GREENVILLE, North Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore struggled against pressure defense part way through the loss at James Madison University on Sunday and now will run headlong into a team that hangs its hat on it.
The Hawks (3-7) take on ECU on Tuesday at 6 p.m. — a matchup that UMES has not won in seven tries.
"VCU had 30 turnovers when they played ECU," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "They racked up 16 steals. They are athletic. They are very aggressive to the glass and they like to score off their defense. That's their bread and butter and the philosophy of the coaching staff. They recruit kids that can play that type of defense. They struggle from the field sometimes because of that, but they made seven threes the other day, but the game before they didn't make any."
The Hawks have been a bit of a mystery against pressure, playing through it at Miami in the opener, but struggling at other times.
"It is a crap shoot sometimes with a young team and not having a lot of time to prepare, with basically an hour the day before to prepare for what we'll see against ECU," Batchelor said. "You aren't really prepared with that amount of time. George Mason (which beat ECU 54-41 on Dec. 1) said they worked on it for three or four days and we had an hour, but I feel like we addressed some things that are going to make us better.
"I think they pose a real challenge for us, but I think our kids are going to step up to the challenge — particularly our guards."
The return of Cache' Wilson (Baltimore, Maryland) from injury could be a big positive soon, but after just three minutes at JMU she still won't be ready for significant minutes for a while.
"I'm really at this point just trying to just carefully utilize her for spot play to get some kids some rest," Batchelor said. "She can't be part of the rotation yet because she really hasn't practiced. Monday was probably her first full practice and that was an hour and a half walkthrough."
Tuesday will be a bit of a homecoming for Ashanti Lynch (Hookerton, North Carolina) who hails from just 15 minutes outside of Greenville.
"I'm expecting her to give us a contribution in front of her friends and family," Batchelor said.
After the contest, the Hawks will return home and will play host to LaSalle on Saturday at 1 p.m. That game will be broadcast live on HBCUGO.
