If any game — really, any half — exemplifies the season that UNC Wilmington has been having, it’d probably be Jan. 10’s second half against Stony Brook.
Shorthanded, and on the second leg of a due-north road trip, the Seahawks headed into the locker room for halftime trailing 43-21 against one of the CAA’s worst teams in the Seawolves. The lead got pushed to 24 in the opening minute of the second half, as Erik Pratt knocked down a jumper and Christian May committed a turnover. With 19:25 remaining and the score at 45-21, the Seahawks had just a 1.6% chance to win, per ESPN.
But then came a Pat Wessler dunk. Then back-to-back threes by Nolan Hodge and Noah Ross. A Wessler floater. Another Hodge three. Greedy Williams flashing around the court like he was wearing a video-game version of the old Reebok Pumps. The bench erupting every time the Seahawks dug a little further into the deficit. Another Hodge jumper. And, finally, the second Williams and-1 layup in as many minutes. By the time Stony Brook looked up at the scoreboard — if the Seawolves had any energy left to do so — they’d notice their opponents had ripped off a 24-0 run, on the road, to tie the game at 45.
It wasn’t the first time these Seahawks have pulled a rabbit out of their collective hats. Stony Brook is arguably the most impressive comeback the reigning CAA champions have pulled off this season, but it’s far from the only one. Take Marshall, where they trailed 69-62 with 1:39 to play before engineering a dramatic regulation win. Or Valparaiso, where they trailed by 11 at halftime before storming back to eke out a nailbiter. Or NC A&T, who held a 40-29 lead late in the first half in the conference opener until the Seahawks decided to turn it on. Or Campbell, who had a 12-point cushion and a 92.3% chance to win before the Seahawks scored 29 points in 11 minutes to maintain an unblemished conference mark.
I wrote in June about UNCW’s unique, remarkable transfer class that made waves across the CAA and mid-major basketball as a whole. That class saw six superb talents — including four established CAA stars — end up in Wilmington, joining a team that’d just won the conference and come oh-so-close to slaying Texas Tech in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
That was enough for me to make the Seahawks prohibitive favorites in my conference preview. Why wouldn’t they be? On paper, this roster, even with the talent they’d lost, had the talent to blow their conference foes (and most of their non-conference opponents, really) out of the water on a night-to-night basis.
Things haven’t played out that way, though.
Of UNCW’s 15 Division-I wins, 12 have come by fewer than 15 points. Eight have come by fewer than 10 points. They’ve slogged to narrow victories over Hampton (249 KenPom), Northeastern (231 KenPom), Stony Brook (274 KenPom), Louisiana (327 KenPom), Radford (256 KenPom), and A&T (307 KenPom). Their blowouts — East Carolina, Gardner-Webb, and Navy — all came at home, during a two-week stretch in November. The dominance not being there, especially for a roster with so much talent, might raise red flags in other places.
“I think each month is a different phase for us,” head coach Takayo Siddle told Mid-Major Madness after UNCW’s win at Northeastern. “In the month of January, we’re trying to build some consistency with our identity and with our standards, and that’s what we’re fighting through right now.”
This isn’t the first time a successful Seahawks team has gone through something like this. Just a season ago, a UNCW team that ended up winning the CAA had a similar experience, slogging through a number of congested, uncomfortable wins before meshing into a sledgehammer down the stretch of conference play.
“This early part of the conference season last year was the same way,” Siddle said. “But [in tight games], I just keep telling them ‘We got to will our way to get this win.’ Our championship DNA [kicks in].”
Having seen it firsthand, there really isn’t a better descriptor than will. In the Northeastern win, Siddle took a timeout at the 4:37 mark, with his team trailing by two in a hostile environment. Even for the most tried and true, that’s a tough situation to be in. But, instead of wilting, the ’Hawks came out of the timeout, clamped down on defense and executed everything correctly on both sides of the ball to take the game away.
Much has been made of the transfer class, and deservedly so. But, when push came to shove in Boston, it was UNCW’s vets — the guys who have been through hell and back with Siddle — who served as the engine powering the Seahawks to the finish line. Hodge, Williams, and Ross — a trio of senior holdovers from last season’s championship team — scored 17 of the ’Hawks final 21 points, willing their team to victory in every sense of the word.
“Guys like Nolan [Hodge], Noah [Ross], and Greedy [Williams]… they’ve been in those types of moments with us, a lot,” Siddle said. “There’s a chance for them to step up and own their role as leaders and show these other guys the way… We’re all still learning how to win. The more experience we can get early on? Later on, we won’t even flinch.”
To be fair, some of UNCW’s lack of dominance (which feels exceedingly strange to be saying about a 17-2 team) has been out of their control. That vaunted six-man transfer class has delivered mixed returns, mostly due to health: Jahnathan Lamothe and Gavin Walsh have both missed extended time, while CJ Luster III announced midway through the season that his injury would cause him to miss the season in favor of a redshirt year.
“They’re great kids,” Siddle said of his transfer class. “None of this would work out if they didn’t embrace our culture. These guys are doing a great job for us. As they get more comfortable in their role, and figure out how to play winning basketball. It’s only going to get better.”
Siddle is right. Even while being largely successful — Wessler has been dominant, May has been one of the steadier players on the roster, and Madison Durr has been a sparkplug scorer — the class is still learning how to play Seahawk basketball.
If you ask Siddle, he’ll tell you that Seahawk basketball is a simple concept: it’s winning basketball. Don’t take bad shots. Don’t turn the ball over. Execute your defensive system. But, there’s more to it than that. Coaches all across the country echo similar sentiments, but only Siddle’s UNCW has managed to pull off dramatic wins at quite this clip. Only Siddle’s UNCW has a second-half NET rating more than 18 points higher than its first-half NET. (If you only look at CAA games, this number rises above 33). Only Siddle’s UNCW sits undefeated in CAA play, despite staring down three different double-digit deficits in six games.
So no, Coach. I don’t buy that Seahawk basketball can simply be boiled down to a handful on-court concepts. There’s a mental aspect too. A never-say-die, don’t tell me the odds, get up off the mat swinging aspect.
“People get it mixed up when you’re trying to figure out how to win,” Siddle told Mid-Major Madness in May of 2025. “[Winning] is really mental.”
Hodge, Ross and Williams started the season with that mentality. They’d earned it over the years with Siddle (or singular year in Williams’ case). It showed up time and time again last season, and it’s showing up again so far in this one.
As far as the new guys? They’re not all the way there yet. But you can bet they’re close. You can see it in flashes that seem to get more common as the season wears on. And by tournament time? I’d be surprised if Siddle’s bunch wasn’t a full, fit, and firing machine ready to wield the final form of Seahawk basketball on their way back to the NCAA Tournament.
And, for whatever reason, if the new guys don’t make it all the way to Seahawk Basketball Nirvana? UNCW is 17-2 as is. That’ll do as a floor.
