UNCW keeps receipt, cashed in on Hofstra to reach CAA final

UNCW celebrates in locker room after Seahawks stunned Hofstra to reach CAA tournament championship game. (Photo by Rafael Suanes/Colonial Athletic Association)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The first sign of Hofstra’s dominance in the Colonial Athletic Association this season came in a defensive masterpiece of a second half on January 19.

On that night, the Pride squeezed the life out of UNC Wilmington over the final 20 minutes, turning a first-half tie on Long Island into a 70-46 statement that became the first of 12 consecutive wins for head coach Speedy Claxton and his alma mater.

The recipients of that loss had an opportunity to turn the tables Monday night in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament semifinals, and with a chance to play for an NCAA Tournament berth, UNCW exacted its revenge, with a pregame message circulated around the team for good measure.

“We did that,” head coach Takayo Siddle confirmed when asked whether or not he had left a physical reminder of the previous encounter his Seahawks had with Hofstra. “We posted the score from the last time we played them in our meeting space and in our locker room. I don’t know if they even looked at it, but did it work?”

The 79-73 result from which UNCW emerged victorious, despite needing overtime to do so, is enough evidence to prove Siddle’s motivational tactic was, in fact, successful.

“We wanted to be the first one to hit them and show them that we’re there, we’re here to win,” Trazarien White proclaimed. “The scores around the locker room just reminded us that they embarrassed us. It was embarrassing. It just felt bad, and it motivated us, like, ‘we can’t get embarrassed. We’re gonna win this game.’”

“In that game, we only competed for about 20-25 minutes,” Siddle elaborated, referencing the regular season matchup. “And when we were competing, we weren’t tough enough, we weren’t physical enough. We wanted to emphasize — before we even talked about personnel — we wanted to show them how they tried to punk us, how they did punk us in the first game that we played them. They were pushing us around, slamming us on the ground, and we were reacting to it in a negative way. It just took us out of it mentally, so we wanted to address that first and foremost.”

Hofstra did not go quietly into the night in the nation’s capital, however. The Pride built a double-digit after trailing in the opening minutes, showing no sign of a letdown after a record-setting performance in Sunday’s quarterfinal win over William & Mary. But as UNCW relied on its full-court press while Hofstra rushed shots and looked increasingly uncomfortable, it became clear that this night would be far different.

“They got physical with us,” Claxton divulged. “We weren’t able to move the way we wanted to move, but they’re a good defensive team. They hang their hat on the defensive end, and they defended us really well.”

“To win 12 games in a row and to be on point, you’re bound to have an off night, off stretch, and that’s kind of what happened tonight. We got cold at the wrong time. I don’t think they did anything differently. We just missed shots tonight. We got the same looks we always get, we just didn’t make them.”

And so it goes in mid-major leagues in March. Hofstra, a team Claxton insisted is headed in the right direction, now settles for the NIT in a bittersweet continuation to its season. UNCW is now 40 minutes from a conference championship, and must go through a 30-win Charleston team to win it, but will do so with an educated mindset forged by righting earlier wrongs and correcting past missteps.

“Whatever lesson is in the game, whether you win or lose, there’s a lesson to be learned after every game,” a proud Siddle said. “And I told these guys — they probably get tired of hearing me — we learn lessons. But we have to get better from the mistakes that we made. The things we point out to them, we have to learn from, and keep doing the things we did well. You have to learn every single day so when you get to this moment, you can be the best version of yourself.”