Coastal Carolina men's basketball set to tip off season in Hawaii

The Coastal Carolina men’s basketball team has already logged about a season’s worth of miles before playing its first game, and coach Cliff Ellis is eager to see how far his Chanticleers have come on the court in that time.

After an August exhibition trip to Cuba and a flight Tuesday to Hawaii, the Chants now get their first official test Friday against Nevada (9:30 p.m. ET) while playing in the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic.

Coastal Carolina will also play Hawaii on Sunday during its stay in Honolulu.

“[We’ll] come out of it knowing a lot about our team,” Ellis said.

That’s in part because it’s been hard to get a true gauge this preseason. Before the Chants’ first practice, four players were involved in a car accident near campus and were sidelined for the next two weeks.

Senior reserve forward Michel Enanga has been slowed by a knee injury.

And more recently, junior point guard Shivaughn Wiggins pulled a hamstring in a closed-door exhibition game.

“We’re banged up right now. It’s been kind of an odd preseason,” Ellis said. “... But we have to deal with what we have to deal with.”

Ellis said Wiggins, one of four returning starters on the team, would be a game-time decision Friday, but the point guard expressed confidence that he would be able to play.

“I’m feeling good,” he said Monday as the Chants got in one final practice before flying out the next day. “It’s just a mild injury, I don’t think it’s that serious. I’ll be able to play on Friday.”

The Chants will be led by Wiggins (10.0 points per game), junior guard Elijah Wilson (11.3) and sophomore guard Jaylen Shaw, who had to sit out last season after transferring from South Carolina.

Ellis and teammates alike have been high on Shaw since the summer, the former Hartsville High School star expected to make a significant impact this season. He averaged 16.7 points in three exhibition games against the Cuban national team.

With those three, the backcourt will again be the strength for the Chants despite losing veteran leader Warren Gillis and proficient scorer Josh Cameron from last season.

“We’re really good offensively. I think we might be better than we were the last two years,” said Wilson, the MVP of the 2015 Big South tournament. “... Everybody on the floor can score.”

If for some reason Wiggins can not play Friday, Shaw could move to point guard with junior Colton Ray-St Cyr joining the starting lineup, or senior Aaron Law could take over at point guard, Ellis said.

Law played sparingly in six games last season after transferring from Iowa State and joining the Chants as a walk-on, but Ellis said he’s looked good in practice this preseason.

Junior guard Ron Trapps, who has seen limited playing time the last two years, could also be in line for a bigger role this season after impressing coaches over the summer and in the preseason.

“With Gillis gone and Cameron gone, his role moves up, which it did this summer and continues to do so,” Ellis said.

In the frontcourt, the Chants will again lean on seniors Badou Diagne (9.5 points, 7.3 rebounds per game), Tristian Curtis (4.5, 6.2) and Marcus Freeman (5.4, 5.7).

Despite the injury setbacks in the preseason, Wiggins said the team has gelled well already.

“I think [a strength is] our chemistry and how hard we play,” he said. “We’re more defense-oriented than we were last year. We really take pride in our defense and we get stops.”

The Chants arrived in Hawaii on Tuesday and were scheduled to visit Pearl Harbor among their non-basketball activities this week.

As for the game, Nevada is coming off a 9-22 finish last year and has a new look with former Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors coach Eric Musselman taking over the program.

The Wolf Pack returns an experienced roster, led by 6-foot-9 senior forward AJ West, who averaged 12.1 points and 11.0 rebounds per game with a team-leading 79 blocks last season.

Senior guards Tyron Criswell (11.0 points per game) and Marqueze Coleman (8.7), junior guard D.J. Fenner (8.8) and sophomore guard Eric Cooper Jr. (7.3) all return in the backcourt, meanwhile.

“Nobody knows a lot [about them],” Ellis said. “They have a new coach, Eric Musselman, has been in the NBA, a very good basketball coach. They’re a very athletic, long team. They won their two exhibition games. He’s going to bring probably that NBA mentality.”

As for the Chants’ mentality, after reaching the NCAA tournament each of the last two seasons, that once elusive goal has now become a standard for the program.

“We’re holding ourselves to a higher standard, but going there the last two years this third year is going to be even harder,” Wilson said. “So everyday we’ve got to look to get better, push ourselves and just continue to press forward. I think we’re doing that so far.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 9:51 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina men's basketball set to tip off season in Hawaii."