Warriors fall late on the road at UC Irvine
IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine broke open a close game late in the second half to defeat the Hawai’i basketball team, 68-64, in a Big West Conference contest at the Bren Events Center.
The teams traded the lead for the first 35 minutes of the game, but the Anteaters took control in the final five minutes.
The Warriors had their three-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 9-6 overall and 3-1 in the Big West. Irvine improved to 8-9 and 2-2.
Vander Joaquim led the Warriors with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and he also grabbed seven rebounds. Christian Standhardinger added 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Brandon Spearman contributed 12 points and five rebounds.
The Warriors shot just 35.6 percent from the field, and committed 17 turnovers. Hawai’i did out-rebound the Anteaters, 46-35.
The Warriors had a 31-23 lead late in the first half, but the Anteaters closed the half with a 5-0 run to make it 31-28 at intermission.
Joaquim got off to a quick start with six points on 3-of-3 shooting and four rebounds. However, he was limited to 10 minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls.
The game stayed close in the second half, with the lead changing 15 times between the teams. The Warriors had a 55-53 lead with 7:18 remaining, but the Anteaters responded with an 11-2 run to take a 64-57 advantage with 1:24 remaining. Daman Starring capped the Irvine surge with an off-balance shot that went in just before the shot clock expired.
The Warriors will stay in Southern California for another Big West road game when the play at Long Beach State on Saturday.
More details, including video highlights and interviews, will be posted later.
Point guard play again is horrible. Too many careless turnovers, terrible ball-handling. Tavita is horrendous at handling pressure. His ball-handling is so suspect teams are pressuring him with success. He is not a threat to shoot the ball and ball-handling is so suspect for a Senior. Bigs can’t do anything if they can’t even get the ball. Turnovers are killing this team. UH isn’t losing from the other team being better than them, they are beating themselves with careless ball-handling and turnovers galore. In a guard oriented conference, the guards need to come ready to play and take care of the frikkin ball!
Please take care of the ball guys, c’mon. Let’s get a W Saturday
Unforced turnovers are about the worst thing you can do with the ball in a basketball game. I believe UH had three in a row during a key stretch in the game which led to eventual points for UCI.
You can’t win a game on the road doing that.
Tavita needs to be more precise with the ball. He’s very one dimensional. He dribbles left or right, picks up dribble, passes to the wing or hits the post flashing in the key.
PG’s need to be able to take the defender off the dribble, go left, go right, swing to the open man on the wing or create a shot for himself. We haven’t seen him do that.
I would like to see Jefferson more at the point. He’s athletic and has a good handle on the ball. I KNOW he can take his defender off the bounce. It makes him way more dangerous and the opposition will respect that.
Yes. Turnovers. Isaac had off game, Irvine key on him. One stretch, Hawaii ahead by 3 or so, just turnover about two or three time in a row, Irvine go up with few minutes left by 5, pretty much sealed it. Jawato, incredible 3 ball from corner. The guy has heart, wanted to win so bad. Take care of the ball. If Hawaii averaged 10 or less turnovers last 4 games including tonites, they would be 4-0. Still to be 3-1 and in second place at this point is great.
Now, have to practice, and go get the Beach. I think a lot of us hard cores, wanted UH to win, however, that turnover problem, and inexperience at times, by some new guys in. and not being able to close out when they had a 3 pt lead or so with 6 min left, well. what can you do. Guys, do what you can, usually UH teams, have lost first road game, then won second game, a lot of times. Just give effort, and cherish ball, no turnovers in last 10 min of any game.
A few thoughts:
1.) Everyone is going to get in the passing lanes when our point guards get the ball. Too much picking up of the dribble, and when they do penetrate it, they are unable to convert a layup, so our opponents are looking for the dump off penetration.
2.) Vander did a relatively good job staying out of foul trouble this whole year. With him getting his 3rd and 4th foul and on the bench, we didn’t have much of an inside presence.
3.) I would hope that a lineup gets settled on soon. Guys that are cold off the bench are getting in critical moments in the second half.
DK,
Good analysis. Team not in sync, though they are trying very hard. Gib might have to settle on a set 8 or 9, with the first 7 getting heavy minutes. So team is clicking on all cylinders in crunch time. The only good thing at this point, a huge one, UH held home court, and are 3-1, instead of 1-3.
With Vander, not in foul trouble, he scores 20+ and 10 with at least another key block. The guy not 100%, yet he shows, for Post Guy in the Big West, he still looks the best, sometimes, he holds ball too long, however, his team mates not cutting and converting out of double teams, etc.
Hey, UH even if they lose at LBSU this Sat, at least limit the turnovers, and DK you are right, though maybe Gib could have played Jefferson more, or Clair, well. It was UH’s game to win. Just have to go get the Beach.
Yes. Kind of painful to watch. Oh well, go get them , the Beach on Saturday. Just keep getting better, and crunch time, hold serve guys. Whole season:1) Win regular season title: auto bid to NIT 2)Win Big West Tourney, auto bid to NCAA. UH just has to protect ball, and whomever, the whole team, lock down, shut down, no give aways in end of close games. I think whole season might be this way. I hope not. UH team just have to find way to win.
Very winnable game, I blame this loss on the coaching., the lineup at the end of the game and end of the first half were just not working. Where was Hauns??
Missing Shammy soo much.
That is a good question where was Hauns? If he is having a bit of a slump the coaches don’t seem to be doing much to help his confidence. I think they will need the senior leadership down the road.. It seems strange that he went from senior captain to barely seeing the court just seemed like even when he wasn’t scoreing he helped open the lane for the bigs etc. and his shot can’t have just disapeared. Looks like something else is happening there. Hope he and the coaches can figure it out. Hope the guards can get the ball protection down too. Good luck Warriors keep scrapping.
I, too, think this one is on the coaching. The guys played hard, jawato’s off balance three was pretty cool, but coaches stuck with the 2-3 zone too long. Point in switching D’s is to keep the offense out-of-sync, but we played zones so long that they adjusted, but we didnt.
Another thing i noticed was a lot of the passes were turnovers because the guys, mainly JT in this game but others too, pass to where they think their man should be, rather than where their man is. Many times a guy steps into a cutter’s way and the cutter is slowed, as should the pass(or not be made at all). This needs to be cleaned up quick.
Too bad, a win here would have been awesome, and it was not out of reach.
losing to a uc irvine team…in a matter of fact any BW team is inexceptable…point guard play is blamed on gib not having a point….tavita shouldn’t be playing and jawato was guarded a little closer this time and struggled a bit
I wonder if Hauns is ailing? Injury or illness? He sure is a great guy, student athlete. When UH is playing well, in this Big West Conference, well let us see what happens against LBSU, the top tier team, they can play with any team at home or the road.
Still key: shoot for seeding for Big West Tourney. Gib played 12 guys tonite, every one got PT. Now he has two days to fix things, to have a shot at the Beach. I kind of liked that starting lineup Jace, Spearman, Fotu, Standhardinger, and Vander. Too bad for VJ fouls and Isaac’s off game, Cal Irvine is one of the better defensive teams in the country ,well so is UH.
Hauns, I hope your health is okay. We need your leadership along with Jace and Vander and CS and Brandon S. to get wins on road and if possible win out at home( I think is doable. UH going 9-0 at home). Hey the hard core fans, ain’t giving up guys. Just get better, get the Beach!
Not sure about Hauns, but I hope he bounces back.
I know from twitter posts that Isaac Fotu caught a cold and was not feeling himself. I hope he gets better soon. His MIA was the difference tonight. Also, I hope the team is taking more precautions during this flu/rainy season. We already lost a few games last year and maybe a game this year due to guys being sick.