Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington Seahawks have announced their 2012-2013 mens’ basketball schedule, and it’s a compelling one! They will take on 14 non-conference opponents, including 4 teams that appeared in the NCAA Tournament, before opening up CAA Conference play.
The Seahawks will begin their season playing host to UNC Asheville on November 11. Asheville, the defending Big South Conference champs, are coming off an excellent season that ended on a narrow defeat at the hands of Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament. They should provide a difficult match-up for UNCW.
Next, head coach Buzz Peterson’s club will enter a 3-game road trip against Richmond (A10) on Nov. 11, Ohio (Mid-American) on Nov. 16 and Purdue (Big Ten) on Nov. 21. Richmond is coming off a very unsuccessful season in 2011-2012, but it’s quite the opposite story with Ohio and Purdue. Both the Bobcats and the Boilermakers are coming off NCAA Tournament appearances where they registered at least one victory. And they should be primed to compete once again this season.
Next, The Seahawks will then play host to Wofford (Southern) and Hampton (MEAC) in back-to-back games in Wilmington. Both opponents failed to earn a winning record last season and shouldn’t be bigger threats this year.
Moving forward, UNCW will host only two other home games before opening up conference play. They will welcome Coker (Division II) on December 5 and UNC Greensboro on December 19. Coker will be the school’s first Division II opponent in many years, while Greensboro finished 2011-2012 with a 13-19 record. Both should be winnable match-ups for the Seahawks.
Lastly, the Seahawks will play 5 road games in December. They’ll take on Marshall (C-USA) on December 1, Georgia Tech (ACC) on Davidson (Southern) on December 15, and then they close out their many-years-long series with Campbell (Big South). All 4 schools should prove very difficult challenges.
While the UNCW Seahawks don’t have the easiest non-conference schedule, they should be able to compete and contend with the majority of their unfamiliar foes.
Jake Fischer is the CAA Correspondent for Rant Sports-NCAA Basketball. Make sure to follow Jake on Twitter @fischsportsline.
