Warriors seek revenge at Boise State
A lot can change in one month.
The Hawaii basketball team is hoping for that today when it plays a Western Athletic Conference road game at Boise State.
The game is scheduled to start at 4:05 p.m. (Hawaii time) at the Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho.
A month ago: Miah Ostrowski was a third-string point guard who had just joined the team; Bill Amis was just coming back from a foot injury; Boise State handed Hawaii its largest margin of defeat this season, 79-55.
“Our play, our energy, our execution, our defense – we’re starting to find a passion for all those things,” said Ostrowski, who had Hawaii basketball fans buzzing for days after his inspiring performance in a double-overtime loss to Utah State last week.
Ostrowski is now sharing time at point guard with starter Hiram Thompson, and he provided the spark that nearly was enough to upset WAC-leader Utah State. Ostrowski played just four minutes of mop-up duty in the loss to Boise State last month.
“Little more confident in my game and feeling more comfortable out there with the things I’m able to do,” the 5-foot-9 junior said.
Amis had nine points on 2-of-9 shooting in the loss to Boise State a month ago. It was just his second game back after missing a string of 10 games with his foot injury. In his last four games, Amis is averaging 17.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.
“I’d say we’re different from the team we were the last time we played them,” Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re going to do things differently. We’re going to take the same approach of playing hard, and playing smart, and playing together.”
Hawaii is 12-9 overall and tied for sixth/seventh place in the WAC at 3-6. Boise State is also 12-9 overall and tied for fourth/fifth place in the WAC at 5-4.
The Broncos opened the WAC season 4-0, but are just 1-4 since then, including a loss last week at last-place Louisiana Tech.
Boise State leads the WAC in scoring offense with 75.0 points per game, and also lead the conference in steals with 9.4 per game. The Broncos also have an All-WAC candidate in 6-1 senior guard La’Shard Anderson.
He is averaging 15.3 points per game and leads the WAC in assists with 4.9 per game, and in steals with 2.7 per game. Others to watch for Boise State include 6-6 senior forward Robert Arnold (14.5 points per game, 39 3-pointers), and 6-8 senior forward Daequon Montreal (10.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game).
Hawaii is led by junior guard Zane Johnson, who is averaging 14.6 points per game. He also leads the WAC with 61 3-pointers, and is second in free-throw percentage at .877.
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; 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.
