Pregame glance: UNC Wilmington

After their smackdown of Florida on Tuesday, the Buckeyes have spent the remainder of the week preparing for the UNC Wilmington Seahawks, who they will face tomorrow at 8:00pm in the Schott.  Interestingly, the Seahawks opened their season by playing none other than the #10 ranked Florida Gators.  The game resulted in a 77-60 loss for UNC Wilmington, suggesting that tomorrow’s game should be a fairly substantial scoring affair for Ohio State.  No team can be taken lightly though, so let’s take a look at what we might be facing this weekend…

UNC Wilmington has had some legitimate teams over the course of the past decade, winning the CAA in 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2006.  In 2002, the Seahawks pulled off the upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, knocking off USC.  They almost did it again in 2003 against Maryland, but were denied by a buzzer-beating shot from the Terps.  More recently the ‘Hawks have fallen on hard times.  Coach Benny Moss took over the team following the last tournament appearance, and only managed to have one winning season with the team in five campaigns.  This came on the heels of seven straight seasons of records at .500 or above, and Moss was actually let go in the middle of the 2009-10 season, being replaced by Brooks Lee.  Lee finished out the year, and then was replaced by Buzz Peterson entering the current 2010-11 basketball season.  Peterson has been around big-time basketball over his career, having held the head coaching spot at Tennessee from 2001-2005.  Peterson played his college ball at “big” UNC, where he was Michael Jordan’s roommate.

It is worth noting, for obvious reasons, that UNC Wilmington was coached by a man named Mel Gibson from 1976-1986.

The Seahawks currently stand at 2-1, notching a victory over Liberty 69-64 after their initial loss to Florida and earning a second win just last night against Morehead State.  The team is led by 5’11 senior guard Chad Tomko, who netted 15 points in each of the team’s first two games.  6’4 junior guard Trevor Deloach has provided some scoring help off the bench thus far in the season, hitting double digits in all three outings and leading the team in scoring against Morehead State with 17.  The Seahawks feature a three-guard lineup.  One of their starting big men, sophomore Matt Wilson, is listed at 6’11, so the team does put some height on the floor.

The UNC Wilmington squad can put the ball in the basket will a fair degree of consistency, as they shot the ball at a 48% rate of accuracy against Florida and followed it up with a 50% showing against Liberty.  However, judging from the performances we’ve seen thus far, it looks as though Ohio State will have little trouble keeping up in any shootout this season, so don’t look for any real difficulties even if the Seahawks continue their positive shooting trend.  Perhaps a more important statistical note is the fact that Tomko has recorded 16 turnovers in the team’s first three games, suggesting that Ohio State could potentially take advantage of weak ball control with their quickness and rotation of players.

The game will be played at 8:00pm, and can be seen on the Big Ten Network.  Here’s a look at the projected starting lineups for the game, along with individual stats for each team’s first two games on the season: