells me a lot. We talk about it, but that’s one of those things where it’s like, it’s like free throws in the sense where you don’t want to talk about it too much because then you don’t want ’em to get timid. You don’t want ’em to get nervous about it.

So, it’s a fine line between talking about it a little bit enough to make sure they’re thinking on it and being conscious of it, but we’ve done a really good job. We try to keep the ball in our ball-handler’s hands, Shykeim, Tra, Donovan and Shemar.

We try to keep it in those guys’ hands, not put our big guys and guys that don’t handle it as well, we try not to put them in tough spots. So that’s helped us a little bit, but we have a veteran group of guards that really take care of the basketball.

They all are in the positive assist-turnovers and we have to continue to grow at that. I was a little upset with those five turnovers that we had because two guys had four and I thought the four that they had, they were just trying to force things too much. They were trying to force things too much and it made ’em look a little selfish, and they’re not selfish guys, but it looked that way.

We just got to continue to work at it and clean it up, and we’re playing some really good basketball right now. We’re not a finished product; we got a long way to go, but I like where we are right now. 

Because of the depth and spreading the minutes, is that a plus? Can you go harder in practice than you could in the past?

It absolutely helps us throughout the games.

Now, the other night it got dicey a little bit because I started to get a little nervous, started to get a little nervous when they were going on runs at certain points in the game. So, my lineups got messed up a little bit and I didn’t feel good about that, and I told our personnel guy Craig, I told him, ‘I don’t feel good about that.’

We have to get back to getting five-in and five-out because that’s a strength of ours and I think it wears our opponents down, but we certainly want to use that more times than not; it helps us throughout the game. It helps us be fresh when it’s winning time late, and then you talk about practice, if you come to our practices, there’s a war zone in there. So, it absolutely helps us overall. 

What concerned you about playing a winless Georgia Southern team?

Just everything that came with the game. Them being 0-10, that was concerning for me.

My mind immediately went to making sure that our guys had the right mentality and the right approach to our prep week leading up to the game, making sure that they understood that we didn’t need to worry about their record. We needed to focus in on making sure that we’re doing what we supposed to do and having the right approach going into the game so we can get the result that we want.

Obviously, they play a lot of guys, so knowing personnel and making sure that we knew their tendencies and what we were trying to take away, they played a unique style offensively in the half court to where we call it a one, two, two set. Everybody’s out on a perimeter and a lot of cutting and moving, so we talked about that.

Then defensively were really good at competing at the rim, making sure we didn’t have shot attempt turnovers and making sure we didn’t turn the ball over in general because they did a great job of turning their opponents over. All of that stuff concerned me.

The drive up, being in a town — where you’re probably used to this from being in Buies Creek for a while — but it was absolutely nothing to do. Just the overall feel of it just wasn’t comfortable for us, and then going over to the arena and being down in the basement, it seemed everything was uncomfortable, and everything was kind of stacked up against us, and I thought we handled all of that well.

And then you throw in the fact that we had finals so mentally the guys were exhausted, so everything really factored in. So this probably I was more nervous about this game than the Kentucky game, but I thought we did a really good job responding to adversity and getting the job done, and I thought we stayed connected throughout the whole game and I was very proud of the guys for getting it done. 

Did you have to create your own energy?

No, we didn’t talk about that. We didn’t talk about creating our own energy.

I thought we got off to a really good start and typical of kids, this 18 through 22 is typical for them to relax and get complacent and start divvying away from the plan a little bit, but I thought we refocused and had some really good spurts in the game. And then when it was crunch-time, our guys stepped up and made big plays when we needed ’em to.

What is it about Shykeim Phillips in crunch time?

Oh man, he’s just, if you look back when he was at high school, he was a winner; he was a winner. Then ever since we’ve been together, we’ve been winning.

He’s played in pressure games like that multiple times for us and he’s delivered. I tell you, at halftime I told Craig, I was like, ‘Man, what’s going on with him? He needs to get his stuff together. I’m upset right now. He needs to play better.’

I didn’t say anything to him. I don’t know if Craig said anything to him, but he stepped up in the second half in a major way. 

KJ Jenkins had a great second half. Did you see something that suggested the perimeter would be open for him?

I thought he started the game off well. We had been on him about shot selection and understanding, having a better feel on offense, and we watched a ton of film with him and talked to him about it.

I thought he started the game well. He came in, he made a really good pocket pass to Nick, he played some really good defense, some really good blockouts on the other end of the floor. I thought he had a good way about himself, and I think that bled throughout the game for him, the shots that he made in the second half, we ran a play that we always run when he’s in the game and they screwed it up like three straight times and we just wanted to keep going to it, and the guys made, everybody did their job, the passer, the screeners.

He did a really good job screening to get himself open and when he’s open, it’s going in. 

You had 15 assists on 27 buckets, and that has been going up. Has that been a point of emphasis?

It is; it has been. That’s a good recipe for us on offense, and I always talk to the guys about that.

The practice, the last up and down practice we had, I want to say was maybe Wednesday, Thursday leading up to the game, our practice numbers, we had 23 assists, only nine turnovers. We made 10 out of our 18 threes, we shot 68 percent from two in practice, so we talked about that a lot. We had multiple guys that scored 10 no more points in practice, we talked about that a ton.

That’s our recipe when we can share it, when we can make the simple plays, our percentages are efficient and everybody’s having fun. So that was something that we did well in practicing that led to the game.

Shemar Rathan-Mayes got extended minutes in that game. Was that by design?

Well, Shemar, I want to say this man, he’s handled whole 10-game stretch as best as any kid that I’ve been around.

When you talk about a limited role, somebody that has played in some games has had some DNPs. He showed up to practice every day. He’s been a really good leader for our scout team. He’s been a really good leader for the Teal Team in practice. He’s had a great attitude, he’s handled this as professional as anybody that I’ve been around, and he’s practiced well because of that, because he’s handled it that way and he deserved to play.

He deserved to play at that point in the game, we were looking for our best defensive lineup and he’s one of our better defensive guards that we have, and we wanted to put him in and try to control some of their penetration and bring a presence on that end of the floor, and he certainly did that. 

On Shemar’s ability to make a difference without putting up big numbers…

He impacted the game in a major way … through his play. Like you said, he didn’t score, but he defended; he was talking on defense, he was talking in our huddles, he was being a really good leader.

He does some tremendous things for our group that people don’t see, and I’m very proud of how he’s handled this time and hopefully his role continues to increase.

Is there a game that sticks out in your mind that really shows what our identity really is?

The Asheville game, I feel like in that game, going into it, what I wanted us to be, we were exactly that. We were dominant; we were dominant throughout the entire game.

We had great assist numbers. Everybody played, everybody played well. We were flying around defensively pushing the ball on offense, moving it in the halfcourt. I thought we were really sharp in that game and it got us off to a good start for the season.

I thought everybody, everybody was really confident after that game and they understood, ‘OK, this is what we could become,’ … right now I’m searching for us to be that dominant again, I am. But we got a little taste of it in that Asheville game, and we’ll definitely get that mojo back. 

You led by 20+ in the second half at Asheville. Is it like you’re playing against yourself at that point?

It is, especially when you hadn’t been through it yet with the group that you have, and that was one thing that we talked about after the game is OK, now the learning that we took out of that game is, ‘OK, when we have a lead, we have to make sure we manage that lead the right way, and we don’t let teams go on 10-0, 14-0 runs. We can’t let that happen if we want to be dominant.’

So, just coaching them through that, I thought it was a really positive thing coming out of the game.

Was it important to be able to do that in your first road game?

It was because of going into the game, their preseason, they were picked preseason No. 1 in their league, probably got a kid (Drew Pember) that’s going to play in the NBA on their team.

So, playing against a quality opponent like that in that type of environment on the road, I think it certainly helped us get our mindset ready for what was to come, and we’ve certainly had our lumps along the way, but that game helped us out a lot. 

On the FGCU game, and seeing the effort and focus after a tough loss…

That’s a great quality to have as a team, being resilient and resilient enough to bounce back after such a tough loss and some tough coaching, some tough love where it’s a couple days where it’s like it’s uncomfortable. Nobody’s really talking.

Everybody’s down because we got our tail kicked and for us to respond like we did and pretty much put it on Florida Gulf Coast for the entire game, very, very proud of the guys for that and what was ahead. If we somehow lost that game, it could have spiraled in a bad direction with East Carolina coming up on the road and then going to Kentucky. So that was on my mind a lot, so that game right there may have saved our nonconference season for us to respond like we did. 

Player of the Week: Shykeim Phillips

What do you see out of him and how he’s adapted to his role this season?

He’s been an experienced veteran. That’s what you expect out of him; he’s been around the block a few times.

He understands what I want from him. I give him so much confidence and freedom to where he can go out there and not have to think so much and just play freely, and he’s one of the most coachable kids that I’ve ever been around.

We always talk about how he earns the right to play well by his preparation on a daily basis. So, I could sit up here and talk about him for an hour, but he is everything. Like I said, he is everything that I want all of my kids to be about and when he’s gone, we’re going to miss him. We’re going to miss him. He’s absolutely working his way into being one of the UNCW greats.

How has he found balance in being a great point guard and while playing great defense?

Because he knows that that’s part of our culture, trying to be a two-way player and our defensive identity is what’s carried us through the last few years since I’ve been the head coach.

He knows how important that is and he knows that he’s a leader on that end of the floor for us. You look back at the game from the other night … I was more impressed with the seven rebounds that he had because we’ve been on our guards about coming and rebounding down, and he came up with some huge rebounds out of his area, and that’s just a sign of a kid being coachable and only caring about winning. 

On Shykeim not getting as much preseason attention as some of his teammates…

Don’t think that he’s even thought about that.

He’s put his head down and went to work, and he’s not a kid; you won’t see him on social media posting a bunch of stuff about himself, he doesn’t like to get the credit at all. He likes to fly under the radar and just work and let his game do the talking for him.

I love people like that; he gets it. He understands what it’s all about and like I said, I’m glad he is on our side and we’re going to miss him when he is gone. 

Who has it helped most to have Shykeim playing as well as he has at point guard?

It helps our whole group, I’ll say that, but it takes a little bit of pressure off of Donovan.

Donovan can scoot off the ball. They take turns, they take turns running point and I always like playing with two combo guards anyway and that’s what they are. But it takes a little bit of, it takes pressure off of Donovan to where he doesn’t have to handle the basketball the entire time he’s out there and he can free himself up and do what he’s probably best at, and that’s shooting the basketball from beyond the arc and he’s able to have more energy to lead, so it takes a lot of pressure off of Donovan.

You wanted to see more from the bench on Saturday. Did you see some of what you wanted?

I did. I mean, not just the bench, but the role guys.

I thought Noah played one of the best overall games that he’s played so far this season; he went to the glass a ton. I think he had five rebounds and he went so many times, it created situations where other guys got rebounds, they were so worried about blocking him out. He was diving on the floor, he had two assists, no turnovers. So, he really dialed in on just keeping it simple and trying to impact the game in other ways.

I thought Nolan came in and gave some really good minutes. We mentioned Shemar, I thought he gave really good minutes. KJ played a good floor game, Nick played a good floor game. Khamari had one of his better games, so I thought they got the message.

I didn’t mention Eric, the three-and-a-half minutes he impacted in a major way, got a big offensive rebound that resulted in him getting an open three in the corner. He had a good way about him, so I think they got my message. Now, we just have to continue to grow in those areas that we talked about. 

You’ve got on any given night, five or six guys that can get you double figures, another five or six guys that could be the glue guy that you need that night. I would think this is shaping up to be a special team…

Yeah, I’m sitting back, Mike, I’m sitting back in the office this morning and I’m trying to calm myself down. I’m like, I can’t wait to talk to ‘em because there’s so much more out there for us to get.

I want to see us get more gritty, I want to see us get tougher … it’s kind of like we’re holding back a little bit. I want us to just bust through the door and just be that dominant team, and I know it takes time, but as a coach you just want it now.

But we’re going to have a long talk today and just talk about a few things. I don’t like the fact that we went up there — and we did what we needed to do to win the gam — but just having that dominant mentality, we had ’em right, we wanted them and we kind of laxed up and got away from the plan a little bit, got a little selfish at times, which led to them closing the gap and making it more of a game than I wanted it to be.

But that’s just me talking as the hey coach wanting a little bit more … we certainly are playing some good basketball and growing at the rate that we need to grow at, but so much more out there for us to go get. 

On how things set up with Marshall and Arkansas, and Christmas in between…

Leading up to the Marshall game, obviously today is important for us and we’ll really talk about our mentality and approach before we go up there because at this time of the year, they know after the game that they’re getting ready to go home for a little while and we’ve got to make sure that they stay focused leading up to the game and the 40 minutes of the game.

Then after the game they can start thinking about whatever they want to think about, but I always feel like at this time of the year that the team that wants to be there the most, the team that’s the most focused for that 40 minutes — and not worried about going home for Christmas break — they’ll have a chance to be successful in the game. So, we’ll talk about that a lot.

Obviously get ready for them, Marshall, that is, and they’ll go home. Some will go home the night of the 21st and some will go home the 22nd because of flights or whatnot. Then they’ll be gone until mid-afternoon on the 26th. We’ll give ’em off until the 26th and then we’ll come back and practice and try to get all of the laziness out of your system and get all of the rest off.

Then we’ll head out to play Arkansas on 29th … and play them on the 30th and hopefully come back with two wins over the holiday break.

Some of these guys haven’t seen their families since summer. Is it important to remind them of staying focused for this last little bit?

Yeah, they’ll hear me say it so much they’ll get tired of hearing it, and hopefully after they hear it a million times, they’re thinking that way.

Yeah, we’ll talk about it a lot, just staying focused. We talked about it up at Georgia Southern, just our journey the rest of our season. We talked about five things that it was going to come down to and staying in the moment and making sure we’re taking care of the day that we were in.

That was something that we talked about and not worried about because I told ’em: I feel like it’s teams that have pretty much already tanked it — they’re done for the year, they’re done alright, they haven’t had success, so they’re done. Then, it’s teams that are playing for something, like I feel like we are, and we have to make sure that all the opportunities that we’re presented with, we handle ’em the right way. That’s a part of it. These next few days leading up to the game are important.

That game is important because it’s not just about the game against Marshall. Yeah, we want to win and get better, but we have to make sure that we understand that that’s a great opportunity for us to grow as a basketball team for later on in the season, and so we talk about that a lot.

I think that they understand having the guys that’s been with me for a while, they know what it’s all about and I think they’re doing a good job of telling the other guys in the locker room what the expectation is.

On Marshall and Coach Dan D’Antoni, who worked in the NBA with his brother Mike…

With that, obviously offensively they’re going to be a tough cover for us.

They play really fast. They space you out — driving kicks, shoot a lot of threes, so it’s going to be a challenge for us. Then on the other end, they switch one through five and that’s always tough for anybody to go against and they have really good size across the board.

So, it’s going to be a challenging game for us and I think we’ll be up for the challenge.