UNCW basketball completes regular-season sweep of Charleston, moves to 3rd place in CAA

Trazarien White and UNCW basketball aren't slowing down anytime soon.

The Seahawks returned to the win column Thursday night, going on the road in a come-from-behind 80-74 victory over College of Charleston to give the team its first regular-season sweep of the Cougars since 2022.

"The words that we used all week were focus and poise, and we did that at a high level (tonight)," UNCW coach Takayo Siddle said after the game. "When you go back and look at the stats that don't show up on the stat sheet, we had 14 50/50 balls to their nine."

UNCW's (15-6, 6-3 CAA) White, who scored 17 points the last time these teams met, poured in 25 points and nine rebounds to boost the Seahawks back into the regular-season CAA title hunt.

The Seahawks took their first lead of the second half with just under nine minutes to play. Shykeim Phillips scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds, while Donovan Newby and Nolan Hodge each contributed 11 points.

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While the win moved both teams' conference records to 6-3 on the year, UNCW's two victories over the Cougars give it the edge for third place in the CAA. Towson (14-8, 7-2) defeated Northeastern to remain in second place.

"I'm so proud of the guys right now because we feel like we let one go on the road (Against Stony Brook), and we knew we had to get it back, and we did," Siddle said. "We came out, and for 16 minutes of that second half, we made our adjustments and executed on both ends of the floor," Siddle said.

The Seahawks bounced back from last week's overtime loss to Stony Brook and have won five of their last six.

After playing four of its last five games on the road, UNCW returns home Saturday to host Campbell (10-11, 4-4) before hosting CAA leader Drexel on Thursday, Feb. 8. The Seahawks fell 78-63 to the Dragons when they last met on Jan. 4.

"I'm just trying to figure out the formula, how we got stuck on the road six out of our first nine games of conference play and only played three home games," Siddle said. "We're not gonna make excuses; we're going to get the job done. I just told the guys in the locker room that whatever people throw at us we're going to take it and we'll be ready for it and we'll respond the right way."

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: UNCW basketball CAA title hunt still alive with win over Charleston