For the first time in Eran Ganot’s tenure, the Hawaii men’s basketball squad has lost five straight games. After starting the season as winners of four of its first five conference match-ups, Hawaii now sits at 4-6 in Big West play and struggling to once again find that winning identity. There have been positive signs throughout, but some of the collective inexperience has again made UH feel like an also-ran instead of the contender they appeared to be for the first month.
David Simon
For the first time in Eran Ganot’s tenure, the Hawaii men’s basketball squad has lost five straight games. After starting the season as winners of four of its first five conference match-ups, Hawaii now sits at 4-6 in Big West play and struggling to once again find that winning identity. There have been positive signs throughout, but some of the collective inexperience has again made UH feel like an also-ran instead of the contender they appeared to be for the first month.
The most troubling sign has been the two most recent losses occurring at home. Though Hawaii had dropped to a .500 record in conference with a three-game losing streak from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, two of those losses came on the road — one of them in overtime. It wasn’t a great stretch, but it wasn’t a huge setback. The team still had an opportunity at a high seed in the conference tournament if it could take care of business the rest of the way.
But the past two games have been home losses to UC Riverside, who came in having lost all eight of its conference games to that point, and to a CSU Northridge team that is 6-19 on the season. Those are brutal defeats when Hawaii typically has such a home-court edge.
It’s been hard to pinpoint a reason for the struggles. There have been some lineup shifts and some changes in how the minutes have been disbursed, but the loss to Riverside was mainly an offensive nightmare and the loss to Northridge was simply a matter of getting outgunned from the field.
The production of Sheriff Drammeh tends to be a good barometer for the team’s success. Drammeh is averaging 12.3 points per game in victories, but that dips to just 9.0 points per game in losses and has dropped to 7.2 points per game over the current five-game losing streak.
Other players have certainly stepped up, including forward Michael Thomas and guard Brocke Stepteau. But the contributions haven’t been as consistent from other team members as they had been during the team’s better days.
With six games still left on the schedule, the ‘Bows can still right the ship before the conference tournament. But four games are on the road and both home games (Long Beach State, UC Irvine) are against winning teams. On paper, it’s the toughest stretch of the season. So to be seeking answers at this time is not ideal.
In the short time since Ganot earned the head coaching job, Hawaii (13-10, 4-6 Big West) has always competed each and every night. The current struggles aren’t all that surprising, but the team hasn’t phoned it in during any of the losses. A chance at earning a top seed in the Big West Tournament has probably gone by the wayside, but it’s still a fun team that has a chance to leave its mark on this conference season.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
