On the road again
All the emotion from the Hawaii basketball team’s 89-84 double-overtime loss to Utah State last week will have to stay in the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Warriors need to move on.
All the way to Idaho.
“It was a great night (against Utah State), but we keep on going,” Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold said. “We got two big road games this week.”
The Warriors are scheduled to depart Honolulu on Tuesday night for Western Athletic Conference games at Boise State on Thursday, then at Idaho on Saturday.
Hawaii is 12-9 overall and tied for sixth place in the WAC at 3-6. Boise State and Idaho have identical records – 12-9 overall and 5-4 in the WAC.
The road trip offers the Warriors not just a chance to move up the WAC standings, but a chance to avenge losses. Hawaii played perhaps its worst games of the season last month in back-to-back home losses to Idaho and Boise State.
“The nice thing about basketball is you get a second chance to go in there and play them again, even though it’s on their floor,” Arnold said. “I know everybody is excited to get out there and try to avenge how we played last game.”
Although the Warriors are tied for sixth in the WAC, they are only a game ahead of the last-place teams (San Jose State and Louisiana Tech are both 2-7).
“We’re not worried about anybody else but ourselves,” Arnold said. “We control our own destiny. We can’t look back or too far ahead. What we’re doing is looking at the next teams we’re playing. This week, it’s Boise and Idaho.”
Junior guard Zane Johnson, who tied his career-high with 25 points in the loss to Utah State, leads the Warriors in scoring with 14.6 points per game. He also leads the WAC with 61 3-pointers, which is already the ninth-best single-season mark for a Hawaii player (Michael Kuebler set the standard for 3s with 97 in the 2003-04 season).
Senior forward Bill Amis is contributing 14.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game; sophomore forward Joston Thomas is averaging 10.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game; senior point guard Hiram Thompson is averaging 9.9 points and 3.1 assists per game; sophomore center Vander Joaquim is averaging 7.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.
Junior point guard Miah Ostrowski provided the spark for a second-half rally that kept the Warriors close to Utah State in the last game. When Hawaii lost at home to Idaho and Boise State, Ostrowski played just four minutes in each game. He is now a part of the regular rotation and will share point guard duties with Thompson.
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WARRIORS DRAW UC DAVIS ON FEB. 19
Hawaii will play a non-conference road game at UC Davis on Feb. 19, it was announced on Monday.
Both teams were in the pool for the ESPNU BracketBusters, but the game was not selected as one of the nationally-televised broadcasts. More than 100 teams were in the pool, but only 22 are selected for the 11 televised games.
UC Davis is currently 8-12 overall and in seventh place in the Big West Conference at 3-5.
The game will serve as a preview of things to come, as Hawaii will join the Big West for basketball in the 2012-13 season.
Former Hawaii guard Todd Lowenthal has been starting for the Aggies (yes, they are another team called Aggies). He is averaging 2.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. He was a seldom-used reserve as a true freshman with the Warriors during the 2006-07 season, but transferred to UC Davis after that season.
Who is going to spark the team this week? An all team effort would be great. Let’s go Warriors!! Keep us excited for another game and then another after that, and then another one after that, man.