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To say that this game had the true feeling of a rivalry would be a severe understatement. This matchup features a rematch of the CAA conference championship game from last season that saw Charleston earn its NCAA tournament berth following a 63-58 victory. The Cougars also won the regular season series 2-0 last year and they were 6-4 in the last ten meetings heading into this matchup. The energy inside of Trask Coliseum was unlike any other from a mid-major crowd that I have ever experienced. Given all of the previously mentioned factors, the game was sure to live up to the hype... and that it did.
The first half was a battle for UNCW, specifically from an offensive standpoint. Charleston did a great job of shutting down Trazarien White, who was 2-9 from the field in the first half. A big part of why UNCW struggled was Charlestons' defense was forcing UNCW into shots that were very late in the shot clock so the possessions ended in a rushed, contested shot a lot of times. I asked UNCW head coach Takayo Siddle about this adjustment for them at halftime. This was his response:
"I got a little frustrated with my staff. The plan was to make sure we stayed in the middle of the court [the middle third]. We did it a little bit but I thought should have done it a little more. We were trying to get from side to side and weren't getting any penetration plays."
He also spoke highly of his team's defensive adjustments as well:
"We held them to 31% [from the field] in the second half. We weren't really guarding in the first half. It was way to easy for them [Charleston]. That's what won us the ball game.
I asked him what he saw from his guys that weren't just steals and blocks (8 combined) and he was super confident in what got them the victory:
"We were feisty...flying around. We were sound when we needed to be... we adjusted our pick and roll coverage, we wanted to help off certain guys. Our guys made the adjustments and we fought like crazy and we made them miss."
In the second half, Charleston got a valiant effort from their uber-talented big man Ante Brzovic. He finished the game with 27 points, a career-high, as well as hauling in 11 rebounds. One of the biggest reasons that Charleston maintained a lead for a lot of the second half until the final five minutes, where they didn't score another point, was they were relentless on the offensive glass. It could have been a thing that killed the Seahawks but when Charleston was getting those offensive rebounds, they weren't converting them. They had 13 offensive rebounds in the second half with only 11 second-chance points. UNCW won this battle in the first half with 9 offensive rebounds and 10 second chance points. Credit to Charleston and Coach Kelsey for making that adjustment.
UNCW had two contributors who deserve a ton of credit for their team's victory. The leading scorer for the Seahawks was KJ Jenkins, who had 20 points and 4 rebounds. He became a member of the 1000 career point club in UNCW's victory at Elon on Thursday, January 18th, 2024, and was honored before the game.
The second guy was Shykeim Phillips. Phillips with less than two minutes remaining stole the ball from Ante Brzovic and then followed that up on offense with a mid-range jumper that would seal the victory for the Seahawks.
Both Jenkins and Phillips first and foremost, thanked Christ for allowing them the opportunity to be out there competing. I will always have respect for athletes who have the courage to stand up and use their platform to thank and glorify God.
I would be doing Teal Nation a huge disservice if I did not mention how important they were for UNCW in this game. The students were outside of Trask Coliseum hours before tip, filled the student section over an hour before tip, and most importantly, they were LOUD. After the win Coach Siddle was elated and here were his sentiments regarding the fans the atmosphere:
"That was fun. That was an electric atmosphere. That was the best atmosphere that I have been apart of... my time here, my time at NC State. That was better than UNC and North Carolina State rivalry and North Carolina State and Duke... It was all because of our fans...they got here early... they were rowdy."
So what is my biggest takeaway?
It is going to be a shame that both of these teams aren’t in the NCAA tournament come March and if you are a low seed that has the unfortunate task of playing one of these two squads, look out.
UNCW's next game is at Northeastern on Thursday, January 25th at 7 pm EST.
College of Charleston's next game is at Hampton on Thursday, January 25th at 7 pm EST. Follow me on X (@TrevorEverette) for more college basketball content this season and you can read my written work here on House of College Hoops!