This time, there were no fans rushing the court to instigate an altercation with players or coaches. The fans were fired up, but it was thanks to the ‘Bows getting win No. 20 on Senior Night at the Stan Sheriff
This time, there were no fans rushing the court to instigate an altercation with players or coaches. The fans were fired up, but it was thanks to the ‘Bows getting win No. 20 on Senior Night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii secured just its fifth 20-win season since 1972 with an 81-77 win over Cal State Fullerton Saturday night on Oahu. The victory puts UH at 20-10 overall and 9-7 in the Big West Conference.
The Big West Tournament gets underway Thursday in Anaheim, Calif. The ‘Bows enter as the No. 4 seed and will take on 5th-seeded Cal State Northridge (15-17, 7-9 Big West) at 5:30 p.m. HT (8:30 p.m. local).
Just one team will exit the Honda Center with an NCAA Tournament invitation, so the quest of all eight squads is to put together its three best games in three straight days. No easy task. But what this Big West season has shown is that no one team can be considered much of a favorite.
Top-seeded UC Irvine (22-10, 13-3) split its two games with UH this season, both going to overtime. However, UH went 0-4 combined against second-seeded UC Santa Barbara (21-8, 12-4) and Long Beach State (14-16, 10-6). Though they were competitive against all three, the ‘Bows would have to flip the script and make the proper adjustments, since it’s likely they would have to play two of those teams if they are to win the tournament.
I mentioned last week that one of the team’s biggest road blocks would be the fact that is hasn’t gotten much production from its bench. While Aaron Valdes, Quincy Smith and Davis Rozitis have each gotten reasonably consistent minutes as reserves for most of the season, coach Gib Arnold basically just plays eight guys. They’re not one of the deeper teams in the conference and that puts a huge strain on the starting unit. All five UH starters average at least 29 minutes a game. Comparatively, top-seeded UC Irvine has just one player getting that much run — Luke Nelson, who averages exactly 29 minutes.
Since conference play began, Christian Standhardinger, Isaac Fotu and Garrett Nevels are each averaging more than 33 minutes a game. Now the team faces three physical postseason games in three days, so those minutes are compounded further.
But the team’s rotation is what it is at this point, so I’m sure Coach Arnold will press on with the same formula and hope his players’ legs can withstand the stresses. The Big West doesn’t have a set bracket structure, so semifinal matchups are determined by which teams remain. The only thing we know for sure is that UH will take on Northridge in the quarterfinals.
The teams split their two regular season meetings this year. Northridge won the first contest by a 79-78 final, but Hawaii returned the favor when the two met on Oahu with a convincing 77-63 win. Standhardinger had perhaps his worst game of the season in that win (six points, 2 for 8 shooting) and starting point guard Keith Shamburger did not play the first half for disciplinary reasons, but the team managed to pull away in the second half behind 20 points from Fotu and 15 apiece from Nevels and Brandon Spearman.
They may be just 1-5 against the top three seeds, but the ‘Bows have been a confident bunch all season. They certainly have the talent to win against anyone else in the Big West. Fotu and Standhardinger were each named to the all-conference first team on Monday — the first time two UH players earned such an honor in the same season.
They’ve had a special year and they’ll be playing a postseason tournament somewhere, but three games in three days could put the Rainbow Warriors in the Big Dance. It’s a tough road, but not an impassable one. Let’s see how things play out.
