Webber International (4-1) @ UNCG (0-1)

When: Monday, Nov. 17 7:00 pm
Where: Fleming Gym (2,320)
TV: None/UNCG All-Access

Webber International Athletics


Spartan Notes:
- The Spartans fell to Charlotte (77-59) Friday night. Landon Clement had 13 points and Mikko Koivisto had 12 and 2 assists. Ben Stywall had 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
- UNCG shot 38.5% (20-52) from the field, 35% (7-20) from 3 point range and 75% (12-16) from the free throw line.
- All 10 scholarship players got into the game within the first 10 minutes of the game. Even walk-ons Mike Hardiman and Sean Spooner made brief first half appearances.
- This is the first home game for the Spartans. Last year, UNCG went 10-2 at Fleming Gym.


Warrior Notes:
- The Warriors are a NAIA team from Babson Park, Florida. They are part of the Sun Conference.
- Webber International is coming off a 96-91 loss to Ave Maria University on Friday. Halston Schaffer led the way with 21 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.


My Thoughts:
Doing research on the Warriors was an interesting task. I'd advise everyone to go over to their website and read a recap story. Good luck. It appears they have several capable scorers. Schaffer looks like their best all-around player.

Now let me say, there is no reason that UNCG should be playing an NAIA team in the regular season. If they wanted to play an NAIA team, it should have taken place as an exhibition game. This is unfortunate for the fans that want to see good college basketball. That is not a knock on Webber International. They appear to have a nice squad. However, they should be playing other NAIA teams in the southeast and the Spartans should be playing D1 teams. Heck, there are 3 within a 30 minute drive of campus.

Having said that ... the game is on the schedule. So, go win it and do it in convincing fashion. Don't get frustrated if it's not a 30 point game right off the bat. Just play a normal game and pull away. This game should be more about UNCG getting better at playing together and playing within themselves. The last thing that needs to happen is for this game to be close in the second half and guys to start getting tight.

I would like to see a less crazy substitution pattern for this game than the Charlotte game. It seemed like every break during first half that there would be 2 or 3 new players enter the game. I assume that some of this was coach Dement just trying combinations to see what worked. Hopefully he's paired down the rotations a little bit.

The big men need to do a better job of playing defense without fouling. Webber doesn't have a player taller than 6'7". So this should be where the Spartans can assert themselves. I would like to see the guards take care of the ball, gain some confidence and run the offense offense smoothly. There is talent at this position. The guys just need to try to do a little less.

In the end, this game will probably be close for part of the first half. The size and depth of a D1 program versus a NAIA program should allow the Spartans to pull away for a win. It should be by a large margin. In the end, let's just win and move forward.

Go Spartans !!!