Warriors just ‘enjoying the journey’
The Hawaii basketball team is having too much fun right now to worry about a night off next week.
“We talk all the time about enjoying the journey,” Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold said. “And we really are. We’re just going out, having fun, and playing hard.”
The Warriors will close the regular season at Fresno State on Saturday night. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. (Hawaii time) at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif.
Hawaii is on a five-game winning streak and is 18-10 overall and tied for fourth place in the Western Athletic Conference at 8-7. Fresno State is 13-16 overall and tied for seventh at 5-10.
Despite their position in the standings, the Warriors will be seeded No. 5 in next week’s WAC Tournament at Las Vegas even with a victory over Fresno State on Saturday. Several teams, including Hawaii, could finish at 9-7 in the WAC, and Hawaii would be the No. 5 seed based on tie-breaking procedures.
The top four seeds in the tournament receive byes in the first round of the tournament.
Not that it matters to the Warriors.
“We get to Vegas and we win the first night, we’ll just try to win the next night,” Arnold said. “If it’s one more game we have to play, it’s one more game. We just want to keep playing.”
Interestingly enough, the Warriors could wind up playing Fresno State in the first round of the WAC Tournament, which makes Saturday’s regular-season finale all the more strategic.
Hawaii defeated Fresno State, 62-52, on Jan. 20 in Honolulu.
The game will feature a match-up of solid sophomore centers. Fresno State’s top player is 6-foot-10 Greg Smith, who averages 11.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Hawaii will counter with 6-10 Vander Joaquim, who is averaging 12.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game against WAC opponents.
The Warriors have won nine of their last 11 games thanks in part to a balanced inside-out offense. Junior guard Zane Johnson leads Hawaii in scoring with 15.6 points per game. He is averaging 24.0 points per game over his last four games, including 24 3-pointers.
Johnson leads the WAC and ranks fourth in the nation with 3.3 3-pointers per game.
Senior forward Bill Amis is averaging 15.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Freshman forward Trevor Wiseman, who missed the last game at San Jose State because he was attending his classes at UH, is expected back against Fresno State.
Senior point guard Hiram Thompson has missed the last four games with an elbow injury and is expected to sit out again.
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And here is the latest edition of “Bill and Zane’s Excellent Adventure,” featuring a team dinner in San Jose, Calif.
Thanks for the vids, “excellent” stuff. Few fan bases around the country get a true behind the scenes look. Although we won’t get that first round bye, this team is dangerous. The tourney winner will have to beat the best to be the best… as in, 4 teams will have to get through us first.
Thanks to Coach Gib and Team for making this Warrior Insider come to be, it’s the best thing for the fans, so we can follow the team, what goes on in the program, road trip coverage, what goes on behind the scenes in a basketball program, and just the overall journey these young students are partaking on, just following their normal everyday things is comical . Keep it coming.
Fun stuff guys. Thanks for bringing your fans along for the ride. It may seem like a small thing but we appreciate it.
Loving getting to see these guys personalities, Zane is funny, who knew?
Just wish this site was more popular, tell everyone on facebook about it.
Looking at the videos kind of make it look like the guys are loose as a goose and having fun. That’s great! Stay loose and have fun guys! Go Warriors!!