Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball inching closer to finding stride
The three banners unveiled on Wednesday at the American Bank Center were a reminder of what is possible at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Two seasons ago with a largely new roster, much like the current incarnation of Islanders men's basketball team, the team hit its stride at the right time, finding the right fit for all the puzzle pieces and earned a surprise NCAA Tournament bid.
Last year the group ran it back — but this time as the favorite — earning a second consecutive tourney berth, along with winning the program's first tournament game, which was celebrated at the American Bank Center ahead of the team's South Texas Showdown game against UTRGV.
Though the team ultimately fell 76-74 to the rival Vaqueros, they showed glimpses of what the team is capable of.
The Islanders (3-5) rebounded well again, doubling its average margin, winning the battle on the glass by 20 points, and produced offensive surges led by Dian Wright-Forde, Lance-Amir Paul (20 points) and Teddy Washington, which was nearly enough to rally past the Vaqueros, but not quite.
Pushing the right buttons
Falling behind 19-6 early, the Islanders clawed back to take a brief lead at the end of the first half and early in the second half, but ultimately UTRGV scored enough to hold off A&M-Corpus Christi in the Islanders first game since a stunning win at Conference USA opponent UTEP.
Wednesday's showing along with that win at a Miners squad that has a win against California, show that the pieces are in place to find success in the Southland, it is just a matter of pressing the right buttons.
Wright-Forde pushed his team-leading scoring average to 12.4 points a game, with his season-high of 21 points coming off the bench.
With 57 points in his last three games, he showed he may be the team's most consistent scorer, as a slasher and a player that likes to run downhill in transition before defenses can set up.
Washington and Paul each also showed the ability to spur the offense, which is still struggling to find the outside shooting it enjoyed last year.
More efficient on defense
Shaw, pointed back to defense on Wednesday being a key to the Islanders success, not just forcing turnovers at a high clip and scoring in transition, but holding teams down.
The Islanders are 19-0 in three seasons when holding teams below 70 points.
"I'd like to be more efficient on offense," Shaw said. "We want to shoot 33-to-38% from 3-point range where we are making seven, eight a game. Defensively continue to create turnovers, maybe at a higher rate. We have to get stops even when we don't force turnovers."
Shaw said he is unsure if the group has someone that will emerge as a 15-point a game scorer, but more likely a large group that can average north of seven or eight points with three or four double-digit scorers.
Some of the offensive punch A&M-Corpus Christi is looking for goes back to improving in the middle of the shot clock, an area where the Islanders struggled at times Wednesday.
"We'd ideally like to play fast and get a good shot in the first seven-to-10 seconds of the shot clock," Shaw said. "We don't want to take a contested shot with 17 seconds left on the clock, let's move the ball and look to get a great shot instead of an OK shot.
"We really want to have some more role definition before conference play starts and this next month with a number of home games and a game at Texas, by the time we are done with this month hopefully we'll have those roles defined."
More: Wednesday thriller: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi holds off UTEP late to win
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: College basketball: Islanders moving closer to finding right mix
