In a game that was there for the taking, Hawaii saw its season end unceremoniously during Thursday’s Big West Tournament quarterfinal action.
Having come in as the sixth seed with victories over every team to its credit, Hawaii (17-13, 8-8 Big West) gave up a late lead and fell to UC Irvine in heartbreaking fashion, 68-67.
It’s a somewhat fitting result considering the enigma that has been this 2017-18 Rainbow Warrior team. They managed to provide plenty of highs and just as many lows, often in immediate succession. So squandering a 10-point lead with just 4:35 to play isn’t as shocking as it should probably seem.
UC Irvine’s Max Hazzard’s pull-up jumper dropped from the left elbow with just over five seconds to play, ultimately ending the Hawaii season and sending the ‘Bows home earlier than they would have hoped.
But a 17-13 record is a good result for this team, given the setbacks it faced with an already low level of experience. It’s a three-game bump in total wins from last year, when Hawaii also finished 8-8 in the conference and suffered a first-round Big West Tournament defeat. It was also a season that allowed a few players to carve out substantial roles for themselves.
In the postgame disappointment, head coach Eran Ganot was quick to point out the culture and future this group of players has helped to infuse within the program. He referenced how this team managed to remain “more than relevant” in a very short window after losing its entire core of players from the 2015-16 squad that won 28 games and earned the school’s first ever NCAA Tournament victory.
And he’s absolutely right.
While Ganot certainly earned all of the praise he received for that season, his more impressive work may be what he’s been doing since. Within the sphere in which Hawaii competes, the ‘Bows have been as or more competitive than anyone else. There are very few teams in the country who can say they beat every single team in their conference during a single season. That fact alone shows a level of preparation that puts Hawaii in an enviable position from a culture standpoint.
They had some nights where games slipped away that maybe shouldn’t have, but lapses like that are going to happen to every team in a conference like the Big West. There are no dominant forces or elite recruiting programs, so preparation and execution win out. The preparation always seems to be there, the execution needs more consistency.
The most significant departures are going to be the frontcourt tandem of Mike Thomas and Gibson Johnson. Thomas has been the heartbeat of the program, having enjoyed a large role with that 28-win team before coming back to lead this young squad after a wrist injury held him out for the entire 2016-17 campaign. He decided to remain through the Gib Arnold debacle, the ensuing sanctions and the rebuild effort. Thomas has obvious natural talent and evolved his game immensely since his days as a raw sophomore, when he contributed mostly in the hustle department and on the glass. He’s developed a silky smooth left-handed offensive game and became one of the conference’s best interior defenders.
Johnson has complemented him well with a mixture of inside and outside scoring prowess. Johnson’s two seasons with the ‘Bows have been pivotal in maintaining a competitive level while the younger players have continued to mesh with one another.
Their absence moving forward will certainly be felt, but the likes of Sheriff Drammeh, Jack Purchase and Drew Buggs will pick up the reins from here. More challenges await next season, but the competitive level has continued to rise and there should be little letdown as Hawaii attempts to keep moving up the Big West ladder.
