Warriors rebound at Santa Barbara for first road win
Christian Standhardinger notched career highs of 31 points and 16 rebounds Saturday afternoon to boost Hawai’i to a crucial 78-73 road victory over UC Santa Barbara in Big West Conference men’s basketball action.
Vander Joaquim added 17 points and 11 boards and Hauns Brereton added 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists as the Warriors improved to 11-9 overall, 5-4 in the Big West. The Gauchos, who played without leading scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker Alan Williams (hamstring injury), fell to 7-12, 3-5.
The victory — UH’s first on the Mainland this season — snapped the Warriors’ two-game losing streak and is their first conference road win after dropping four in a row, including Thursday’s 88-59 rout at Cal Poly. The Warriors are now in fourth place, behind Long Beach State (7-1), Pacific (6-2) and Cal Poly (5-3). Three teams are right behind Hawai’i with 4-4 records: Cal State Fullerton, UC Davis and UC Irvine.
“It was a great win, we needed that,” Hawai’i coach Gib Arnold said. “We had our character tested a couple days ago, and I give these guys credit. They came out and got a big road win, and it wasn’t easy.”
Standhardinger had only two points throughout most of a tight back-and-forth first half, but banked in a putback with three seconds remaining before intermission to give the Warriors a 36-34 lead at the break. His three-point play midway through the second half gave UH its biggest lead at 63-48.
UCSB got as close as 72-66 with 50 seconds left, but another three-point play by Standhardinger 12 seconds later made it 75-66 and effectively sealed the victory. His 31 points were the most scored by a Warrior this season, and the 16 rebounds were the most grabbed by a Warrior this season.
“He (Standhardinger) is the type of player you haven’t really seen in this conference,” said UCSB head coach Bob Williams. “He is a 6-8 wing player who can get to the rim, shoot the mid-range stuff and rebound. That was a great effort by him today.”
Williams is a 6-foot-7, 240-pound sophomore who had been averaging 17.4 points per game and led the league in rebounding (9.9 rpg) and shot-blocking (2.4 bpg) before pulling his left hamstring during a home game vs. Cal Poly last week. The Warriors capitalized on his absence by out-rebounding the Gauchos, 45-30.
“We didn’t do anything other than get back to the basics and who we are by going inside,” Arnold said. “And the biggest thing is that we challenged them. We haven’t been playing hard, as hard as this team had in the past, (but) I thought every last one of them played their hearts out tonight. I played guys a lot of minutes, I went with the older group, the seniors. We met last night and said, ‘This is your team, I need you to get us out of this funk.’ And they responded, they took it upon themselves and did a great job.”
UCSB’s Bob Williams said: “Al (Williams) takes up a lot of space and that was part of it. But part of it too is how physical you are willing to be. We weren’t smart, in terms of how physical we were. In reality, we didn’t commit to being physical and the rebounding margin was a result.”
Joaquim, a 6-10 senior center who was limited to season-lows of two points and one rebound Thursday night, scored the team’s first six points Saturday and Brereton — a senior wing who has struggled with poor shooting and injuries this season — drained an early 3-pointer to help Hawai’i take a 13-10 lead. But UCSB answered with a 7-0 run to go up, 17-13, and the Warriors did not regain the lead until Brerton sank two free throws with 3:53 remaining in the half to put UH ahead, 25-23.
Brereton nailed another 3-pointer about a minute later to make it 30-26, but Taran Brown and Keegan Hornbuckle hit back-to-back 3s to send the Gauchos back in front, 32-30.
UCSB took its last lead at 34-32 on Kyle Boswell’s layup with 1:05 left, but Fotu’s two free throws 20 seconds later erased it and Standhardinger put the Warriors ahead for good with his putback just before halftime.
Brandon Spearman’s layup 15 seconds after the break then started Hawai’i on a 9-2 run out of the gates, and Standhardinger later bookended a 14-5 run with three-point plays to push the lead to 63-48 with 10:25 remaining in the game.
With the Warriors controlling the boards and withstanding a 2-3 zone defense by the Gauchos, the lead never shrunk to less than six points the rest of the way, with the exception of a meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer.
But Arnold emphasized the road victory was not easy, and said one major factor was the re-emergence of Brereton. The 16-point outing was his highest total since a 24-point night in the season-opening win vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore.
“He was a calming influence out there, especially early when the game was going kind of up-and-down,” Arnold said. “We got a good hard punch thrown at us a couple days ago and we were still staggering, but then he hit a couple 3s early and all of a sudden we’re like, ‘OK, now we’ve got Hauns back.’ He went for about a month or so struggling, and now he’s back, so that really helped open up the inside.”
And in the second half, Standhardinger was the beneficiary, scoring 27 of his 31 points. He shot 9 of 10 from the field in the second half and 9 of 13 from the free-throw line.
“They started pressing us and went to their zone, and Christian is our middle man in the zone,” Arnold said. “He’s a big (6-8) target, and he was just really active tonight. Our best play was a missed shot, because he was able to go and get it. We’ve been keeping our turnovers down, and so we got more shots up on the rim.”
The Warriors are now scheduled to return home Sunday and attend classes on Monday and Tuesday before leaving later on Tuesday for a two-game road swing to UC Riverside on Thursday and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.
“I’ve never done that before, play four straight (on the road) in conference, so this is new for all of us,” Arnold said. “At the beginning of the season, when we saw that we circled it where we have six out of eight games on the road — that’s a lot. But it is what it is, and we (will) end up playing everybody twice, so it works itself out.
“It wasn’t something we were looking forward to, but thank goodness we were able to come out here and these young men played outstanding. There really wasn’t anything that you could feel good about (after Thursday’s loss), and losing bothers these guys. But there’s no substitute for hard work, and I thought these guys … we didn’t do anything great, but these guys played really really hard. We got out-rebounded by 17 two nights ago and we out-rebounded this team by 15, and that’s one stat — whenever you look at it — that’s playing tough, that’s when you’re playing hard.”
Great win. The team showed lots of energy today. Good comeback from the previous game. ‘Way to go guys.
A road victory at last!
I thought the second half lineup worked well. I’m glad coach somewhat settled on a lineup rather than in-fluxing players in and out continuously.
Yay, Hauns!!! =)
Way to Go ‘Bows!
Salvaged the First Half of The Four Game Road Swing…
5-4 First Half of Conference Race
Need More Step Up to Repeat or Better the 5-4 for Second Half
Great Second Half, Christian!
Great Anchor Shooting Hauns!
Especially Keeping Hawai’i in the Gsme First Half
WAY To Start Dominating, Isaac
GOOD Team WIN
Still Need to Finish Stronger!
Don’t Let “Little” Teams Back Into the Game…
FOCUS & Hit More Free-Throws (Like You CAN…)
Travel Light … REST In YOUR Own Beds for a couple of Nights
RE-Charge… Work on Building Leg Strength & Quickness, Coach…
Then HIT THE ROAD BEFORE It Hits Back!
GO FOR TWO MORE!
Great leadership from the senior leaders – great job!!
Keep going for the rest of the road trips – we all knew you could do it!
Good Win. Yes, Seniors and Jr.s got it done. Upperclassmen. Christian, hard work paid off. Tough to go back on road again, however, guys , you have to do it. Try to win every game.
Now Gib, stick with one starting lineup, and you have another 7 to sub in for resting starters, and situational, good to get the first road game, hope UH can get some more!
Basics: Senior , Jr. leadership, good D and rebounding!
Much needed win, we need to stick with this starting line up the rest of the way, and pound it inside.
Jace you have to score, when you drive it , put it up for a lay in or finger roll it. Two more next week, we need every game from here on out Warriors , do it.
I hope coach continues to stick with this lineup. It gives us our best chance to win. Guys played confident and not looking over their shoulder if they made a mistake (with the threat of being yanked).
The team was lucky. They didn’t have to face Alan Williams, the Gauchos best player, scorer and rebounder. If he was playing it would have been another story. In no way can the team get too confident. I am not impressed with defending the 3. I saw Tavita leaving his man at least 3 times for clear 3 pointers made. But, Hauns played well and Vander had a good start and was solid, Christian was a man possessed. He was hitting the floor so often inside. Happy for the W. Just can’t get excited. UC Riverside can give us problems at their place.
Tavita refuses to shoot the ball, he didn’t even try a lay up when he had the chance and instead threw the ball away. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a PG play 33 minutes and not take a single shot in a game. It’s unheard of really. Pull the trigger, Jace.
Derek
Stop being a Tavita Hater! Tavita is a walk on and his family is paying for his college education. He is going to graduate in May and that is what his family is paying for. Playing Basketball is a bonus his leading the conference in assit that’s his role on this team. We drove 12 hours to watched UH played their hearts out and win their first away game of this year. Tavita trying his best in his role to win for his team . Derek is about the team not about Tavita pull the trigger . There is time and place for all things in life the points will come. Faafetai lava or mahalo. Go warriors!
Great effort last night. Sounded like Gib had a “come to Jesus” meeting and the team responded nicely.
Nice to see Brereton has finally arrived for his senior year. Vander had a nice game also.
Obviously, UH it trying to poing it to Vander at the post, but one thing I noticed is that Vander doesn’t work hard enough to get open at the post. In transition he doesn’t hustle down the floor and try to get deep post position in the paint before the defense can set up. Good post players can usually get a few easy buckets by doing this, but Vander never gets to the rim in transition. Vander typically doesn’t start fighting for position until the defense is already set and ready for him, which makes it much tougher.
The next time you watch a team with good post players, watch how they move in transition… They are a trailer in the early offense but if they don’t get the ball in transition they all run to the rim and try to post up.
I’m getting frustrated with Tavita’s style of play. Every game he penetrates to the paint, which a rare occurrence, he never takes the shot, no matter how wide open it is. I know he’s a pass first guy, but come on man! You can’t pass up open layups or shots at the rim in order to force a pass into traffic. The other thing that drives me nuts with Tavita is that he rarely pushes the advantage in transition. On the rare occasion UH get a fast break opportunity, if Tavita has the ball, the fast break stops at the 3pt line. Tavita is a poor passer for a PG and he’s not aggressive enough to take it to the hole, so any numbers advantage is lost.
On to the good things last night….
Standhardinger played like man possessed. This was the same Standhardinger that showed up vs UNLV. I truly think that nobody can guard him when he decides to get aggressive. It’s weird because he’s not a great shooter, not overly strong, and he’s not overly quick. It’s his tenacity and his feel for the game that makes him so effective. He just needs to do it on a consistent basis,
In the second half, UH ran a couple of pick-n-roll sets with Spearman & Vander that were very effective. It’s a new wrinkle that UH hasn’t shown much this year and led to a wide open jumper for Vander on a pick-n-pop, and then on the next possession, Spearman got to rim and earned a couple free throws. I think UH needs to run more pick-n-roll sets vs man defense to mix it up. UH’s #1 priority on offense is get it to the post, but when it’s one dimensional, teams can make it tough. The pick-n-roll can break the monotony and teams probably aren’t prepared to defend it.
UH’s zone offense was the best I’ve seen it this year. They played it exactly how my high school team played the zone… UH overloaded one side of the court: ball at the wing, Vander at the baseline, Standhardinger in the mid-post, Shooter at the top of the key and another player on the far side perimeter. If the ball gets to the mid-post, it’s nothing but easy looks and foul shots. UCSB defended it poorly by allowing Standhardinger to get the ball in the middle and UH pounded them.
After all it’s college basketball, and we all have to also consider while writing posts
Only in America has such a good program for top athletes who know that the sports career limited in time, while the graduation for the duration of a lifetime
Talented children need is the wisdom and courage to go into the program regardless of the financially tempting offers
A lot of talented athletes who, because of the placing of money before anything else ruined their lives
Thinking about all the guys and their families, even when they are playing terrible deserve admiration of fans
Hard work and a lot of sacrifices needed to overcome all the guys obligations
Student athletes really are a special category of sport
All the guys are great and I congratulate them on the sports and academic achievements
Guys stay healthy, learn, practice, enjoy your life
All other teams are lucky Joaquim is not yet 100%
All other teams are lucky Brereton was a little absent
All other teams are lucky ………. there is a lot to write
Agree on posts about Vander, even comments from play by play announcer and color analyst Michael
Cage(ex SDSU and WAC great Big Man and ex NBA player) mentioned how Vander has to WORK too. Really work hard to get position, AND to get from RIM to RIM on Offense and Defense. If he does that, he would score more, be more effective on D, and help team to be better.
Could be , probably Vander not in 100% health. In the NBA or High Euro leauges, the good Bigs are always running , and active throughout whole game. Am sure coach Fish working with Vander on that, however, just my take, maybe Vander not in great shape? If he has chance to go overseas or a tryout with NBA team, he has to be able to run up and down quickly, I think after season he should get personal trainer. He can run. He paces self. Could score and help D up better if he got to the paint on both sides of court faster.
As for Jace, think of a very tall Miah, a pass first guy, He had 8 assists to 3 turnovers, good numbers. I guess with Gib’s team, he is not called on to score, he is to run Offense and get ball to Vander. Saw couple of times, he had an open look from 3, instead, got it to Vander or Christian, and they finished. Agree, Jace’s leadership, along with Hauns, Vander, Spearman and MR hustle , Christian, helped team win.
At this point, Gib and team are happy, and all of UH MBB fans, that team got the W. They are not going to be perfect, however, next road trip, they are going to be quite tired, they probably play same way, pound it inside, attack zone same way, and play BIG, have to out rebound other team on Offensive glass for putbacks and resets on O a lot. That is the adavantage UH can use. Shooters shoot, if ball goes up, Bigs track ball and go get it, for another opportunity to score.
A WIN is A
WIN. Glad they got it!
Win, credit goes to the players.
Warriors is the better team.
You learned that win tastes better; You improved on rebounding.
You did turnaround; Count >> 1-1.
Congrats to King Christian ~ Double career-high 31 pts & 16 bds.
Unbelievable 25/39 Frees vs UCSB’s 10/15; A ten pts winner.
Work with what’s available; Take advantage of the current forte.
The sunny-side is always brighter!?
GREAT EFFORT, Success and a WIn….How about this? EACH player needs to play for THEMSELVES first, which means challenging their best self at each practice and each game. It follows the saying that you have to be able to take care of yourself first before you can care of others. Christian is a great example of this. He works hard and that LEADS to team success. We all know that Hans is a player. But, it really is about him executing first and thinking later; thinking too much means lagging in execution and being a step too slow or a pass flighting to a defender. As Michael Jordan and June Jones have stated, you need to practice until you develop your skills till they become unconscious effort. Christian is a model and I sure hope the younger players follow his lead. Go Bows…
PS >> For the benefit of those don’t have access to the local paper:
~ Mr Standhardinger’s achievement qualified him as the 4th elite in 40 yrs
~ record of over 30 points and 15 rebounds in a single game as a “Warrior”.
Ozi Mum, Aussi Mum, Big Matai, Tribe, Tonganator, AND Many Others
IT IS Tough AS Both Students & Athletes (where performance is “Measured, “Published Daily and Critiqued” each game…
It IS Great for All of Us that the ‘American’ system had some wisdom to pair the two…
And Your sons (& daughter) as Ozi Mum pointed out, some have the Wisdom & Talent to Earn Both…
Great Perspectives, Contributions, here…
Even when we might not agree it’s clear ALL Care…
Thank You, All
KEEP WINNING, WARRIORS!
Anyone get the turnovers for the game? Seems like Hawaii took better care of the ball and broke the press couple times and made them pay by scoring. Good to see. Hope this game will be the one that springboards the final games of the season and be ready for tournament time. Hauns is back just in time for the run..We had one team years ago that finished in the middle of the pack and won the conference title. Nobody expected them to win it all but they were hot at the end. This team can set itself up the same way. Stay healthy and believe you still can still get to the dance. This is your play so go out and take it.
servante,
According to my online printout >> Hawaii 13, UCSB 8 on TO.
Without the big guy (Alan Williams), Santa Barbara is not a good team. With Williams they are decent. They are a young team and will get better. Any win is a good win. Move on and prepare for Riverside. Can’t afford to regress.
I feel Jace is doing what he’s been tasked to do, direct the offense and distribute the ball. That’s his role; that’s what he’s supposed to do, and it’s based on how best he can contribute to the team.
He can hit the 3 when he’s open, saw evidence of that in the summer league. But I’d rather he pass to Hauns or Spearman for a 3 attempt, and I’d rather he dish to one of the bigs for a layup rather than take it to the hole because if he’s fouled … well, he’s been struggling at the FT line.
So, I like what Jace brings to the team. Play physical defense and direct the offense. Sure, it would be great if the team had a more offensive-minded point guard, but it doesn’t. Why ask Jace to do more than he’s best suited to do. He knows his role, and he’s doing it to the best of his ability.
Soldier On Warriors Keep that Nasty edge thru the playoffs! No more playing like a bunch of wusses
UH did catch a huge break with UCSB’s all everything big man out with injury. The return game will be much more interesting. They were reduced to a one dimensional team without their big man inside.
—
Regarding Jace, I totally understand that his job is to run the offense and create for others, but he not taking the easy shots when he gets to the paint. You just can’t pass up layups and open shots inside 5’… that’s like giving away points. Just like Miah last year, Jace needs to take 5 or 6 shots per game to make defenses play him honest. I see teams are double teaming Vander are doing so with Jace’s defender, knowing that if Vander kicks it out, there’s no threat from Jace to attack.
The one adjustment that can counter that is to have Jace cut to rim just after his defender commits to double the post. Either nobody covers Jace and he’s got a layup if he gets the pass or that will force someone to cover Jace and it opens up another player.
Crisp ball movement defeats double teams/traps. Vander has developed a nasty habit of waiting and waiting and waiting before doing something. You can hear the SSC crowd get anxious when he’s parked at the post with the ball. I see that he’s trying survey where the double is coming from, but while he waits, the help defense is ready for him. Also, once the double comes, he’s still waiting. Often, he basically allows himself to get trapped, then he either turns it over or forces a tough shot.
Fotu, although he’s a freshman, is a more polished post player than Vander. There’s no hesitation when he gets the ball in the post. By moving quickly, he can get his shot before the double arrives.
As I’ve said impervious posts, I think Vander’s knee is still an issue. In last nights game, I also noticed that his attitude was much better after getting called for questionable fouls. Vander is a high emotion guy and his body language can really effect the team’s mindset, both good and bad.
After half the BWC season over, Jace is the strongest ball handler on the team and he should be starting. Roop is looking more and more like a freshman.
Also an observation… After 9 BWC games, I can confidently say that the BWC officiating crews are some of the worst in the country. They have been awful. They are super inconsistent and get at least four wrong calls (going both ways) each game. I know nobody is perfect, but some of the refs just don’t have a clue what’s going on.
UH needs a strong 2nd half of the BWC schedule because the BWC tournament has an interesting format that really favors the top 2 seeds:
Round 1:
1 vs 8
2 vs 7
3 vs 6
4 vs 5
semifinals:
Bracket gets reshuffled so the highest seed plays the lowest seed
Finals:
Last 2 teams remaining
This format gives a HUGE advantage to the #1 & #2 teams in league play. Long Beach has a firm grip on #1 because everybody is beating each other up below them. The #2 is up for grabs. It’s vitally important that UH wins both games next week, because the schedule lines up in their favor down the stretch.
UHA:
Jace , on track to graduate, great young man and student, Team player.
I had a lot of comments to post, then again, why rehash? Jace, play D, run the O, and lead team to wins as a senior along with Vander and Hauns.
If Jace, gets more points, by attacking the rim, a mid range jumper or a couple of 3 balls, would be great, UH leads would be larger. Jace loves to distribute. At this point(pun intended), Jace is the best PG UH has. If UH has winning season and a post season tourney bid, Much credit to Jace, Hauns, Vander and the entire team. Their hard work will pay off.
As eagle says UHA, we all want UH MBB team to succeed, they have a great second half of season, say winning majority of the last nine games, we will be delighted. Hope Gib sticks with the same starting 5, the upperclassmen, having the minutes with the underclassmen spelling them, they can have a pretty good final chance to dance!
I agree with what you said…. Jace just needs to be a “threat” to score. That doesn’t mean he’s a scorer. Jace just needs to take the easy shots that are there for him. Just 5 or 6 shot attempts a game is all.
Weird stat I just saw…. Tavita only has 7 free throw attempts for the season. That’s really hard to do when you average 23min/gm. Jace isn’t going to draw a ton foul shots when his only shots are wide open 3s and isn’t aggressive driving to the hoop. What’s amazing is that he hasn’t been fouled in the bonus for 1and1’s and he’s the primary ball handler.
Amazing stat… Fotu is shooting 63% from the field. Got to get him the ball some more.
I’ve noticed that Vander and Fotu are more productive when only one is on the floor. The spacing gets messed up because if one gets the ball at the post, the other doesn’t clear the paint and it leaves extra defenders clog the middle and help. Especially if Vander gets the ball, because Fotu isn’t a threat away from the block.
I wonder what happened to the high-low post entry sets? I remember the team working on that before the season. Haven’t really seen it at all this year. It does require the bigs to be good passers, so maybe that’s why…. The team does really struggle with post entry passing.
Just put in that lay up Jace ,that’s all make it and draw the foul, relax and make your foul shot.
The Fox Sports color guy summed it up pretty well when Jace drove into the lane and had an open layup but instead turned the ball over trying to force a pass to a covered Standhardinger… his words were either : INEXCUSABLE or UNACCEPTABLE. That play symbolizes my frustration with Jace. He’s basically Miah but worse on offense. I get that he’s our best game manager but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player play 30+ minutes and not attempt a single shot.
Miah was a prolific scorer in high school. Heck, I saw him play as a 10-year-old, and he was shooting 3’s with confidence then. Jace was first-team all-state as a senior in Utah, when he averaged 16 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists a game. But in college at Utah, his scoring average was less than 1 point a game.
Not sure what happened to his shot, but if the past is any indication, he is not a proven scoring threat in college. That being said, he was voted a team captain at Utah and that’s what he brings to Hawaii: off-court and on-court leadership.
I would much rather he focus on directing the offense and distributing the ball rather than step outside his comfort zone. Sure, a point guard who can score loosens the interior defense, but would you really want to see Jace jack 8 shots a game, and maybe hit 2? You think opposing defenses will play him any differently than they do now?
Nah, Jace is fine. He just needs to keep the turnovers down, play physical defense, and direct the offense. If he can do all that — and even that’s a full plate — then that’s good enough for me. And unless Gib wants him to take 6 to 8 shots a game, it’s probably good enough for coach, too.