Previewing UNC-Greensboro, a basketball team that tries at basketball

How to watch or listen to the game

Tip time: 7 p.m. ET, Tuesday, Dec. 22

TV: nay

Online streaming: ESPN3

Radio: Wolfpack Sports Network (affiliates)

UNCG vitals

Record: 4-7
Pomeroy ranking: No. 289
Best win***: 71-69 over Jacksonville (KenPom No. 296)
Worst loss: 79-69 to Elon (KenPom No. 211)

(***Best win or loss based on opponent's Pomeroy Rating, not the scoring margin.)

Adjusted tempo: 69.7 poss/40 minutes (ranks 190th)
Adjusted offensive efficiency: 96.1 (ranks 293rd)
Adjusted defensive efficiency: 105.2 (ranks 249th)

UNCG roster
UNCG schedule
UNCG stats 2015 / 2016

The UNCG offense and starters

I'm going to get to the preview-type substance, but first, look at this headline/image from the UNCG athletics website:

I've said it before and I'll say it again: UNC-Greensboro basketball is at war with time. Time, at the time of this blog post, is undefeated. Time has a far better all-time record against UNC-Greensboro than anyone could ever hope to achieve. Time is a mythical sportswriter at the News and Observer, or a UNC Board of Governors shyster, holding the university down in every conceivable, unknowable way; you just know it.  Time is Les Robinson, time is you being angry at Dean Smith, time is death. Time.

On a related note, former UNC-Chapel Hill dignitary Wes Miller remains the head coach at UNCG despite a 51-88 record in 4+ seasons. Time?

For at least the fifth consecutive season, UNC-Greensboro basketball is really bad. The Spartans are 4-7, but do not let that record fool you--they have exactly one win over a D-I team. One. Wes Miller is out here trying to save his job with a house of cards. On top of his current house of ca--listen, I don't know the logistics. It's doable, and athletics directors enable it, but I don't know how precisely it's done. I figure you start with one card, and then you go from there.

Greensboro has some guys who will play basketball, and this team will shoot a lot of threes at league average, if it's fortunate. The team's shooting elsewhere suggests it has been very, very fortunate to be average beyond the arc. The Spartans have no good players. There is nothing to worry about.

Starters

Diante Baldwin (6-0, 181) -- Assuming a larger workload this year, and just ... yikes. Can't shoot, anywhere. Decent assist rate though.

Francis Alonso (6-3, 185) -- A gunner who probably should be even more aggressive beyond his current workload (22.1% of the shots). Alonso is 20-48 from outside (.417), which makes him one of Greensboro's best options. Actually should be the team's primary option, based on that. He is unlikely to do anything but take jumpers, but you take what you can get.

Marvin Smith (6-6, 190) -- Impressively bad, and mostly pointless. Can make threes at an average rate; is somehow allowed to shoot elsewhere, which is a terrible idea. (Or a great idea, depending on which team you're on.) Once grabbed a rebound; should focus on his degree.

Kayel Locke (6-5, 240) -- Career .469 inside the arc and .226 beyond it in more than three college seasons. This is UNCG's leading scorer. He is bad.

R.J. White (6-8, 280) -- Turnover-prone, but a decent scorer in the paint, and he is the best rebounder on the team, at either end. Been a secondary option at the offensive end this year.

The UNCG bench and defense

Reserves: Asad Lamot (6-1, 185), Demetrius Troy (6-0, 200), Jordy Kuiper (6-9, 250). Kuiper is a tall person who might as well be a short guy wearing stilts trying to be a basketball player. A kid sitting on the shoulders of another kid would have more promise in pro basketball. Lamot's impact will come from beyond the arc, assuming he is noticeable at all. Have I mentioned this is a bad team?

Gross.

The Pomeroy Predictor likes State by 17.