The road, a savior for embattled Hawaii basketball?
In the bizarro world the Rainbow Warriors inhabit – wherein Big West deadbeats UC Riverside and Cal State Northridge are better than the ‘Bows in their own Stan Sheriff Center – anything is theoretically possible.
And right now, “anything” is a preferable alternative to recent events.
UH (13-10, 4-6 BWC), mired in a five-game late-season funk, embarked on a two-game road trip to Southern California earlier this week. It faces second-place UC Irvine (13-14, 8-3) today and last-place Riverside (6-18, 1-9) on Saturday.
“Home, road, it’s different,” coach Eran Ganot said prior to boarding the team bus behind the Sheriff. “On the road I think it’s good because you get more time with the players. You’re away from any distractions, really. It’s just you.
“I think in terms of problem solving, it’s great to be in a situation where you can come together and figure it out together. And at a time when you’re playing … some of the top teams in our league, while we’re going through some of our worst struggles of the year. So, it’s a mind-set. I think you look at it in a positive way.”
In the last three games, the sixth-place Rainbows accomplished a rare, ignominious feat – they lost to the only three teams below them in the standings. Losses to lowly UCR (64-60) and CSUN (77-71) here in a single week represented an on-court low point in recent program history.
The unraveling began in earnest during the second half of a 78-64 loss at Cal Poly on Feb. 3.
Co-captain Mike Thomas thought the team regained some of its lost swagger in an energized practice on Monday. Now he’s looking to set things right with success at some combination of Irvine’s Bren Events Center and Riverside’s SRC Arena.
That UH is 1-4 on the mainland this season – including 1-3 in Big West play – is just more noise.
“It’s a perfect opportunity,” Thomas said. “There’s no class, there’s no separation of houses, stuff like that. We’re all in the same place. It’s time to get together, grow together and really lock in on our task this week.”
The fifth-year senior has attempted to corral morale since the losing began at home to Cal State Fullerton (courtesy of Kyle Allman’s 40-point outburst) on Jan. 27.
“Absolutely. We’ve tried to get closer, as much as possible, these last few weeks,” Thomas said. “And let each other know we’re not giving up and we’re still playing for each other and love each other. We’re here as a team.”
They’ve allowed 60-plus percent shooting in half of their league losses after priding themselves on their defense for most of the season’s wins. They held CSUN to 27.5 percent and 46 points in a 19-point victory at the Matadome last month, then allowed the Matadors to shoot 65.1 percent and coast to a late 16-point lead in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated on Saturday.
At the other end, players have looked hesitant to shoot recently, leading to several forced shots late in the shot clock.
“I think teams are starting to attack some of our foundation and some of our principles,” Ganot said. “I think we need to put more pressure on them at the other end, as well. We can’t lose our conviction when things aren’t going our way.”
The ‘Bows already own their longest league losing streak in their brief Big West history, and matched a five-game slide in 2011-12 that included a nonconference detour debacle at Montana.
A sixth straight loss would represent UH’s longest slide since it dropped nine straight late in the 2009-10 season, Bob Nash’s last of three as UH coach
Providence stuns No. 3 Villanova
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Kyron Cartwright scored 17 points and Providence withstood several late surges to stun third-ranked Villanova 76-71 on Wednesday night.
Rodney Bullock and Alpha Diallo each added 14 points for the Friars (17-9, 8-5 Big East), who snapped a five-game losing streak to the Wildcats.
It was Providence’s first win over Villanova since Jan. 24, 2016.
Mikal Bridges had 19 points for Villanova, but fouled out with 1:12 to play in the game. Jalen Brunson added 14 points.
Villanova (23-3, 10-3) pulled within 59-54 on a pair of free throws by Omari Spellman with 6:25 left. But the Friars outscored the Wildcats 8-4 over the next two minutes to push the lead back to 67-58.