UNCG heads to Bahamas for tourney after upset of Arkansas
It's Thanksgiving week, which in college basketball terms means some teams could be having their turkey outside while wearing t-shirts and flip-flops.
UNC Greensboro will be one of those teams traveling and playing this holiday weekend. The Spartans (2-1) are in the field at the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship in The Bahamas beginning Friday, when they will face Kansas City at 11 a.m. The rest of the field consists of Brown, Delaware, Middle Tennessee, Illinois Chicago, Ohio and George Washington. The tournament concludes on Sunday.
Going into the tournament, UNCG stayed close with Vanderbilt before losing in Nashville, then pulled off the upset of then-No. 14 Arkansas last Friday in Little Rock. Coach Mike Jones said those games would help tell him about who his team is.
"Well, I know that we're a talented group. We've got talent throughout our roster," Jones said. "We have depth, and we're capable of being the team that we want to be, which is a good defensive team that gives ourselves a chance to win because of our defensive rebounding night in and night out. But you know, we haven't gotten to the point yet that we're doing it consistently for 40 minutes, and so that's a little bit of the exciting part about it, is there's a lot of area for growth with our team."
Against the Razorbacks, UNCG might have experience a bit of a growth spurt.
The Spartans went into the game as a 15 1/2-point underdog in one sportsbook. Their reaction was to go on a 13-2 run late in the first half and take a 15-point lead early in the second half, taking advantage of Arkansas' sloppy play.
The Razorbacks narrowed the gap to 54-50 with 9 minutes, 54 seconds left, but UNC Greensboro answered with a 3-pointer by Donovan Atwell and a layup by Joryam Saizonou for a nine-point lead which the Razorbacks never seriously threatened.
"We were terrific in the first half, defensively, and that's why we had a 14-point lead at halftime," Jones said. "And then. as they should on their home floor, the SEC team was supposed to win that game. They fought and they got some opportunities and they created, some of which we helped to create for them because of our lack of attention to detail ... but we scored consistently throughout the game, so that kept them at bay. But now, our defense has some room for growth."
The statistics might argue otherwise. The Razorbacks had 13 turnovers, including six in the final 4:15 of the first half. The Spartans finished with 16 second-chance points. While Arkansas shot 44% from the field, it made only 4 of 23 3-pointers.
Keyshaun Langley provided a lot of the offense for UNCG. Langley had 23 points and Mikeal Brown-Jones added 17. For his effort, Langley was named on Monday as the Southern Conference men's basketball player of the week. He had 26 points in the 74-70 loss to Vanderbilt.
"Yeah, he's playing at a high level," Jones said. "So happy for him for that. But, yeah, he's playing at a high level right now and hopefully, he can continue that."
Despite the attraction of a Caribbean locale, the Spartans are on what coaches like to refer to as a business trip, although they will get a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. Formally known as the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Roos won their opening two games before encountering Power 5 schools. They fell to 15th-ranked Baylor, 99-61 on Nov. 14, then lost to Colorado State, 84-61, last Friday.
Kansas City cut an 11-point halftime lead down to six, but the Rams went on a 15-2 spurt to put the game away.
"I think they're a very physical team, an experienced team," Jones said. "They defend at a high level. They're tough. They have a great inside presence. So they're a tough team, a tough matchup for us, and will reveal some things about us as well. So, looking forward to just seeing how our team competes against them."
The backdrop has its appeal, but Jones said a talk with his team should help divert attention from the temptation to get some beach time.
"The maturity and the ability to focus on the job at hand is important for all teams," he said, "But we'll obviously talk to our guys about that and help them understand that, even though we're in paradise, we've got a job to do. And regardless of what the situation is, you're expected to do your job, me included."
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