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North Carolina and Duke are the bluest of bloods in the Tar Heel State, but UNC-Wilmington will be joining them in the NCAA tourney next week. On Monday Craig Ponder scored a team-high 20 PTS to help beat Hofstra in OT in the Colonial tourney title game to earn an automatic bid. The Seahawks were in the CIT last year, but bounced back this week to claim the school’s 1st NCAA tourney bid in a decade. Yesterday HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Craig about setting a school record for STL and being unstoppable in OT.
You played at Hargrave Military Academy: which of your teammates impressed you the most (PJ Hairston, Dez Wells, other)? I have to say Dez: I have never seen anyone compete the way he did. He was a physical specimen who had such a hunger for the game.
Last March in the CIT you scored 17 PTS in a loss to Sam Houston State: what did you learn from that game that you think will help you in the postseason this year? You need to have the will to win. We prepared well last year but did not have the right focus at tipoff and were a little complacent about just making it to postseason play.
In December you set a school record with 9 STL in a win over Coker: what is the secret for being a great defender? You have to really put your mind to work. I cannot take all the credit because Coach Keatts puts us in the right place to win.
You play for Coach Kevin Keatts who was also your coach at Hargrave: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He taught me to stay true to myself. I have known him for awhile and he communicates well with everyone on the team and knows how to keep us all motivated.
On Monday you scored a team-high 20 PTS to help clinch a 7-PT OT win over Hofstra to snap their 8-game winning streak: what is the key to winning games in OT (as your team is now 6-0 in OT games during the past 2 years)? We put in a lot of work during the preseason on our conditioning: we are so used to being tired from our practices that we can push through it during long games.
The win was your 25th of the year: when your team lost 20+ games for 3 straight years from 2012-2014, could you have ever imagined tying the school record for most wins in a season? I could never have imagined being at this point. We always dreamed about it but could never string together enough wins.
You are the only senior among the top-7 scorers on your team: how much pressure has there been on you to be a leader this season? We help each other in that aspect so there is not that much pressure on me. I try to lead by example in both working hard and playing hard, as that is all that I can control.
You and UNC Asheville have already earned spots in the NCAA tourney, Duke and UNC are locks to make it, and Davidson is still alive in the A-10 tourney: how do you describe the college basketball scene in North Carolina for people who live outside the Tar Heel State? The atmosphere here is tremendous. Back when we were losing some people had a lot of negative things to say about us, but a lot of people kept faith in us and now that we are winning we have received a lot of support.
Your brother Ansel played football at Western Michigan: who is the best athlete in the family? I would say he is the better athlete by far: he could have even played D-1 basketball.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? I feel we deserve a 12-13 seed but I think they might give us a 13-14 seed.
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