Updated: Warriors in foul mood after loss to Gonzaga
In Vancouver, Canada, where the sales tax is 12 percent, the Hawaii basketball team learned that there is a price to pay for everything.
Fouls and turnovers proved to be too costly for the Warriors in a 73-54 loss to nationally-ranked Gonzaga on Saturday night. The Warriors turned in gritty effort against the No. 22 Bulldogs, but could not overcome the mistakes – or the frequent whistles from the referees.
A crowd of 9,687 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, watched the inaugural B.C. Basketball Classic. Although it was officially a neutral site for both teams, the crowd was probably 95 percent in favor of Gonzaga.
“I thought it was a physical game,” Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold said. “You can look at the stat line. I think they had 11 fouls in the game. They’re a very physical team. They play very hard and aggressive, and it shocks me that a guy like (7-foot Gonzaga center) Robert Sacre goes the entire game without a foul but that’s how it was called tonight.”
The stat line shows that the Warriors were whistled for 27 fouls to Gonzaga’s 11. As a result, Hawaii went 7 of 8 on free throws, while the Bulldogs went 18 of 28.
“I guess we didn’t do a good job of guarding the free throw line,” Arnold quipped. “It seemed like they were open a lot at the free throw line tonight.”
The Warriors ended the game with starting center Vander Joaquim and reserve forward Joston Thomas both fouled out, and Arnold ejected for arguing foul calls.
“The frustration just eventually built up,” Arnold said. “Two teams I thought played hard. I like physical games but … again, you can look at the stat sheet and draw your own conclusion.”
Freshman point guard Shaquille Stokes led the Warriors with 17 points, and senior guard Zane Johnson added 12.
“Postive or negative, we have to fight through adversity, no matter what,” Stokes said. “There were calls that were made. We just have to keep fighting, keep pushing, keep playing Warrior basketball.”
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said his team’s defensive effort was a key, particularly against Johnson. “I thought it really was our best defensive effort (of the season),” he said. “Especially on Zane Johnson, who’s a heck of a scorer.”
Hawaii dropped to 1-1, while No. 22 Gonzaga improved to 3-0.
The game was actually closer than the final score indicated, although Gonzaga held the lead almost the entire way.
Hawaii had a 9-8 lead early in the game, but Gonzaga responded with a 7-0 run to take the lead for good. The Bulldogs led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but the Warriors cut it to 33-27 at intermission.
The Warriors got as close as 45-44 with 12 minutes remaining, but the Bulldogs then went on a 7-0 surge to regain control for good.
“I think we were down one with (12) minutes to go and right there and feeling kind of good,” Arnold said. “But I thought we turned the ball over too much to really keep the game close and it got away from us in the last five minutes.”
The Warriors committed 23 turnovers to Gonzaga’s 11, and the Bulldogs converted Hawaii’s turnovers into 34 points.
Hawaii did not make a field goal in the game’s final seven minutes, and got out-scored 15-2 by the Bulldogs during that closing stretch. The Warriors trailed 66-52 with 4:09 remaining when Arnold picked up his second technical foul and was sent to the locker room.
“Two best calls of the game,” Arnold said of his two technicals. “The guys got those calls right.”
Joaquim, who finished with six points and 12 rebounds, fouled out with 5:15 remaining, and Thomas fouled out with 47 seconds remaining.
Gonzaga’s coach Few said: “In all our games, exhibition and scrimmages so far we’ve been able to just kind of wear people out. We put a lot of foul pressure on people because were big and strong inside.”
Robert Sacre, a 7-foot, 260-pound senior, led Gonzaga with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Sacre is from Vancouver and had the hometown fans on his side. Gary Bell Jr. added 14 points, including four 3-pointers.
Hawaii actually out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 40-36.
In any case, the Warriors will not have much time to dwell on the loss. They are scheduled to return to Honolulu on Sunday afternoon, and their next game is scheduled for Tuesday against Eastern Washington at the Stan Sheriff Center.
(Photos courtesy Dorrell Edwards/Idol Sports)
Thanks for the coverage Dayton.
Coach Arnold your players got tired because you didn’t sub. Gonzaga was putting in fresh legs the whole game. They got tired because Brereton wasn’t in opening up the lane. And when the sports announcers commented how the whole UH bench had trash mouth through the whole game……The whole world knows how classy the warriors are. You have been coaching long enough the 1st “T” foul should have been enough. Good example. And all you haters on Brereton. The last televised game Wiseman did well because #21 was working his side so hard the shots rebounded on his side. You people watch when Brereton is in the others do better. He is just not able to do his thing because of coaching.
21…Brereton is has had a few good looks on offense but he looks a step slow on man defense, which is why he probably isn’t in the game. We have many quicker players this year and Gib won’t be playing as much zone as last year. As everyone knows…and coach Gib has stated, you earn your PT in practice. Gib is not just going to leave someone in the game to “see what they can do”. I’m not a Brereton “hater”, just my observation. I notice a few times in the CSN game where he had a hard time staying in front on his on-ball defense.
I watched the Gonzaga broadcast and didn’t hear any complaints about bad language from the bench. One of them actually thought that UH got jobbed on a couple of calls and thought that the refs were making odd calls on both teams.
It was obvious, from the beginning, that Gonzaga was the better team. We did a pretty good job of keeping it close for most of the game. At the end, we lost our way. More than the refs, I think the turnovers and the lack of strong post play were the biggest problem. Even though we had the rebounding edge it felt like we were beat out on a lot of rebounds that we usually get.
I did think that our defense was pretty good. We played a very good team that had a slow start but wore us down in the end.
Dayton, the Schmidt Family:
much appreciations for your complete and excellent reports and your timely generous supports respectively.
your continuous efforts for future interesting road games, may we humbly ask?
TEAM, keep up the good works, remain positive; the better you are the more W will be rewarded.
the Ohana is optimistic for the season has never been better!
Coach Arnold:
would you please (while the iron is hot) dear Coach Few to filled our 2012 DiamondHead Classic’s teams?
also, a home-and-home annual meeting?
SSC needs many Soldout’s!
Didn’t see the game only heard part of it on the radio but it looked as though the team did well early but faded late. I agree with Warriorfan 21 maybe putting in fresh legs more often may have helped.
Thanks again to Dayton & The Schmidts for their support & coverage …
Outrebounding The Zags shows the hustle and rebounding / box out skill that has been learned, is available and is still likely to improve — one of the Great Stats …
Along with holding Gonzaga way below their expected and usual shooting percentage …(40% vs UH 38%)
Looking forward to quite a few Ugly Wins to go along with the artistic & good-looking ones …
i’m sure Personal Fouls (us-them ratios) will improve back toward our own advantage for most/all games here on …
and Turnovers will improve over the course of the season, esp. as Shaq learns what doesn’t work in D-1…
Watching the Game, except for the turnovers and questionable fouls (frustrating) the team looked good, and can see much opportunity to improve…
Clearly The Zags Flow & Teamwork and on-ball defense (at least yesterday) were way ahead …
wait till we get a super athletic 2 guard..it will open up everything
I hear that one of the players from the Heat was just there in Hawaii and saw one of the UH players does anyone know who that might be?
I think this game is a good gauge as to where we are and where we need to go. It is true what Mark Few said in that they wore Hawaii down in the end. Of course when you are traveling 2700 miles as Hawaii did the legs usually go out a lot sooner than playing at home. Whistles helped their cause too. Bottom line is we need more depth. We relied on basically 6 or 7 guys while Gonzaga used 9 or 10. We will need Brereton and Jefferson to play more, although they are still in the defensive learning curve. But they should do fine as they get a few more games under their belts. No one had a great game against Gonzaga. That can’t happen and expect to beat a top 25 team. Our defense for the most part kept us in the game until the last 5 minutes and that’s when the frequent flier miles started adding up. I don’t think we are too far away from Gonzaga. Their bench and their twin towers are the difference right now. We got quality twins of our own plus a point that will only get better and a determined coach to get the most out of our players. Although we have a ways to go I feel confident about this team. We can play a lot better and when we do start to gel we will wear their big A’s down. Dream rematch in NCAA tournament: Hawaii vs Gonzaga.
That would be nice too see. That is true long trips do take it out of you but it’s part of the package. Hope to see the team gel as you say and see some of the bench guys step up and get a shot to help the team. Did think Brereton would have played more than three minutes, but three points on three minutes work not bad. Keep up the hard work Bows looking forward to the nextgame.
My son, Taylor MacIntosh, goes to Gonzaga and is acquainted with Drew there. He shread this site with me because I have had my group of prayer warrior friends praying for Drew since the accident. At least one of them asks me almost daily how he is doing and I haven’t been able to really tell them until now. I want you to know he has touched the lives of people he doesn’t even know and we will continue to pray for him and your family. I believe in the miraculous healing powers of our God!