FULLERTON, Calif. — A good press was bad news for the University of Hawaii basketball team.
Fresno State’s full-court press controlled the tempo and then the Rainbow Warriors for a 79-64 victory in Sunday’s final round of the John Wooden Legacy on the Cal State Fullerton campus.
The ‘Bows went 1-2 in the four-day event to fall to 4-3 overall. The ‘Bows are averaging 86.8 points when they win, but 56.3 points in losses.
“It was a tough game for us,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “We’re showing the flashes of the potential of where we could be. But the inconsistencies are hurting us.”
The Bulldogs went early with a press that turned Titan Gym’s floor into a 94-foot obstacle course. The ‘Bows were twice penalized for slow play — a shot-clock violation and 10-second call — as part of a nine-turnover first half.
“In the first half, we didn’t handle it well,” UH post Jack Purchase said. “I think that’s what hurt us. I thought we did a good job in the second half of handling the pressure and getting into our sets, but, yeah, that pressure hurt us.”
After losing to Miami in Friday’s semifinals, the Bulldogs used Saturday’s off day to review videos, pledge to fix problems, and then go to Disneyland.
“I feel we said, ‘Let’s let it go now,’ ” Fresno State coach Justin Hutson said of putting to sleep the Miami loss. “That’s college basketball and sports. You’ve got to build into the next play and next game. The guys did some homework, went to Disneyland, came back and we got prepared for Hawaii in the evening time.”
The Bulldogs decided to set the mood. “We like to pick up early,” Hutson said of the full-court press. “It gets us aggressive. We can always back off if we feel like it hurts. It gets us in the mode of playing hard, and gets us the tempo that we want.”
The risk-reward is this: Aggressiveness leads to over-aggressiveness. Four Fresno State starters earned think-about-it time after each picked up two first-half fouls. “You get up in pressure, you get a little overzealous, so you reach in and foul,” Hutson said.
In the pro margin, the press was able to create a lag in the ‘Bows’ offensive sets. “We panicked a little bit trying to get guys to the right spot,” Purchase said. “It takes a couple extra seconds, if guys aren’t in the right spots (to) get into plays. They sped us up a bit and that really hurt us.”
The ‘Bows had their moments. Samuta Avea came off the bench to score eight points in a 10-point run to put UH ahead 21-18.
But Braxton Huggins hit a turnaround jumper, Sam Bittner swished the first of his three 3s, and Nate Grimes, after stuffing Avea’s attempted jam, scored on a layup to give the Bulldogs a 25-21 lead they would not relinquish.
But for all the spurts — the ‘Bows whittled a double-digit deficit to 45-40 with 15:23 to play — their 3-point aim betrayed them despite open looks. And they could not close in the second part of possessions.
“I thought one of the biggest differences in the game was late execution,” Ganot said. “I thought we did a good job (defensively) in the first 15 to 20 seconds, and then we broke down late. They got some late buzzer plays, late 3s, late attacking the rim. Our inability to contain them for an entire possession was a big factor today.”
Fresno State point guard Deshon Taylor scored 13 of his game-high 20 points after the intermission. He hit two step-back 3s and drew fouls with bursts into the lane. Taylor hit all six of his free throws.
“Our point of attack, we’re getting beat so badly off the bounce, and they made us pay for that, and good teams do that,” Ganot said.
Purchase led the ‘Bows with 14 points, with 12 coming on four 3s. But the ‘Bows missed 20 of 26 from behind the arc.
The ‘Bows conclude the road trip with Wednesday’s game against UCLA in Pauley Pavilion.