Beating the teams you should is the mark of a team on the rise. So when the 10-3 Rainbow Warrior men’s basketball team welcomed Nebraska-Omaha of the Summit League into the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday night, most probably assumed
Beating the teams you should is the mark of a team on the rise. So when the 10-3 Rainbow Warrior men’s basketball team welcomed Nebraska-Omaha of the Summit League into the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday night, most probably assumed an easy victory was in store.
But a closer look at the Omaha Mavericks shows a very solid offensive team that actually has a higher RPI ranking than UH. Omaha already has a couple decent road wins at Nevada and Northern Illinois and played tough in road losses to Iowa, UNLV and Drake.
So when Omaha nailed a pair of free throws to take a 65-56 lead, its largest of the game, with 7:44 left in the second half, it looked like the ‘Bows would be heading into conference play off a disappointing loss. MidWeek’s Steve Murray noted after the game that Hawaii point guard Keith Shamburger talked about the big difference between a 10-4 and 11-3 record.
“We are greedy,” Shamburger said. “We want to win them all.”
That greed showed itself coming down the stretch and UH displayed the sense of urgency of a team not willing to give up on any game. They were the more aggressive team from that point on and came up with the hustle plays necessary to come back for a 77-73 win. Shamburger was huge in those final minutes, despite shooting just 2 for 10 on the night. He had five points and three rebounds down the stretch, plus a nice assist to Christian Standhardinger that cut the deficit to just one point with 1:38 to play.
Isaac Fotu was the go-to player in the second half. Fotu scored 22 of his 26 points after halftime, including 15 of the team’s first 19. He showed off his array of post moves, his signature spin move and was money from the free throw line until a pair of late misses, finishing 10 for 12 from the stripe.
Like the Kauai game against Chaminade, UH withstood an early barrage of three-pointers from its opponent. Omaha nailed five of its first eight three-pointers, but Hawaii ran the Mavericks off the line for the rest of the night. Omaha missed its final 10 threes of the game, which was a big reason UH was able to stay within striking distance, despite a poor shooting night of its own. Other than Fotu’s 8 for 11 production, the rest of the starting five was just 11 for 41 (27 percent).
But again, the team overcame that inefficiency by grabbing loose balls and tracking down long rebounds. Coach Gib Arnold also got production from his reserves, seeing his bench provide 14 points and 10 rebounds on six for 11 shooting.
Having won nine of its past 10 games, UH now enters Big West Conference play on Thursday with a road date against the Cal Poly Mustangs. Like Shamburger stated, UH has shown it’s not OK with losing. If they maintain that attitude now when conference play gets underway, this already good team can continue to get better.
PAUL OUT WITH SHOULDER INJURY: Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul suffered a separated shoulder in a Friday night win over the Dallas Mavericks. Initial reports suggested Paul will miss three to five weeks of game action. The Paul injury is the latest in a long string of elite point guards going down for extended periods of time. Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Russell Westbrook, Steve Nash, Raymond Felton and now Paul are all out for their respective teams. Luckily, the point guard spot has become such a position of strength around the league that this many guys can go down and there is still a lot of talent left.
Hopefully all of them, other than Rose who is out for the season, can come back healthy and effective.
• ‘My Thoughts Exactly’ appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Garden Island. Email David Simon your comments or questions to dsimon@thegardenisland.com. Follow David on Twitter @SimonTGI
