Senior Ben Stywall in the lane.
The shot goes up. Do you stand poised to get a rebound? Or do you stick your backside on the closest player, forcing him to stay behind you?
If you want rebounds in Div. I basketball, you'd better do the latter.
It's boxing out. It negates size and strength, men's Coach Mike Dement says. And when you're defending against the types of ACC opponents UNCG will face — with their quick, large post players — you have to work hard down low to finish the play with a strong rebound.
When the ball is in the air, you slide between a big player and the goal, put your body on his as low as possible, and push back, never giving an inch. Then at the last moment, “check off and go get it,” Dement says.
Senior Ben Stywall is one the best rebounders in the league, Dement says. The forward has a tremendous nose for the ball, he adds.
“You have to be a tough kid to be a good rebounder,” Dement says. “You're exposing your body. It's very physical at this level,” he said. “You're going to get hit.”
Off-season weight-training is essential, Stywall says. “You have to build up your strength to be ready to bang with the big guys.”
You also have to remember to stay low on defensive rebounds, he says. “A person can't move without their legs. That's where you want to place your body on them. It limits their movement.”
Two years ago, UNCG outrebounded the opposition. Last year, the opposite.
Darrius Sellars redshirted last year, with an injury. The sophomore returns to team up with Stywall and other big men like Pete Brown to make their presence felt.
“I'm extremely anxious to get back,” Sellars says. This year's team has six seniors and a great freshman class. “We're a lot bigger, a lot stronger.”
The team has a new home court this year: the Greensboro Coliseum, site of many legendary games in its five decades.
“They're excited. It's a beautiful venue,” Dement says. 11,687 fans attended the big UNCG-Davidson game last February.
“It's hard to describe how great it was playing in front of all those fans,” Stywall says. “The noise and everything, it was a wonderful atmosphere.”
“I hope every game's like that,” he adds. “It'll make us play even harder.”
Tickets are on sale at (336) 334-3250. Or visit the Athletics web site, uncgspartans.com.
Kim Record
One of her sons reminded her to smile.
The advice wasn't needed. As Kim Record was named the new athletic director, she had plenty of reasons to smile, calling UNCG “a very special place with limitless possibilities.”
“I am excited about the future,” Record said. “I share [Chancellor Brady's] vision for Spartan Athletics. It's limitless what we can do. We can and we will enhance the visibility of this great institution through intercollegiate athletics. My job is to chart a course to accomplish our goals: graduating student-athletes, playing by the rules, being engaged members in our community and competing at the highest levels is the Spartan formula for success.”
Record had held associate athletic director positions at Florida State University and the University of Virginia. Her first job as a student at UVa involved handling fan mail for Ralph Sampson, she said. She ultimately became associate director of athletics for administration. At FSU — which she noted shares a women’s college heritage with UNCG — she was senior associate director of athletics from 1995 to 2008.
What attracted her to the UNCG position? The tradition and the past success. Two other factors were being in the respected Southern Conference and the fact that the city of Greensboro is committed to sports. She cited various groups and volunteers. “I want to continue to forge those types of partnerships, which can not only benefit UNCG, but also can stimulate the local economy,” she said. “I am excited about playing Spartan basketball at the Coliseum.”
Monique Floyd
From the first game of her freshman year, Monique Floyd has known who her coach wants her to cover.
The best guard on the other team.
“She has wanted me to be the ‘stopper.’”
Her athleticism mixed with calm tenacity resulted in the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year award last season, her sophomore year. She made life very unpleasant for those she guarded. “I did the dirty work,” Floyd explains, “hustling hard, slowing them down.” It's a matter of intensity, she says.
“I've always been tough,” she quietly adds. “I always played with the boys — had to hustle as hard as they did.”
She has the highest field goal percentage among the starters. Coach Lynne Agee describes her as a playmaker with an explosive first step.
“Off the dribble, no one can stop her drive to the basket.”
And when a game was on the line last season, the coach wanted the ball in her hands.
Agee can look in the players' eyes in a last-second huddle and tell who wants the ball. Is there hesitation or fear? Or is there quiet confidence?
When she looked at Floyd in the huddle, she saw the answer: “I've got it.”
Kristen Boone and Ashley Ling, both veteran point guards, were injured as the season began. Floyd and Lakiah Hyson would share point guard duties.
“Mo, can you run the point?” she inquired, asking when she'd last played that position.
“When I was little, Coach.”
She made the move. “It was difficult,” Floyd says.
But she was good. “She sees it all,” Agee says. She is never rattled.
This year, Hyson will be point guard. Floyd will return to her natural position on the wing.
After last year's season wracked by injuries, the year looks promising. Five of the team's top six scorers return.
“If we're not in the thick of things, I'll be greatly disappointed,” says Agee.
1983 men's soccer team.
EnlargeThe UNCG Athletics Hall of Fame welcomed its 10th class on FallFest weekend. Inductees included volleyball's Missi Olson Kovachev '93, softball's Christine Hornak '98, golfer Joe Caldeira '80 and the 1983 men's soccer team.
That team won 23 matches — 12 of 13 were by shutout in one stretch of the season — on its way to a second consecutive Div. III national championship. Before the 1980s, men's soccer had never won more than nine games. The 1982 and 1983 teams' legacy of success is seen in the national championship teams later in that decade. And all the way to this decade's teams, where four of the last five years, men's soccer has made it to the NCAA Final 16.
Another part of the legacy is the Doug Hamilton Scholarship, created by former teammates in memory of a beloved member of the early '80s teams. Until it is fully endowed, it is being funded by former teammate Andrew Mehalko '87. The current recipient is forward Jamel Johnson.
At the pre-season Alumni Game, Johnson had a chance to take the field alongside alumni from the past decades — including one from the '83 team.
“It was fun,” he says. “You got to see a variety of styles [of play] from different generations.”