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Men's Basketball Joe Browning

Seahawks Invade Dragons' Fortress

WILMINGTON, North Carolina – Zero.
 
That's how many Colonial Athletic Association home games Thursday's opponent for the UNCW men's basketball team, Drexel, has lost this season. The Seahawks will seek to reverse that trend this week when Takayo Siddle's club visits the cozy Daskalakis Center for a 7 p.m. tilt in West Philadelphia.
 
It's the first of two games for the 20-7 Seahawks during a weekend trip to the Northeast corridor. UNCW wraps up its final road trip of the regular season with a 4 p.m. start at Delaware on Saturday, Feb. 18, in Newark, Del.
 
The Seahawks (20-7, 10-4) take on the Dragons (15-11, 9-5) for the first and only time this season, thanks to an unbalanced conference schedule. Coincidentally, UNCW is facing four of its final five opponents of the regular season for one-gamers.
 
Thursday's matchup with the Dragons may be heard on 95.9 FM The Breeze, with play-by-play voice Mike Vaccaro on the call, beginning at 6:45 p.m. Video is available on FloSports.com.
 
The Seahawks (10-4) hold down third place in the 13-team circuit. Charleston (13-2) and Hofstra (13-2) sit atop the heap and Towson (9-5) stands fourth. Drexel (9-6) sits in fifth place as the teams jockey for position with the CAA Tournament looming in early March.
 
UNCW is coming off a 71-59 conquest of Northeastern's Huskies last Saturday in the homecoming game at Trask Coliseum. Sophomore guard Trazarien White scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the second half to help UNCW notch the ninth 20-win season in the school's history with a workmanlike 71-59 victory over visiting Huskies. White led all scorers with 23 points – three off his career high – on 7-for-11 shooting and 9-for-12 at the free throw line.
 
The 2022-23 club is only the ninth team in UNCW's D-I history to reach 20 wins and gives the program back-to-back 20-win seasons for only the third time.
 
The Dragons are looking to bounce back following a 66-52 loss at CAA co-leader Hofstra on Monday night. Hofstra led by eight points at halftime and scored the first six points of the second half to put the game out of reach early in the final period. Junior forward Amari Williams had 13 points to anchor the Dragons, who fell to 3-8 in road games this season.
 
Thursday's game showcases the CAA's two best defensive clubs. Drexel leads the loop in scoring defense (62.23) and UNCW (63.37) ranks second.
 
Each team has a key player named Amari that plans to figure in the outcome on Thursday. UNCW senior Amari Kelly ranks third in scoring (9.3 ppg) and first in rebounding (6.1 rpg), along with a team-high 15 blocks. Drexel's Amari Williams tops the Dragons in scoring (13.3 ppg) and rebounding (9.2 rpg). Williams leads the CAA in field goal percentage (.526) and blocks (.2.32 bpg).
 
The Seahawks, 7-5 in true road games this season, own a 23-15 lead in the 38-game series with the Dragons, including a 13-4 advantage in Wilmington.  UNCW has won two in a row and seven of the last 10 meetings between the two clubs. Drexel's last win over the Seahawks came in the CAA Tournament on Mar. 7, 2020, via a 66-56 verdict.
 
UNCW owns a slim 9-8 edge in games played at the Dak. The Seahawks snapped a two-game losing streak in Philly with last year's 69-63 decision on Feb. 24, 2022.
 
Siddle makes his second appearance as a head coach in Philadelphia. He carried the 2020-21 club to the City of Brotherly Love for a game on Jan. 2, 2021, but the contest was canceled due to a positive test in the Seahawk program. Last year, the Seahawks nipped the Dragons by six points.
 
The Seahawks rank in the top-3 in seven categories in the CAA's weekly statistics and lead the loop in 3-Point FG Percentage Defense (.300) and Turnover Margin (+2.15).
 
OPENING TIPS: Siddle has fashioned a 9-5 record in February, including 5-2 at home and 4-3 on the road in the final month of the regular season…Trazarien White stands 14th in the CAA in scoring (13.59) and 15th in rebounding (5.44)…Senior guard Shykeim Philips ranks second in the CAA free throw percentage (.872)…Drexel's Amari Williams tops the league in blocked shots with 60 rejections, nearly as many as the entire Seahawk squad (75)..UNCW and Drexel are meeting for the 13th time in February. The Seahawks have won nine of the 12 games between the teams in February…The Seahawks stand 8-3 against Drexel's Zach Spiker and have averaged 78.0 ppg against the fifth-year Dragon skipper…Drexel has averaged 72.3 ppg vs. UNCW since Spiker's arrival in 2016-17…Drexel is averaging 1,465 fans per game.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Amari Kelly

#23 Amari Kelly

F
6' 9"
Senior
Trazarien White

#13 Trazarien White

F
6' 6"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Amari Kelly

#23 Amari Kelly

6' 9"
Senior
F
Trazarien White

#13 Trazarien White

6' 6"
Sophomore
F