Seahawks men’s hoops ready for challenge in Savannah

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The UNCW Seahawks men’s basketball team rebounded Saturday from their first loss of the year as they got the win over Campbell. This weekend the team faces a new challenge as they travel to Georgia for the Savannah Invitational.

Last week we asked UNCW men’s basketball coach C.B. McGrath what it would take to get more productivity out of guys not named Devontae Cacok and Jordon Talley. He said it was as simple as just speaking with them about what needs to be done.

With Jaylen Fornes and Ty Taylor having career days, it’s safe to say the talk worked.

“For them to have the success, it just reiterates what they’ve been working on and what we’ve been talking to them about,” Coach McGrath said. “I had been encouraging the rebounding and I think Jaylen had five against Davidson. He didn’t have as many against Campbell but then Ty Taylor had nine against Campbell. He almost had a double-double and that’s terrific.”

The team will need that same kind of production from the entire group as they enter the Savannah Invitational this weekend. UNCW will play Loyola Friday and Seahawk assistant Jackie Manuel’s former team Valparaiso Saturday, two undefeated teams.

Coach McGrath says the competition is great and the tournament setting will be beneficial down the road.

“Any kind of tournament action where you have back-to-back games prepares you long-term and it’s not going to be surprising for them,” Coach McGrath said. “If we weren’t in a tournament and we never played back-to-back days it might be strange that we’re doing this.”

As the team learns what it’s like to compete in a tournament together, coach said the focus has to be on themselves getting even better than they are now before the games even begin.

“We have a whole week here where we can get better and not just solely focus on what they might do against us,” Coach McGrath said. “The stat sheet looks pretty nice. We have a guy leading the nation in rebounding and a guy third in in the nation in assists. So I mean we have guys that are doing some pretty good things, still can’t be CAA player of the week, but they’re doing some nice things.”

Now after the tournament we’ve got you covered here on WWAY with all the action from Savannah on the C.B. McGrath Show Sunday morning at 11:30.