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General Joe Browning

Seahawks Seek Capital Prize In DC

WILMINGTON, North Carolina – The UNCW men's basketball team hopes to build on a superb turnaround regular season by winning its seventh Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball championship this weekend in Washington, D.C.
 
The Seahawks, 21-8 overall, tied with red-hot Towson for the regular season title after matching the school record with a 15-3 conference record. It marks the first time since 2012 that two conference teams finished 15-3 in the loop (VCU and Drexel).
 
UNCW now sets its sights on the big prize and the CAA's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
 
"Being able to get a couple days off this week has been important, but we're eager to get back out there and start playing," said UNCW head Coach Takayo Siddle, the 2022 CAA Coach of the Year. "Getting rest this week was huge."
 
It all starts Sunday (March 6) at 6 p.m. for the No. 2-seeded Seahawks, who take on No. 7 Elon in the third of four quarterfinal matchups on the second day of the event. No. 9 Northeastern outlasted No. 8 William & Mary, 68-63, in overtime late Saturday in the opening game of the tourney.
 
UNCW returns to the floor for the first time since concluding the regular season in style with a pair of hard-earned road wins at Drexel and Delaware. The Seahawks have won five of their last six outings and closed out the month of February with a 6-3 record following a perfect January (8-0).
 
"I knew we had a good basketball team," reflected Siddle. "Like any season, there's highs and lows, especially with so many new guys. I knew it was going to take some time for everything to start to form, with getting the rotations set, and to believe in each other.
 
"We were able to put together a very good road swing in early January and got some separation. We started off 9-0 in conference play and that gave us a head start and set us up to finish well on the back end of conference play."
 
The Seahawks are competing in their 37th CAA Tournament and own a record of 41-30 (.577) in the season-ending affair. UNCW has won six tournament crowns (2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2016, 201) – tied with former member Old Dominion for the most in the history of the league.
 
UNCW and Elon are playing the rubber game in the series this year. Each team won on its home floor when the Seahawks prevailed, 73-66, on Jan. 12, 2022, at Trask Coliseum and the Phoenix turned the tables, 78-65, on Feb. 3, 2022, at Schar Center.
 
The two North Carolina entries in the CAA Tournament have only met once in the tourney. UNCW outscored Elon, 93-86, on March 9, 2019, at the North Charleston Coliseum.
 
Siddle said: "You have to take it one game at a time and you can't look ahead at all. Our main focus right now has been ourselves. We're just preparing the right way and making sure mentally that we're in the right place and go up there and play our style of basketball."
 
CAA Tournament Tip-Ins
 
The Seahawks have won more games (41) than any other member in the CAA Tournament.
 
UNCW has made a tournament-high 11 appearances in the CAA championship game.
 
The Seahawks are 21-7 lifetime in the CAA Tournament quarterfinals.
 
The No. 2 seed has fashioned a record of 58-29 (.667) in CAA Tournament play and gone 29-7 in quarterfinal games.
 
The No. 2 seed is 26-6 (.813) vs. the No. 7 seed in the CAA Tournament.
 
Former Seahawk standout Jordan Talley scored the third most points in CAA Tournament history with his 37-point outburst vs. Hofstra in the quarterfinals of the 2018 event.
 
All-time great Devontae Cacok went a tournament-best 94.1 percent from the floor during the 2017 tournament, connecting on 16-of-17 baskets.
 
Seahawk icon Brett Blizzard owns tournament records for most minutes (412), most three-point field goals (35) and most three-point field goals attempted (78). He remains the only player in CAA history to be named All-Tournament all four years.
 

 
 
 
 
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