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Surging Islanders riding defensive wave in recent streak

Texas A&M Islanders men's basketball
Posted at 6:40 PM, Jan 24, 2020
and last updated 2020-01-24 19:57:03-05

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders will try and make it three straight wins tomorrow when they travel to San Antonio to meet the University of the Incarnate Word.

It will be the first of a three-game road trip for the Islanders, who are currently 4-5 in Southland Conference play.

They rallied to claim their last two games, including Wednesday's big win over New Orleans.

“There's a maturity factor that is beginning to sink in with our ballclub,” Islanders coach Willis Wilson said. “We are beginning to believe we can win games. We know that if we are behind it does not mean that we are out.

“I think there was a time during the course of the season where guys felt like if something went wrong, it was the end of the world. Now, I think we can fight through adversity and it takes a total team effort to chip in.”

The key for the Islanders’ recent surge has been strong defensive work, Willis said.

“It's all about defense, when the defense is good the offense takes care of itself,” he said. “When our defense is good, we have a lot of high energy and that has been very impressive in these last two wins.”

The Islanders’ women also will be at UIW starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The men’s game will follow at 4:15 p.m.