Talkin' to Takayo: Okauru's effort, Sims at PG and 'The Man in the Glass'
Here's everything the UNCW coach had to say on his radio show Monday
With his team settling in for exam week, UNCW coach Takayo Siddle returned for another edition of his radio show on Monday afternoon, joining Mike Vacarro, the Voice of the Seahawks for an hour-long chat.
Check out the full video here!
In the spirit of the holiday season, I’ve compiled the highlights in text format, too.
Siddle touches on the loss to Norfolk State, Jaylen Sims moving to point guard, several players who are hitting their stride and the two recruits who recently signed with the Seahawks, Nolan Hodge and Nolan Ross.
Enjoy!
On the loss to Norfolk State…
My biggest concern with Norfolk State, obviously, was their depth and firepower on offense. I knew that was going to be a concern for us.
Then, transition defense; I knew we’d have to get back in transition defense. They do a really good job pushing the basketball on makes and misses, which I didn’t think we did a great job of it. They had 23 fastbreak points which, that kind of got under my skin a little bit.
Rebounding the basketball – they’re athletic and live bodies. Rebounding the basketball is something we talked about. I thought for the most part, we did a decent job. Late, they shook loose and got a few offensive rebounds.
Going back, watching the game, it was one of those situations where we didn’t get off to a good start, then we picked it up throughout the first half and we made our adjustments. Later on in the first half, they went to a zone and it slowed us down. We fouled a few times, gave up a couple run-outs, took some bad shots, which led to them closing the gap and evening it out when we went to halftime.
Then, the start of the second half, we started out a little bit of the same way that we started off in the first half, which I didn’t like. Then, we got it right and we figured it out and played well throughout the game. Then, the last six minutes, we made way too many mistakes. What helped us get the lead, sharing the basketball on the offensive end, getting clean looks and getting stops, we stopped doing that probably the last five-and-a-half, six minutes. I thought it really, really put us in a tough spot, to where everybody’s looking at Jaylen’s layup, well what happened before that, in my opinion, is what cost us the game.
On defensive changes vs. the Spartans…
We wanted to make sure that we didn't get too overextended, and we wanted to pack the driving lanes down, because we knew they had three or four strong right-handed drivers, we wanted to make sure we made it tough for them to get inside of our defense and get around us. That’s an adjustment we made, packing the driving lanes; our gap protection was pretty good.
On some of our switches we messed up, a couple of pick-and-roll coverages we messed up, offensive rebounds we messed up, a little bit out of our press we messed up. It’s something we went back and watched and talked about; we worked on that Saturday to try and get better and we’ll continue to work on those things.
On the need for more production from the bench…
The strength of this team is always going to be our depth and guys not in the starting lineup that are helping and contributing to us winning games. So, that’s always going to be important for us to do it as a group.
I think this is a team where we can have four guys average double-figures, but four more right around eight, nine points a game. That’s when we’re going to be at our best. Obviously, I need other guys coming off the bench to play better and give us more, so we’ll continue to go down our bench and rely on those guys.
On anyone dealing with illness vs. NSU…
We didn’t play Alec Oglesby, he was a guy that we were hoping would be able to come into the game and help us, especially with them playing some zone, but he was still affected by his illness from Montana, so we weren’t able to play him.
On what stood out about Mike Okauru vs. Norfolk…
Just his overall effort on both ends of the floor. The one thing that some of these guys are doing more than I need them to, he's’ not overthinking. He’s just going out there and playing instinctive basketball, letting his energy and effort on the defensive end kind of set his offense up.
I think that’s been his biggest turnaround, ever since the Delaware State game, I thought he did a really good job up there and it’s kind of bled into these last few games.
On James Baker’s development…
I’ve been on James about just trying to get back to his old ways, where when he was at Morehead State, they relied on him to be the junkyard dog. That’s kind of who he is; he’s added on some skill with his shooting and his ability to pass the ball a little bit.
I told him never to forget who he is, and be that, and then add on everything you’ve been working on with your skill level. I think he’s been doing a really good job of that so far.
On why Trazarien White has played so well…
Just effort, being who he is. I’m always on these guys, and you hear me say it all the time, ‘How else can you impact winning, other than scoring?’ He’s really taken that; that’s his role on our team, make those effort plays and get on the backboard and help us rebound, and he’s done a really good job with it.
On the decision to start Jaylen Sims at PG…
I thought he did a really good job for the most part. With the decision I made to move him over, I wanted to make Shykeim more comfortable because I think he’s naturally a combo guard who is looking to score more. I wanted to make sure he was comfortable.
I don’t want to want slide Jamarii Thomas into the lineup just yet; I don’t think he’s quite ready to take on that load right now, but that will give him some more minutes as a backup point guard and I think we’re going to need his playmaking ability and passing throughout the year.
So, I wanted to make Shykeim comfortable, I wanted to give Jamarii Thomas another look and give him some more minutes, and I think Jaylen is probably the most comfortable point guard that we have — probably, one of our best playmakers with the basketball in his hands — and I thought he did a pretty good job for being the first time he played it this year.
On Jamahri Harvey’s recent play…
He’s starting to come into his own and taking clean shots — taking more clean shots than not. He’s helping us a little bit on the glass, he’s getting out and running in transition – he’s getting it a lot of different ways, so he’s starting to get comfortable now.
On the free throw struggles…
We make them come in and make 100 free throws every day; don’t really talk about, ‘Hey, we missed eight free throws, nine free throws – don’t really talk about it like that.’ Just getting more free throws up.
Saturday, put them in some different situations. We put them on the baseline, we call it free throw conditioning. They all come out and have to shoot free throws, and if they miss the first one, they have to run some sprints; if they miss the second, they have to run a down-back, so we went through the whole team.
Just putting them in different pressure situations like that is something that we do. We don’t really talk about it… we don’t want them going up there and being tight and overthinking it.
On the speed of the halfcourt offense…
That’s something that we’ve been focusing on a lot, probably the past couple of weeks, just getting into our offensive sets quicker, so that’s something we’ve been focusing on and I thought our guys did a really good job, and we’re continuing to grow in that area.
Player of the Week: Mike Okauru
He plays so hard; he’s an everyday guy in practice and in the games, he plays so hard. On defense, I‘m really, really counting on him to really set the tone at the front of our press, being really active, getting deflections and get steals. He brings a lot of energy on that end of the floor.
Offensively, he’s a guy who can get to the paint, can make open shots, can get on the offensive glass a little bit. Mike is coming into his own; he’s becoming more of a two-way player for us now.
On where the team is right now…
I had a long conversation with them on Saturday morning. It’s one of those situations where I was going off feel, and especially with me being in this for about 13 years, around this time every year – especially as nonconference is wrapping up – the lineups and the rotations are starting to kind of form, like I talked about before.
I just told them — and I gave them the stat sheet and I gave them a poem, it’s called ‘Man in the Glass’ — I just told them, everybody in the program, we all have to start taking more ownership into how we’re preparing and how we’re playing. I told them, I challenged them to do that – take ownership into their production and their preparation. I need more from everybody; I need more from everybody. I need everybody to start playing better.
As the coach, I’ve got to try to get it out of them. You asked if there’s one or two players — I think everybody needs to step up on both ends of the floor in the leadership department and take ownership into what they’re doing. That’s been my message over the last three or four days with those guys, is taking more ownership into how they’re preparing and producing out there on the court.
On his confidence in their shots falling…
They definitely will; I feel confident in saying that. Guys are putting in work, we have really good shooters on this team. We’ve changed the lineups, they’re still getting used to playing with each other. We’ve changed our offensive up a little bit and kind of controlled it a little bit more, so it’s just taken some time to get used to all that.
I do think our shots will start falling. Like I said before, we have really good shooters, really good shot-makers. I feel really confident in saying that.
On Nolan Hodge…
He’s more like 6-7, 6-8 … he’s a really good kid who comes from a great family, well-spoken, great student. Can play three positions for us, can really score the basketball, can really shoot the basketball. He’s going to provide some scoring and shooting that we need, and he’ll be able to guard multiple positions for us.
In recruiting, do you recruit to replace certain players on the roster or look for fit?
Both of those guys are 6-7, 6-8 guards that we can play at the two, the three, the four. It’s one of those situations where they are a roster fit for us, but not necessarily saying I’m plugging them in for Jaylen Sims or whoever it may be. They just fit exactly what we’re trying to do and they're a great roster fit. Position-wise, we’ll figure it out when they get here.
On Noah Ross…
Travis Hackert recruited him; he was the point-person on Noah. Travis recruited him really hard for about a year-and-a-half, and they developed a great relationship. They’re very similar and they hit it off from the jump. 'Noah is a loyal kid, and relationships mean a lot to him.
It helped with his dad going to school here. They’re a really supportive family so they want to be able to see him play a lot throughout his college career, so with him being an hour and 50 minutes down the road, the relationship that we built with him and his family and the fit, for style of play and the culture of UNCW and our program, it was something that he knew what he wanted to do. We got him over the hump and he committed to us early and he never wavered, not one bit.
On the return to recruiting in-person…
Things are back to normal for us and we’re able to get out and watch some games live and watch some practices and other things like that. So, we were able to get out and see those guys play AAU basketball this summer, which was a huge help for us.
On the challenges of recruiting during COVID…
It was definitely different. It was one of those situations where you’re watching on film, so you trust your eye, but you never really know because you’re watching them on film the whole time. You think you’re getting a good player, but you really don't know, but we able to get out and see those guys live – see them have good games, bad games, just OK games and see how they react on the bench when they’re getting taken out of the game, see how they respond to coaching live. That was definitely a huge help, as opposed to having to watch on film.
On scouting Jacksonville…
I haven’t even looked at Jacksonville; I watched a little bit of their Charleston Southern game, caught it on ESPN2, but I’m more focused on the areas we need to get better in. I’ll start watching this afternoon, evening to prepare for practice on Thursday, but I’m just more worried about us.
I looked at their KenPom, their stats and I know they play a slower tempo and I know they’re really physical from watching the little bit of the game that i watched. Defensively they do a really good job of packing the driving lanes down and forcing you to take shots over the top. They have two really good post players that they go inside to a lot, so we’ll have our hands full. We’ll start preparing for them on Thursday, later in the week, and we’ll work on ourselves up until that point.
On whether the starting lineup is set…
I saw a lot of positives; I think it’s starting to get to where I want it to be. I like my big lineup, I tried that out the other day in practice on Saturday, with JB playing the four and Amari Kelly playing some five, maybe to finish some games, give us some older guys that can rebound and be more of a presence, more of a force on the inside, so I’m looking at that a little bit. Playing Jamarii Thomas a little bit more to give us some more playmaking, so I think our starting lineup is pretty much set, unless in practice somebody beats somebody out.
Check out John Crouch’s photo album from the Norfolk State game here.