The University of North Carolina Wilmington men’s basketball team mounted a late, but ultimately incomplete, comeback last Saturday against powerhouse program Georgetown, with the 87-82 loss giving the Seahawks the first blemish on their season.
Now 5-1, UNCW trailed the Hoyas by 25 points with a little more than eight minutes to play before rallying behind its pressure defense and the shooting of its rising star in junior guard Chris Flemmings. He scored 13 second-half points to lead all Seahawks with 19. Forwards Dylan Sherwood and Marcus Bryan both added 14 points and guard Jordan Talley hit two free throws with 18 seconds left to pull UNCW to within three points, giving him 11 for the game.
UNCW out rebounded Georgetown 41-36, forced 16 turnovers and scored 18 points off of them. But Georgetown’s sharp shooting proved too much for UNCW, with the Hoyas making 49 percent of their shots, compared to the Seahawks’ 40 percent. UNCW made only 24 percent of their first half two-point attempts, contributing to the 38-28 halftime deficit to the Hoyas.
Coach Kevin Keatts’ pressure defense helped fuel the comeback, as the pressure forced the Hoyas into turnovers, but also resulted in 55 total fouls for the game. Thanks to the team’s defensive scheme, UNCW leads the nation in turnover margin with a 9.2 advantage and is second in the nation in steals per game at 11.5.
Keatts said Georgetown’s first half shooting put the Seahawks on their heels.
“In the second half, we started believing once we made some shots,” Keatts said after the game. “Today’s kids define their game if they’re scoring on offense. If they’re not scoring on offense, then other areas suffered. Our defense suffered because we weren’t scoring the ball in the first half. In the second half, we started scoring and picked our activity up.”
It was the Seahawks first-ever matchup with the Hoyas, who hosted UNCW in front of 8,132 at Washington, D.C.’s, Verizon Center.
Before the loss, UNCW was one of 10 remaining undefeated NCAA Division 1 teams, though the Seahawks’ early season schedule has included two lower-division teams in Milligan and Coker. The Seahawks also have wins against the directional schools of Eastern Kentucky, Western Michigan and East Tennessee State, the latter being a dominant road victory.
Flemmings’ performance against the Hoyas shows he is emerging as a new star in second-year coach Kevin Keatts offense, as he has led the Seahawks in scoring for the past four games, starting with his 19-point outburst against Western Michigan at Trask Coliseum on Nov. 21.
Senior guard Craig Ponder, the second-leading scorer on the team with 13.2 points per game, was ice cold against Georgetown, missing all seven of his shot attempts, and scoring only three points from free throws before fouling out.
UNCW plays next when it travels to Greenville to face East Carolina on Dec. 16.
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