Tevon Saddler drives to the lane last Tuesday against the UNCW defense  

By Terrence Hinds, Staff Writer

The time was right and the stage was set for the UNCG Men’s basketball team to come out and make a strong statement early in the season against the UNC-Wilmington. Instead the team came up short in their first game in the Greensboro Coliseum. The final score of 84-72 perfectly portrayed the flow of the game for UNCG.

Once the Spartans relinquished the lead in the first half it felt as though they were playing catch up for the rest of the game and could not quite make that one play that would close the gap and put them back in control of the game. The Seahawks did an excellent job of creating offense for themselves. In the first half, UNCW used their pick and roll game to get the Spartans defense off balance and was able to capitalize on slow rotations. The Spartans did do a great job creating turnovers though, especially in the second half when they were able to force 12 turnovers. Other than tacking advantage of their opponent’s sloppy performance, UNCG had a hard time containing the opposing attack.

UNCW was able to shoot 73 percent from the field in the second half, including seven of ten from the three-point range. Their leading scorer Craig Ponder had 27 points on nine of eleven shooting. He also had a stretch in the second half where he scored seven straight for his team to extend the lead from three points to ten, which pretty sealed the nail in the UNCG coffin.

Although the Spartans lost the basketball game, they will have a lot to look forward to and build off from. They were able to out rebound the Seahawks 32-26 which is a direct reflection of how productive they were with getting to the rim and creating shots on the interior. Junior Kayel Locke was fantastic all night, leading the Blue and Gold charge with 22 points and 8 rebounds. He was able to use his size all night to get shots up over defenders in the paint. Locke was also effective at drawing foul calls and converting his free throw attempts, as he was 12-16 from the line.

Redshirt sophomore RJ White also played a solid basketball game. He was able to assist the Spartans attack by putting up 16 points to go along with five rebounds. Although he was able to knock down a three point shot during the game, head coach Wes Miller would still probably want him to play more inside going forward because of his wide frame and ability to affect the offensive glass. He along with Locke will also have to work on their pick and roll defense, as the Seahawks took advantage of the UNCG defense in this aspect.

Coach Wes Miller knows that their defense needs to improve if they’re going to really going to have a solid season. In a uncgspartans.com interview, he said, “We got a long way to go defensively, but I do believe we can get there. We have to get our guys to understand how important it is to be keyed in defensively and we have the guys that can do that” Miller said. “I like my guys. I like the way we fight and play together we just have to get better on the defensive end.” It will take constant repetition but this team should be able to improve on that side of the ball throughout the duration of the season.

The team still has a long way to go but luckily the season is still young and for the holiday week, they will be traveling to play the Indiana Hoosiers Friday night. The game can be viewed at 9 p.m. on the Big Ten Network