UNCW coach Takayo Siddle joined play-by-play man Mike Vaccaro for a big rivalry victory Monday edition of Talkin’ to Takayo to reflect on last week’s wins over Elon and Charleston.
Teal Nation is still feeling the buzz from Saturday night’s win over the Cougars, but there was plenty more to discuss, including the development of KJ Jenkins and Khamari McGriff, who’s stepping up for Maleeck Harden-Hayes and which player could come off the bench for a big week up north.
Catch the full show here, and as always, you can join at Noon on Mondays at Buffalo Wild Wings on Old Eastwood Road.
The Seahawks are back in action on Thursday night at Northeastern (7 p.m., FloSports) before visiting Stony Brook on Saturday (4 p.m., CBS Sports Network).
Here’s what Siddle had to say on Monday:
On Saturday night’s crowd…
First of all, thanks to everybody who showed up. Our students were great. The community was great.
All of our home games so far, Mike, even the non-Division I games have been incredible crowds and I appreciate that very much and I know our players do, but that atmosphere on Saturday was like none other.
Like I said, in my post game, I've experienced the rivalry against North Carolina State and UNC, and I've been a part of those Duke games and that was up there with them, — if not better — and that was special. It was everything to us. I thought. After watching it a couple times back, I thought the crowd really affected them and their ability to lock in and execute at the level that they're normally good at executing at.
And I thought our crowd had a lot to do with it. I thought our crowd had a lot to do with it, just kind of sticking with it and weathering the storm. That's a good basketball team and so are we.
On how his team handled this crowd after it got a little too amped for the Delaware game…
I thought we were locked in; I thought we were completely locked in. There wasn't a time where we just blew a coverage, or we weren't doing what we practiced and being who we are.
That was my challenge for ‘em: not to let the external factors deter you from doing your job on each possession. We tried to focus in on the possession that was in front of us, and I thought our guys did a really good job of it.
Is there anything that changed from the 0-2 start, to now winning four straight?
I think when we were going through that time, Mike, we continued to have a smile on our face. Obviously, we don't like losing, but we continue to have a smile on our face. We continue to have great energy; we continue to be as connected as possible and just dive into our process even more and with more energy and I think that's what won that game.
Like I said, postgame, we won the game on that night, but I think we really won it a few weeks back when we were deep in that hole, and we were grinding our way out of it. The way we approached it was terrific.
On adjusting lineups due to injuries and other factors…
Yeah, yeah, I was kind of messing with that a little bit at home the other day before I came over to the arena. I've been thinking about it, what our late game defensive lineup would look like, what our late game press break lineup would look like.
Some of those things that we had it all mapped out before we even started playing and it's changed throughout the season. Guys are playing better; guys are more equipped to handle those moments and those situations, and it's changed a lot.
My late game lineup, I planned on having Shemar (Rathan-Mayes) in there defensively, but that group was playing so well together with Noah (Ross) and Nolan (Hodge) and some of the other guys, we decided to roll with them. Our late game press break lineup, Nolan — he wasn't in that lineup, but he was playing so well. We decided to keep him in, and he was comfortable, and he executed our press breakers and so guys stepped up in a major way Saturday night and I was very proud of him.
On those guys staying ready for moments they might not have been expecting to play…
Yeah, one thing that we always do, we normally do it on game day shoot around, is we always skeleton our press breakers and certain situations and we use two groups that could potentially be in there and so they've stayed locked in and they execute well in our shoot arounds so they're ready for it if their numbers call and thank God that they're prepared for it or locked into what we're doing so they can go out and execute.
Looking at conference play, you have to take care of business at home, but do you look for splits on the road?
No, we're not talking about splitting; we want to win. We want to win 'em all, but in my mind as a coach we're going in there to win both, but we cannot come back 0-2.
We have to at least split and if we get both of them, that's great, but we'll go in and then we'll attack it one day at a time, one game at a time and focus on the opponent that's in front of us and then we'll get ready for Stony Brook that Friday as we lead to the game on Saturday.
On surprises in the standings and how the league is shaking out after a few weeks…
I think it'll start to form out. I think so the main thing, you really can't look ahead Mike. You can't look ahead and say, ‘OK , we can get that one next week. We can get this one.’
We have to just really focus in on the day that's in front of us and the opponent that's in front of us and that's what we've done. That's what we've done and just take it day by day, and I haven't really even dove into the conference standings; I haven't even looked at 'em because I think here when we hit that halfway mark, teams will start to get a little bit more separation and it'll start to look a little — you'll be able to read it a little bit better.
So that's what we're focused on, just making sure we take care of the day that’s in front of us.
On the loss of Maleeck Harden-Hayes and what that does to the lineup and rotations…
Just gave other guys opportunities. Noah has started a bunch of games for us and so we felt like it was pretty seamless to just throw him into lineup. And we felt like by-committee — when Maleeck is playing his best game — I felt like by-committee if we could get something out of Noah, who he is, and if we could get something out of Nolan and Shemar, I thought we could do it by committee and maybe get a little bit more than we would get just having Maleeck.
But I thought those guys did a really good job of coming in and impacting the game.
On the first half at Elon…
I thought we really imposed our will on them. We wanted to be super aggressive. That was my message all week, ‘Let's be aggressive, let's push it and transition. Let's play fast, let's press 'em and get after 'em in the full court and half court.’
And we did that. It was pretty perfect in the first half, and then as we transitioned to the second half, I thought we had the same amount of force and aggression, but they upped their level a little bit and started pushing the ball and driving us and posting us a little bit and we weren't quite ready for it, and they closed the gap on us.
Did you go into the Elon number with a certain number of 3-pointers in mind?
I mean in every game that we play, we want to make our threes on average. Before we even stepped into conference play, we were right around nine a game, and if we can stay right there or up it a little bit, that's only going to make us more dangerous.
But we knew we would have opportunities; we knew they would play some zone. We knew they would try to pack it in a little bit on us and our guys did a really good job in transition, in the half court at finding each other and making the right play. And then I thought our defense created some offense for us as well, so I didn't go in thinking that we had to make a certain number, but I knew we had to start making some shots from beyond the arc.
On Trazarien White’s all-around performance at Elon…
Yeah, that was, in my opinion, that was probably one of his most complete games. I know he scored in rebounded, but he was very under control. I thought when guys were open, he made the right play. I thought he made really quick moves, quick aggressive moves to get to his spots.
He had a great energy about him and I told him and Shykeim before the game that they need to step up and set the tone because we hadn't won a conference game on the road yet this year, and that was a great opportunity for us to do it and they needed to set the tone with their energy and the way they approached the game and I thought they did.
On KJ Jenkins hitting 5 of 7 3-point attempts at Elon…
He’s an elite shooter. I've always said that he's one of the best shooters in the country and one of the best in our league with him and Reyne Smith and the kid from William and Mary, Dorsey. I think those three guys are the three top shooters in our league, but KJ has a little bit more to his game than that, but his teammates did a really good job finding him.
I think early on he was sprinting the floor and transition, getting wide open looks and making double cuts off the ball and his teammates found him when he was open and if he's open he's going to make it.
Has shot selection been a point of emphasis this season?
We really hone in on shot selection because we always talk to 'em about us taking good shots and being on-balance when we take those shots and making sure we have all five guys in the halfcourt when we take those shots, so we don't get off balance in our transition defense, because the two teams that we played this past week are really good in transition and if you take bad shots — bad quick shots — then it fuels their transition offense.
We really wanted to lock in on shot selection. It was the same when we played Kentucky. They're really good in transition, and so we talked about that game a little bit as we led into the week, but that's something that we have to keep on keying in on.
On responding after Elon cut the lead to three late…
I thought as a team, as a team, we responded to adversity. Well, people think about the game in the moments in the game.
I always think back to what we had been through. We had been through adversity bigger than that, we had been through bigger adversity than that going down 0-2 on the road and coming back home and when we faced adversity in the game, it didn't phase us one bit.
On the decision to move KJ Jenkins into the starting lineup for Charleston…
I wanted to give Donovan (Newby) a different look to see if he could watch the game early and maybe get a feel for it and then come in and hopefully play a little bit better.
But KJ has been playing well over the last few games and I thought it was very important for us to get off to a good start offensively and we felt like as a coaching staff that he gave us the best chance for that to happen, and that's something that we're probably going to stick with for right now.
But I think he deserves it; he's earned it, he's a veteran guy that he's playing the right way. He's bringing a lot to our team outside of scoring. I thought it was the right move and there was something that I thought about for a little while.
On KJ’s overall improvement, and in particular, his defense…
Yeah, when he was struggling a little bit just to try to find his way, I thought he was so worried about his shot and offense and the other stuff was kind of getting lost.
So, he picked his energy up, he picked his toughness up; he was fighting really hard defensively, and I think that just kind of opened up everything else for him and he's really worked at it.
His main thing coming in the door is he didn't want to be known as just a shooter. He wanted to expand his game and let everybody see what he's capable of. And I think he's starting to do that right now. He's playing some really good basketball.
On the halftime discussion, trailing Charleston 38-33…
I took the blame, us coaches, we took the blame for that because we decided as a staff to go under certain guys when their five-man (Ante Brzovic) was setting in a pick-and-roll, certain guys that hadn't been shooting as well, and they made us pay the (Jordan) Crawford kid from Charlotte.
He made three threes in the first half and then we were going under his pick and rolls and then we were going under CJ Fulton's pick and rolls, and he made one and we felt like we needed to make an adjustment coming out of halftime. And we did that and our guys, our guys made their adjustments and I think they only made what, three threes in the second half and the rest was kind of history.
After the fouls at Elon, adjusting to chesting up and bodying on defense…
We watched it on film. We don't really have a lot of time to practice on those days in between, so we watched those and we emphasized just walling-up on drives and post up.
We had some good ones in the Charleston game, but I thought we left our feet and we didn't play personnel; we needed to. We were jumping at shot fakes, and they were able to get to the foul on a little bit, but that's an area where we have to improve at and I know our guys will be locked into it.
On having just four turnovers vs. Charleston…
(NOTE: UNCW is now No. 1 nationally in turnover rate, giving the ball away on just 12.4 percent of its possessions. In all, the Seahawks are averaging 8.5 turnovers per game.)
It tells me that they were locked in. When you asked me earlier, did the external factors affect them? No, it didn't because if it did, we would've been uncharacteristic turning the ball over, doing crazy stuff.
We were locked in; we talked to 'em about not having live ball turnovers against this group. They're really handsy, they're physical. We talked about that, and our guys really locked in and it helps when you have veteran guards that you can trust, and Shykeim did a really good job handling the basketball. I thought Donovan did, but Shykeim in particular, his usage was at probably a season high. We just put 'em in the middle of the court and let 'em operate. But that speaks volumes to our guys being locked in scouting report and our veteran leadership and experience.
On the late adjustments to finally slow down Ante Brzovic…
Man, he's good. He is really good. We wanted to, I thought we were wearing him down. As I re-watched about that 4:22 mark, he was huffing and puffing on his knees. I thought we wore him down.
I don't necessarily know if we made any adjustment to stop him. We started going under that middle pick and roll because they were attacking us with that middle pick and roll. We were trying to go over a top at first and they were hitting him on a short roll and he was able to make plays from there. We started going under, which helped us be more connected to him and it took away some of his looks, but he's a handful and we knew he would be. But man, he's a special basketball player.
On what allowed UNCW to close the game on an 11-0 run…
They are a team that I talked to the guys about them, they have ‘spreadability.’ If they're struggling, they can get going and reel off 10, 12 in a row, so we talked about that.
But on the flip side, they are a team that, they go in drop spells to where they have three-to-four-minute spells where they don't score. Luckily it was at the end of the game.
I thought our guys really buckled down; we didn't give 'em anything by us screwing up our coverages. We were very connected with them, and we were sound on that end of the floor. We didn't rebound the basketball well, so they had second and third chance opportunities. But when we needed to come up with the ball, we did.
John Crouch / UNCW Athletics
What’s it like to watch the students spill onto the floor after that?
Yeah, I just wanted to sit back and just watch it. Now I know how that game means to our community, our university. I know our students were pumped up about it. I don't even know if they remember us playing Elon on Thursday, but that was great. That was great.
I feel like sometimes this program gets disrespected. Over the last few years we've done some special things, one of them, if not the most-winningest program in the conference over the last three years and we don't get the respect that we deserve.
Everybody's talking about ‘Charleston this, Charleston that,’ and they're really good and I respect everything that they do, but this is a championship-level program too, and we deserve some credit.
So, for our students to be able to experience that, that was a special feeling.
Player of the Week: KJ Jenkins (19 PPG, 8/14 3FG)
He's starting to settle down a little bit, Mike, and just stay in the moment. When you get fifth-year seniors and guys that are in their last year, they really start to worry about what's next instead of staying in the moment and just having fun with it and not putting so much pressure on themselves to perform for what's next.
You can really tell he's a lot more calm now and a lot more relaxed and it's turning into some production.
On having three 1,000-point scorers in the starting five…
Yeah, I teased him and Shykeim and Craig (Ponder). I was talking to him about Shykeim breaking Craig's record for most points. And I told him, I said, if I would've stayed in school for seven years, I would've scored a thousand points too.
But no, it's great for Trazarien to reach it so early in his career. He is got a whole ‘nother year left. He could really climb the charts and be probably in the top five in school history by the time he's done here. But all of those guys are great people. They're great people and they're obsessed with it and they've earned everything they've got.
On having a shooter like KJ to open the floor for drivers…
Yeah, it just opens the floor up for 'em, and going into the off season, we knew we had to improve our skill from behind the 3-point line, and when we got him, we instantly felt really good about things.
He's a game changer; he's somebody that compliments Shykeim and Tra very well and having guys like him out there, and we can get Maleeck back and we can get Donovan shooting the ball well again. Noah, Nolan, Shem, we can get those guys making their shots, it's only going to help our two main guys out.
On having a number of players at each spot that can knock down an open three…
Yeah, I mean it doesn't allow our opponent to pack the driving lanes and just kind of key in on Shykeim when he's driving, and the same thing for Tra.
Last year, they were basically just playing shell defense to where they wouldn't even guard certain guys on the perimeter and it turned into some bad shots and bad percentages for Shy and Tre, so having the floor space only helps our offense out.
On Ahmard Harvey’s progress…
Yeah, he is working his way back into shape and I thought he played a little bit longer stretches the other night. I wanted to go into the game doing that.
We have to get him ready to play a major role in what we're doing. Going into the season, we felt like he would be our starter at that position and then he got injured.
So, we expect him to be a huge part of what we're doing. I think his best basketball will probably happen later on in the season, but he's given us some really good things from an energy, effort, defensive rebounding standpoint. He's really helping us in those areas.
On Harvey’s six rebounds on Saturday vs. Charleston…
That's who he is; he’s one of those Junkyard Dog-type of guys, diving on the floor for loose balls, going out of his area to get rebounds. He averaged seven rebounds a game last year at High Point, so he has a knack for finding a basketball and we need that in a major way and as we continue to improve our defensive rebounding.
On recruiting the 2024 class…
Just sitting back waiting. It's tough to take high school guys now. Everybody's trying to stay a little bit older, but we're not recruiting right now. We're focusing on our team and then when the transfer portal opens up, we'll dive, we'll sprint to it.
On embracing the portal and finding the right fit…
They have to be a high-character, and I think we've done a really good job of bringing high-character men out of the transfer portal, but when we talk about our team and our roster, it's so important that we keep our core group that can come back next year because they know our culture, they know the expectation.
And so that's the most important thing when the season's over with, is really locking in on them and making sure they understand that they're the most important people in our program. And then when the transfer portal opens up, we'll go and attack it, but we'll be patient and then try to get the right fit.
Several great college basketball players have gone on to be NFL stars. Is there anyone on this team that would make a good football player?
Maybe Shykeim? I think he could be a really good cornerback, safety. I think he'd probably be the only one. Maybe Noah — Noah, he’s just reckless and likes contact, so he may have a chance, but I think Shykeim could be a really good safety or corner.
Do you ever look at playing multiple sports in recruiting players?
No, I mean when it comes up, if it comes up in conversation and maybe you can start to see, okay, yeah, you used to play soccer. I get it. Yeah, you played football because you just have that toughness about you. But that's not something that when we go out recruiting, it's not something that we ask.
So, you didn’t ask McGriff about his swimming prowess?
No, no. I asked him the other day, I'm like, ‘McGriff, why do you get so tired so quick dude right now. And I run the heck out of you guys. Why are you still tired? Weren’t you a big time swimmer coming out of high school?’
And he's like, ‘Yeah, Coach. But that didn't help me very much.’
But no, McGriff is a guy that he ran track as well. He ran track as well, and he's man his best basketball's ahead of him. He's getting better day by day.
Tom Hanna / UNCW Athletics
On McGriff’s continuing development…
The one thing about it, Mike, is his work ethic — his work ethic — it's up there with the rest of the guys that live it and breathe it on our team.
He was in there this morning getting his work in. After the (Charleston) game we were all celebrating and after he got done celebrating in the locker room, he sat in his locker and he was visibly upset and he stood up when everybody was dispersing or whatever, and I said, ‘Hey man, what's wrong?’ and he's like, '‘Nothing.’
And I said, ‘What's wrong? I know you. I spent a lot of time around you. What is wrong?’
And he was upset that the kid from Charleston scored as many points as he did on him, and he takes that stuff personally. He wants to be good, and I think he is going to be spectacular over the next couple years.
On whether he’s pleased with the improvements he’s seen from the bench…
I am. They're bringing a high level of energy. They're raising the toughness of our team. They're physical. I think they do a better job sometimes pushing the pace than our starters do. They're giving me everything I want right now.
On the recent injuries again showing the value of depth…
Absolutely. Like I said, it gives the two brothers, Noah and Nolan, it gives them an opportunity to get more minutes and grow as players, and we need that more than anything as we move forward with the program.
Shemar, it’s going to give him more opportunity. I think this week is a huge week for Nick Farrar as we go up north and we're playing against a couple of really good post players that don't necessarily move their feet as well, and they guard you a different way. I think it could open some things up for him, if he has a good week of prep, so that will get into our depth a little bit more.
We’ve said all along, there’s strength in the unit, and we believe it and we’re going to continue to use our bench.
What’s the challenge for getting ready to go to Northeastern on Thursday?
Well, the challenge first, we got to have a good practice today. We have to move on. I know we all are excited that we beat Charleston and we have to handle it the right way.
We can build on this, but this is going to be a tough challenge for us. We haven't had a lot of success on the road in league play. We have to go up here and really lock in. It's not going to be a packed crowd up there. We have to go in there and lock in and it's a different game plan and we have to be ready to execute it.
