CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders men's and women's basketball teams got some practice in at the American Bank Center on Monday leading up to one of their rivalry games. The South Texas Showdown against UTRGV.
Last year, both teams hosted a South Texas Showdown game and they each won at home in men's and women's basketball. Now the Corpus Christi men are led by a new head coach, Jim Shaw. The Islanders enter the game with a (3-4) record after playing against some pretty tough opponents like No. 7 ranked Houston.
"They enjoy being around each other, so they're going to play for each other," Shaw said. "You know we're just meshing offensively, but defensively I think we've competed really, really hard and the defensive off of the glass."
There are a lot of new names on the roster, but so far they've been able to gel together very well. Returners like Stephen Giwa love the rivalry game because it's always a fun atmosphere and they're familiar with their opponent.
"We split it last year with them," Giwa, Islanders redshirt sophomore center, said. "Trying to win two of those matchups this year. I'm pretty excited. I've got some teammates that I had played with before, so it's going to be a fun game."
The Islanders men battle UTRGV on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the American Bank Center. The men will drop their 2022-23 Regular Season Championship, 2022-23 SLC Tournament Championship and 2023 NCAA Tournament banners.
The Islanders women host UTRGV the day before the men on Tuesday. Like the men, the women have a (3-4) record leading up to the South Texas Showdown.
Longtime Islanders head coach Royce Chadwick leads another good defensive team, and they've been battle-tested already against Texas A&M-College Station, UTSA and Rice. On offense the Islanders have returners that can shoot the three, which helps open up the paint for experienced Islanders like Alecia Westbrook that can be tough to stop down low.
"I like that we're getting to know each other," Westbrook, Islanders graduate student forward, said. "You know we have some new girls coming into our lineups. Getting to know how they play, so in those later games during conference we really know how to gel together and get a win."
"We have a lot of balance between guards and posts," Violeta Verano, Islanders senior guard, said. "Like you know if the post isn't open the guard is always going to be open and we need to be ready to shoot the three. The same with the guards. If the guards are covered we get to the post. You know if we're covered the post is going to score."
The Islanders women battle UTRGV on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the American Bank Center. The South Texas Showdown, is an annual rivalry series in which Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTRGV compete against each other in 12 sports, including twice in basketball. The Islanders lead the all-time season series (5-2).
This game is also a celebration of the 2023 Southland Conference regular season championship squad, as Texas A&M-CC will unveil its SLC Championship banner and WNIT Tournament banner prior to tip-off.
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