Phillips Delivers Another Clutch Victory
The UNCW guard scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half on Saturday
UNCW 82, Georgia Southern 77
For the first few minutes, it appeared UNCW was poised for leisurely cruise en route to another road nonconference victory.
Then, from nowhere, winds picked up and Georgia Southern became a squall that few expected to darken the Seahawks’ skies on Saturday afternoon.
Unlike a couple of earlier battles with high seas, the Hawks managed to survive the storm this time around, leaning on steady-handed captain Shykeim Phillips to close out a win over Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Phillips scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, adding to his seven rebounds and five assists to lead the way for UNCW, while KJ Jenkins knocked down several big shots as part of a 12-point effort.
A few takeaways from Saturday’s win.
#ShyTime, Every Time
Phillips’ go-ahead layup was just an appetizer for what followed after Shy Time was ‘officially’ declared in the game’s final media timeout, with 3:58 on the clock.
“We knew it was his time when we came into the huddle for that last media,” UNCW coach Takayo Siddle said. “We wanted to clear out some space and let him operate, and he delivered for us once again.
“I think he played a tremendous game for us overall if you look at his stat line … and his leadership was off the charts today when we needed it the most.”
We’ve seen some impressive stuff from Phillips in clutch moments, but Saturday’s performance was among his greatest, as he poured in 14 points over a three-minute outburst that lasted from the 4:37 mark until 1:09 remained.
Despite everyone on the court and both benches knowing exactly what was coming, Phillips made all five of his field goal attempts — several tough, contested looks in the lane — and was perfect on four free throw attempts.
Throw in two huge rebounds in what was a four-point game, and that’s a hell of a closing effort.
‘Clutch’ is defined by CBB Analytics as the final five minutes of a game that is within six points, which is a situation UNCW has encountered in four games for a total of 23 minutes.
In the clutch, Phillips has scored 36 points on 13 of 18 from the field and 10 of 11 at the free throw line with six rebounds and just one turnover.
Growing Up
When UNCW gets a double-digit lead on a mid-major foe away from Trask Coliseum, get ready for something weird.
Not unlike the App State and ECU losses, UNCW surged ahead to a big lead early and appeared to be on the verge of blowing the game wide open on Saturday at GSU.
Then, a few wide-open shots get missed, a few instances of poor ball movement and a couple of details get missed, and the Eagles start playing with more confidence and find their way back into the game.
Unlike the App State and ECU losses, UNCW met that adversity at the gate and refused to accommodate any creeping doubts.
“We’ve matured. It wasn’t a pretty second half, it wasn’t a pretty game for the majority of it, but we stayed poised, they stayed connected and we had discipline when we needed to have it the most.
“When it became winning time, our veterans and our experienced guys showed up and made big plays.”
After GSU hit eight of nine field goal attempts over a stretch that saw them go ahead by a point, the UNCW defense buckled down and forced the Eagles to hit just 6 of 13 over the final seven minutes.
With little margin for error, the Seahawks turned the ball over just once over the game’s final 26 minutes.
That fact was made even more impressive by GSU’s defensive approach, which was designed to knock the Seahawks off balance in their reads and decision-making.
“It tells me a lot,” Siddle said. “They threw some different defenses at us.”
UNCW’s 15 assists on 27 buckets was its highest total against a Division I opponent this season.
Answering the Challenge
Siddle was pretty clear in his desire to get more production — scoring and beyond — from his complementary players on Saturday, and he got exactly what he wanted from several guys:
Jenkins dropped a key eight-point explosion in about 80 seconds in the second half, and he did it with only seven attempts from the field in total.
Khamari McGriff showed something intriguing in the pick and roll game, capitalizing on three opportunities as the roller. He was open a few more times, but didn’t get a pass. Per Synergy, UNCW hit the roll man a season-best 10 times on the P&R on Saturday.
Nick Farrar scored 10 points in about two minutes, which gave him his best D1 scoring output since the season-opener.
Noah Ross did Noah Ross things, grabbing five boards and blocking two shots. He was also key to keeping the ball moving offensively, making the right play to set up a teammate on multiple occasions.
That production helped make up for a rare off day for Trazarien White, who finished with a season-low 10 points on a 2 of 9 shooting day.
Life can become a little more difficult when you’re on SportsCenter — both with opponents paying special attention to your name on the scouting report, and the pressure a young guy puts on himself to keep producing at that level.
“We wanted to go inside to Tra, but I thought he forced the issue a little bit too much and this was one of his first games he was back to doing that,” Siddle said. “So, we’ve got to get back to cleaning that up. I think he realized it, but he made some plays down the stretch when we needed him.”
White missed a few of the shots we’ve seen him make time and again this year, and that frustration seemed to affect his game until late in the second half, when he generated eight free throw attempts — hitting six — before putting the game away with an offensive rebound and free throw.
Next Up
The Seahawks head north to meet Marshall in Huntington, W. Va. on Thursday night.
The Herd is 4-7 this season, including a 118-82 loss at Kentucky on Nov. 24, but it seems their fortunes could be turning following a big win over UNCG on Saturday.
They’re still coached by Dan D’Antoni, who runs a super-fast system akin to the one his brother, Mike, made famous with the Phoenix Suns.