CAA Games Of The Week: Nonconference Tuneups Ahead Of League Play
CAA Games Of The Week: Nonconference Tuneups Ahead Of League Play
With the start of conference play in the CAA approaching, the final nonconference dates provide opportunities for Colonial teams to tune up.
It’s not quite time for conference play yet in the Colonial Athletic Association, but it’s creeping up.
And ready or not, it’s going to come in full force later on this month.
The impending arrival of league play makes the final nonconference tune-up games following Thanksgiving that much more important. No matter if it’s teams looking to iron out the flaws in their games — or just keep good vibes going in whatever way they can, the coming weeks set the foundation for the next phase of the season.
Here’s a look at the CAA men’s basketball games to check out this week, with all matchups listed below being streamed live on FloHoops.
NOTE: Tipoff times are listed in Eastern Time.
UNCW vs. Jacksonville
Following a 1-3 start — the losses of which came at Power 5 sluggers North Carolina, Oklahoma and UConn — UNC Wilmington has ripped off a six-game winning streak that’s showed the Seahawks aren’t planning to slow down at all from their 27-win, College Basketball Invitational-capturing historic season a year ago.
Potentially the scariest part about UNCW’s possibility to grow throughout the year, however, is that it’s looking so strong as of late despite a woefully unproductive offense through 10 games.
Coach Takayo Siddle’s squad shoots, as of Saturday morning, 42.1% from inside the 3-point arc and 29.2% outside of it — numbers that both rank in the bottom 50 of America, per KenPom — and only has one double digit per game scorer in sophomore forward Trazarien White, who is amid a breakout year for UNCW as both its best source of offense (12.6 points per game) and a menace on the boards (5.6 rebounds per game).
Though the Seahawks have some shooting kinks to work out for the season ahead, it’s unlikely any foe is going to be able to take those opportunities away from them, either: UNCW turns the ball over at a lower rate than almost any other team in the country, with opponents only averaging 3.6 steals per game against the Seahawks this year — the lowest rate in the nation.
Jacksonville will provide a test for UNCW’s offensive creation and ability to capitalize on keeping hold of the ball as the Dolphins (5-2 overall) have allowed just 55.7 points per game this season, but the key caveat with that number is that three of Jacksonville wins have come against non-Division I opponents.
Still, former All-Atlantic Sun pick Kevion Nolan (14.3 points, 4.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds per game this season) has been a standout for JU for quite awhile, and stopping him is going to be one of UNCW’s keys to winning along with ironing out the current wrinkles on offense.
Navy vs. Towson, 4 p.m. Sunday
Slow and steady wins the race, they say — and for Towson in particular, it helps the Tigers win some games.
The team’s 8-2 start is its best since the 2017-18 season, and though two five-point losses (on a neutral court to Fairfield and at Clemson) perhaps had Towson feeling a bit sour, it can still feel accomplished in knowing that it has a style — which has a very slow tempo at fewer than 63 possessions a night on average — that could be built to last through the grind of the college hoops season.
Among the elites in the country in offensive rebounding (36.1% offensive rebounding percentage, 23rd in the nation, per KenPom) and with one of the top backcourts in the CAA in senior guards
Cameron Holden (16.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists per game) and Nicolas Timberlake (15.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists), the Tigers have already won games on the road this season against solid mid-major opposition like UMass, Penn and UNC Greensboro, matchups that were critical for Towson to put up solid performances in as there are few power-conference matchups for the non-conference part of the Tigers’ schedule.
Navy isn’t one of those power-conference teams, but the Midshipmen are a unit that isn’t to be taken lightly, either.
Coach Ed DeChellis took Navy to 21 wins last year — the program’s most since 1999-2000 — and though the Midshipmen are on a three-game skid heading into the Towson game, senior forward Tyler Nelson (14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds per game) is a type of player that can quickly turn a game on its head thanks to his elite deep shooting: 50.9% from 3-point range (on 6.1 attempts per game) thus far this year for the North Carolina native.
Preventing the 3-pointer has been a bit of a struggle for Towson’s defense this year (37.1 percent allowed), but it also may not matter as the Tigers are 5-0 this year when either Holden or Timberlake scores 20 points, so keep an eye out for if one or both of Towson’s dynamic duo reaches that mark.
Stetson vs. Charleston
The standout CAA team of the year thus far in nonconference play, Charleston, is 9-1 for the first time since the 2011-2012 season.
The Cougars are the league’s only team at the moment with multiple wins over programs currently ranked in the top 100 in KenPom, pulling the feat off in back-to-back games against Virginia Tech (77-75) and Kent State (74-72).
The win over the Hokies secured the Cougars their first Charleston Classic title in three tries.
Coach Pat Kelsey spent years building a top mid-major program at Winthrop, and so far, it appears as if C of C is on the same trajectory with an exciting offense that averages almost 80 points per night and has four double-digit scorers.
With all that being said, Stetson — which is on a 1-3 slide after starting 3-0 — should make for a cut-and-dry win for the Cougars as they play a defense that allows over 71 points per game, right?
Not so fast.
The Hatters, after all, were the team that began the derailment of NCAA Tournament mainstay Florida State’s season by beating the Seminoles in each teams’ season opener. A win at South Florida right after that was a solid victory for the Hatters, too.
Stetson’s been struggling with injuries throughout the year as both of its top leading scorers, sophomore guard Luke Brown (13.2 points per game) and redshirt freshman guard Cyncier Harrison (11.0 points) each have missed multi-game chunks of the schedule thus far due to injury, with the Hatters getting both back for the first time since the Florida State win in a loss last week at Florida.
Presuming both will be healthy again against Charleston — and the fact that the Hatters only allow opponents to steal the ball 3.7 times per game — maximizing the value of possessions is going to be critical for the Cougars as they’re likely bound to see a full-strength lineup.
One way to do that would be making as many of the 28.7 3-pointers they attempt per game as possible, especially considering that Stetson allows teams to shoot 40.7% from beyond the arc.