UNCW Head Coach Benny Moss, right, is still waiting for his team to play a complete game on both ends of the court. While the UNCW men’s basketball team improved their record to 7-3 with a 80-56 win over North Carolina Central University, he is still looking for consistency especially on defense. With the loss, NC Central fell to 1-12 on the season, their first at the NCAA Division I level.

The Seahawks pulled out to a 20-4 lead and looked like a team that was focused on the defensive end of the court, something they need to improve on. They were playing tight man-to-man defense with a hand in the passing lane and contested every NC Central shot.

TJ Carter set the tempo with a nice blocked shot on their opponent’s first possession. Up 6-2, Chad Tomko got a steal and scored down the other end, and on the following defensive sequence, the Seahawks forced a 30 foot desperation three pointer as the shot clock expired for NC Central. The Seahawks have shown that when the take care of the basketball, the can score with the best of them.

The question mark for UNCW has been at the defensive end. Coming out of the locker room, they looked like a team possessed, showing the ability and desire to put their opponent on lock down. But as head coach Benny Moss said after the game, “We’ve been pretty consistent on offense, we need to be more consistent on the defensive end. This team has shown flashes of being pretty good defensively for two, three, four minute spurts, but then it is like we lose our focus and we go through a spell where we are not as consistent on the defensive end.”

After going up 20-4, the Seahawks were outscored 20-12, and saw their sixteen point lead eventually trimmed to just six with 2:15 remaining in the half. While the ‘Hawks looked great to start the game, they can’t afford lapses against teams that are better than 1-12. The hand in the passing lane wasn’t there anymore and NC Central was able to get some open looks and a few easy lay-ups.

UNCW regrouped at halftime and put forth a solid effort during the second half on both ends of the court, as they were able to establish 36 point lead before coasting to the 80-56 victory.

The Seahawks shot the ball well again, making 50% of their field goals and went 21-25 from the free throw line. Turnovers were a problem for UNCW, as they committed 21 while accruing just 12 assists on the night. However, it wouldn’t be too costly on this night since their opponent turned the ball over 23 times, just about their season average. On the season, the Seahawks have 181 turnovers, and 169 assists which is a bit troubling. For a team that is converting on 48% of their shots, second in the league, for the season, they should have a better ratio. So all in all, some good, some bad. It was clearly a game that UNCW should have won by a bunch, and they did. They shot the ball well and showed that when they want to, they can dig in defensively. But clearly this team needs to take better care of the rock and could use a little bit of influence form Nolan Richardson’s “40 Minutes of Hell” defensive philosophy.

With that, combined with their balance on offense, this team would be tough to beat. They have a go-to scorer in TJ Carter, a couple of guys that can hit the three in Daniel Fountain and Chad Tomko, and an inside presence with Todd Hendley and Vlad Kuljanin, but if they can’t get big stops when they need to at the other end, they will have difficulty beating the better teams in the CAA.

Senior forward Todd Hendley and senior center Vladimir Kuljanin paced the ‘Hawks with 16 points each. Both players were 6-7 from the floor and combined to go 8-9 from the free throw line. Fellow senior Daniel Fountain chipped in with 15 points. TJ Carter, the leading scorer in the CAA (18.2 ppg) was held to just nine points on 4-10 shooting and did not score in the first half.

UNCW will play their next two games on the road; Wednesday they will face Coastal Carolina and will then play at East Carolina next Saturday. The Seahawks return to Trask Coliseum on December 29 with an important Mid-Major showdown with UNC-Greensboro.

- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT