UNCG Preview: Road Tested

The Mocs head on the road after one of their worst performances of the year, a shocking final 25
minutes that saw the Mocs go from up 12 to losing by 16. At home.

Now the Mocs go on the road to take on UNCG. The Spartans are fighting for the sixth seed. The Mocs are fighting for the second seed. There is a lot of importance in this game. Can the Spartans finally come up with a big win? Can the Mocs get the critical road win they desperately need to get?

The Spartans will rely on their inside game. Kyle Cain and Kayel Locke are big and very impressive players. RJ White is too. However, those guys all have a hard time staying out of foul trouble. That is the key for the Spartans. If Cain, Locke and White can stay out of foul trouble, they will have every opportunity to win this game. However, with how much they get into foul trouble and how impressive the Mocs have been at getting opponents into foul trouble, that may be easier said than done.

Tevon Saddler is one of the most impressive point guards in the SoCon, at least as a freshman. Saddler can do plenty of scoring if he can avoid turnovers. Saddler is a serious threat to the Mocs defense as he drives into the paint.

The first time these two teams hooked up, Saddler scored 24 points. White, Locke and Cain combined for 29 points...and ten fouls. They combined for just 76 minutes of action. That's not enough from the big guys. They did outrebound the Mocs, but committed more turnovers. Casey Jones scored 22 points with four rebounds, three assists, and five steals. Z Mason scored 15 and had six rebounds.

This is going to be an interesting game for both teams. The key for UNCG remains staying out of foul trouble with their bigs and taking quality shots on the offensive end of the floor. For the Mocs, the key will be to knock down shots and slow down Saddler. The Mocs need to play aggressive on the offensive end of the floor.

PREDICTION

This is going to be a war. The Spartans got beaten by Elon pretty badly on Wednesday night. The Mocs got humbled by Georgia Southern on Thursday. The Spartans are hungry for a home win against a top team. I truthfully don't know which team shows up on either side. When that happens, I guess you go with the home team. The Mocs will be primed to not be outhustled and outworked again like they were Thursday. That is almost enough to take the Mocs. This will be a war and should come down to the buzzer. Spartans 69, Mocs 67.