By Kyle Kandetzki – Assistant Sports Editor This is “The Scouting Report”, an online feature from The Hofstra Chronicle where we go in-depth on the Pride’s upcoming opponent. Stats and insight will be provided to help Hofstra fans know what to expect with each coming matchup.
The non-conference slate is over, and the time to tune-up has come to an end. Conference play throughout college basketball opens this week, including in the Colonial Athletic Association. The opening CAA matchup for the Hofstra Pride men’s basketball team pits them against the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks in Wilmington, North Carolina. The Pride finished 2014 with a 9-4 record, including two wins to round out the year.
THE BASIC INFORMATION: UNC-W is located in Wilmington, North Carolina, and has over 13,000 students. UNC-W has been a member of the CAA since 1976, and plays in the 6,000-seat Trask Coliseum.
HISTORY: The Seahawks were a historically unsuccessful team since the program’s DI inception in 1976. They were able to have positive seasons, but never placed themselves in a tournament. This all changed in the early 2000s when they captured their first CAA crown, and were able to produce three more titles in 2002, 2003, and 2006. The Seahawks took their lone tournament win in 2002 in an upset over 4th seed USC.
LAST YEAR: The Seahawks haven’t been quite as successful since their early 2000s victories. Their struggles peaked with a 9-23 effort last season, and a 3-13 record in CAA play, good for last place. They also fell to the Pride in both meetings between the two.
THIS YEAR: Another year of failure equated to a coaching change, and things are somewhat promising so far: they are 5-6, more than halfway to their win total from last year. Their losses include some prominent teams, including an 11-point loss to #4 Louisville. They also lost to good programs like Minnesota, 9-2 Davidson, and a currently 11-1 Old Dominion, but all by 19 points or more. The team’s only bad losses came to the unimpressive Campbell University, 69-63, and a collapse versus Ohio a few days ago.
Though they have taken on some good teams, their wins aren’t too impressive. They’ve defeated under .500 Southern Conference teams in VMI and UNC Greensboro, 6-8 Liberty University, and Division II St. Andrew’s University. Their biggest win came in a 66-54 effort against the AAC’s East Carolina.
THE COACH: In his first season in Wilmington is Kevin Keatts, a former DIII guard in the early 90s. Keatts is in his first DI head-coaching role, but was an assistant with the Louisville Cardinals for the past three years, including the 2013 National Championship team.
CURRENT ROSTER: The Seahawks are anchored by three backcourt members who average over 11.5 PPG: seniors Freddie Jackson and Addison Spruill, as well as junior Craig Ponder.
Jackson has seen a doubling in his production from last year (7.3 PPG to 15.4), but has been a player with on-and-off tendencies. He is an efficient 47% from the field overall, and his put up over 20 points on three occasions. But in three different games, Jackson has disappeared with single-digit efforts, including one game where he shot 11% (more on that later). Relooking at Jackson’s positives, he is one of the team’s better rebounders with 6.5 per game, and is accountable to play nearly the entire game with 36.3 minutes on average.
Fellow senior guard Spruill adds 12.2 PPG, and efficient rebounding as well with 5.6 RPG. Spruill, who transferred from a junior college before the 2013-14 season, has similar efficiency numbers to Jackson (45% from the field), but doesn’t take as many outside shots, and struggles from the free-throw line (57%).
Ponder adds 11.8 PPG, and leads the team in assists, but with only 2.8 on average. His shorter stature in comparison to his fellow guards (6’1” vs. 6’4”) doesn’t give him the dual threat as a rebounder, but Ponder is the most efficient three-point shooter at 53%. The three guards combine for nearly 4 steals per game.
Last year’s “team MVP” Cedrick Williams is the Seahawk’s only starting forward, and the last player to average over 20 minutes per game. Williams isn’t necessarily a huge offensive threat because, though he puts up 8.1 PPG, he has only hit double figures twice. Williams is an efficiently selective shooter, with a 49% field goal percentage, and uses his 6’9” height to pull down a team high 7.2 boards per game.
At center is C.J. Gettys, who only takes about 14 minutes per game as a starter, and puts up only 4 PPG. His 7’1” height definitely could serve a big purpose defensively, though.
On the bench, UNC-W has a sizeable amount of reserves, with four options that add 12+ minutes per game. The team’s sixth man is guard Jordan Talley, who puts up 6.3 PPG, but is very inefficient with a 32% mark from the field. UNC-W’s first reserve forward is Dylan Sherwood, who plays 18 minutes on average, adds 6.6 PPG, but only puts 2.6 boards up, though sharing the same height as his forward counterpart Williams.
WEAKNESSES: If there were anytime the Pride would want this UNC-W team, this would be the best pick. The Seahawks are coming off a poor effort against a struggling Ohio team in a 72-53 loss. Wilmington led by four at the break…but then the second half happened. They only scored nineteen total points (even less than CCSU in the first half vs. Hofstra!), on 6-of-35 shooting. Jackson shot 1-for-9 on the night, while Talley missed all of his six shots. The Seahawks will definitely be playing catch-up after this effort on December 30th.
UNC-W’s top three guards have efficient scoring tendencies, but also struggle to keep control of the ball (along with several others). The Seahawks are among the top 25 teams in the nation in most turnovers per game with 16.1.
UNC-W also has a problem keeping point totals low: they rank 312th (out of 351) in the nation in best defenses, allowing 72.8 PPG. This includes surrendering 108 points to Minnesota, a team that sits just two spots ahead of Hofstra in total PPG.
THE MATCHUP: UNC-W has its holes, but their offensive attack is one that is in the neighborhood of Hofstra’s: 72.5 PPG vs. Hofstra’s 81, and UNC-W did it against a much tougher schedule. The jury is still out on whether this UNC-W team is a contender in the CAA.
Hofstra has had its struggles keeping point totals low, but not to the lengths that UNC-W has, but again, one has to keep in mind the opponents that both teams have faced. Hofstra has had one of the easiest schedules in the nation, while UNC-W’s pulls up around the middle of the pack. But taking everything at face value, Hofstra will simply need to put in a better than average performance on defense to beat this Seahawks team.
Many have been waiting for when this Pride offense is going to let up, and it has not 13 games into the season. A team that can have five (or more) players go into double figures on any given night should be enough to take down a poorer defense. A Juan’ya Green triple-double or an Ameen Tanksley 30+ point effort wouldn’t hurt, though.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Quite simply, this is when it all begins to matter. Coach Mihalich has had 13 games to tune up for this afternoon, and it doesn’t begin easily at all. Hofstra has four games in a one-week period, three of which are on the road. Hofstra is familiar to a lot of games in a short period of time though, when they had four games from November 21-28. The Pride took three of those four, but the loss was glaring: a late collapse loss against South Florida. This upcoming stretch doesn’t feature the CAA’s best, but will test the Pride either way.
Information on injured forward Rokas Gustys has been slim, but any fan will cross their fingers that he has been warming for a return for this game. This is when the team will want to be at full-strength, and judging by some more lively movement in warm-ups before Hofstra’s game against LIU-Brooklyn, Gustys can’t be too far away.
One can’t help but be scared of what will happen if Green or Tanksley’s play slips, but for now that worry is off the radar. Green’s 6.7 assists per game put him at ninth in the nation, while Tanksley’s 19.5 PPG puts him at 23rd in the nation. Green adds 17.7 points to the mix, while Ameen has only shot under 50% three times. This duo is the scariest in the CAA.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS Pride Green (17.7 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 6.7 APG) Nichols (6.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG) Bernardi (12.9 PPG, Last 2 games: 7-for-11 from three) Tanksley (19.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG) Kone (Season-high 12 pts v. CCSU)
Seahawks Spruill (12.2 PPG, 5.6 RPG) Ponder (11.8 PPG) Jackson (15.4 PPG, 36 MPG) Williams (8.1 PPG, 7.2 RPG) Gettys (3.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG)
NEXT UP: vs. Delaware 1/5