Shamburger’s prayer shot was answered from above
Keith Shamburger is the first to admit that he may have had some angelic assistance on his improbable 3-pointer just before the end of regulation that lifted the University of Hawai’i basketball team to a 90-86 overtime victory over first-place UC Irvine on Saturday at the Bren Events Center.
“I can’t even say I made that,” Shamburger said. “I think my Aunty is the one who made that. If you really look at it, a bank shot doesn’t never go in like that. I threw up a prayer and she answered it for me.”
The day before the UC Irvine game, Shamburger had an excused absence from practice so that he could attend the funeral for his aunt, Gloria Twine, who passed away two weeks earlier. He returned to the team on the day of the UC Irvine game, then responded with arguably his best game of this season.
He finished with 17 points (which tied his season high) and passed for a season-high 11 assists with just three turnovers.
Just before he hit the game-tying shot at the end of regulation, Shamburger said he looked into the crowd and saw his mother (who is his Aunt Gloria’s sister).
“She just looked at me and just smiled,” Shamburger recalled. “I just felt good when I saw that. Everything came into perspective after.”
Interestingly enough, Shamburger was not the first option for that final shot. A play was designed to get Garrett Nevels an open look for a 3, but when he was covered, Shamburger took matters into his own hands.
Two UC Irvine defenders – 6-foot-3 Luke Nelson and 7-6 Mamadou Ndiaye – converged on Shamburger just before he released his shot. Nelson appeared to make contact with Shamburger, but no foul was called – which only adds to the improbability of the shot.
“(Ndiaye) was right there, but the other dude (Nelson) jumped first,” Shamburger said. “I had to aim it a different way and it went in.”
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It would seem like a safe bet that sophomore forward Isaac Fotu will be named the Big West Conference Player of the Week on Monday.
He scored 50 points and connected on 20 of 28 shots (.714 percentage) from the field to lead the Warriors to two road victories last week. He also grabbed nine rebounds and went 10 for 10 from the free-throw line in the two wins.
In Saturday’s victory at UC Irvine, he scored a career-high 30 points on 13-of-16 shooting from the field.
“I shot my first couple and they went in so I decided to keep shooting,” he said. “I guess I got hot and kept shooting the whole game. I haven’t really shot that much during the season, but if they give me that (open shots) then I think I can knock it down.”
Fotu scored most of his points on 15-foot jumpers from the baselines against UC Irvine’s zone. He also converted several lob layups – getting his shot off quickly before UC Irvine’s 7-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye could close in.
Two days before that, Fotu scored 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field in a road victory over UC Davis.
Fotu leads the team with a .616 field goal percentage, and has improved his free throw percentage to .730. He has converted his last 22 consecutive free throws.
Keith, best wishes to your family, and our hearts with you on your loss. Great to see you help team, as ONE OHANA win a great game. Stay well, and you have great support of team, coaches, and the fans of UH MBB, who win or lose,have supported the coach and different teams, through good and bad times. Have a great rest of regular season!
You guys keep working, Fans getting on board, hope they have 7000+, and 8000+ for Thursday and Saturday games, a lot of students,with Jamie Smith’s help and team, will have to come out, This Team with Keith and all the guys, are great to watch and support!
Go Rainbow WARRIORS!
Out of Man’s Greatest Obstacles and Challenges
Comes Man’s Greatest Creativity and Focus
Out of The Sadness of Familial Loss
Comes The Splendor of an Improbable Clutch Shot
Out of The Frustration of Attempting to Shoot with a Casted Broken Hand
Comes the Steady Focus to Nail 22 Straight Free-Throws and Numerous Jumpers…
Shamburger and Fotu…
Simply Two Stories from this Most Far-Flung and Interesting Team…
GO ‘Bows !
Just Win Two Each Week
(Three in March…)
I attended my first UH Men’s bball game away and what a game to be at! Walked in as soon as the doors opened at 5:30pm through the crowds of students attending home coming. I was the ONLY one wearing green as I walked through the sea of homecoming attendees.
The gym was a bit intimidating to have so many Irvine students and supporters in the stands. Then UH families and supporters came in and filled in the whole section behind the bench!
It was a cool beginning and ending because the Hawaii section was chanting and cheering louder than the Irvine cheerleaders! We did the “defense” clap clap cheer, then “Let’s go Warriors” clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Then we high fived everyone when the game was over as they ran into the locker room.
I got to speak with Brandon Spearman’s mom, high five Christian’s family, and hug Keith’s mom after he drained that awesome basket. The best part of this win was sharing the moment with all of the families and fans.
Even though I was at the game, I have already rewatched the ending twice! So exciting! Great job Warrior men!
hawaiifan09:
Cool……….I guess all we is saying: You happy team winning and playing exciting ball right? I know you are happy, you are a real student of the game, you know basketball. Great to have you as fellow fan on this forum, hfan09, mahalo, for your comments.
This has to be one of the most exciting teams, that uptempo game, since Fab Five., hope too, that those that can make it, and I do think the students will come out..will be well over 7000 by Saturday nite, they win against LBSU, pretty sure, probably 8000+ might be in the house!
Go Bows!
😀
Have to like focus of Gib and team..enjoy the great win for day or two..then get ready for an athletic and hungry LBSU team…however love how.this team getting better last 3 games..they will be ready and bench will be set to go..I,go to games when off work..even when 4000 in house..team so exciting in person at Stanley crowd cheers like. 8000..Hope students from dorms come. out..and make noise!!
we know how consistent and timely the coverage and video reporting is here;
i’m guessing it’s a matter of days before we learn how Jankovic is adjusting t1o UH Lifestyle and How his game looks to mesh from early practices/Open Gym…
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really like Gib’s assessment on this team’s visible improvement;
good to see them becoming a good road and everywhere team;
curious to see how much improvement is apparent, say by this Thursday and Saturday;
have NOT seen a lot of ‘backsliding’ with these guys; falling back or repeating previous mistakes; like they have real book and street (court) smarts, BBIQ; learn from their mistakes and coaches and execute what they learn and with the game plan; the kind of team where the coaches say, “we ask them to do something, and they immediately start to execute and really get it done…immediate and long-term; it’s amazing…”; that’s a lot of fun for the coaches (it also makes ’em look really smart and deserving of raises and long-term contracts), the team (attracting even better players) and fans (who start filling all those ‘saved’ upper and lower level seats?).
Ideally, it gets ‘so packed’ that legislators of vision, the Governator et. al. start wanting to immediately invest a few tens of millions to progress growth to the next few levels, strike while the ‘surplus’ funds are available and the iron is hot and primed… every time i see or hear ’bout Stevie Wonder performing here/nearby (for Ellison & Co. or on last night’s Grammys with Hawai’i’s Bruno Mars, i think, is someone really “hinting”, Hey i CAN help UH do the things they were trying to do; just Please come and ask me… i Do Think the ‘Right Guy’ or guys have to get in that door and ask; it IS One Possible Solution with a Man of Means and World-Class Vision and some (Much) demonstrated propensity to Invest in His Neighborhood /Backyard…
BTW, smaller steps to the Next/Better Level might just be having lockers and facilities that look bright, bigger, cleaner and maintained clean (not broken for weeks or leaking/ flooded when it rains); better arena food (L&L “Blazing Steaks?”, etc. should be an ‘insider’, too?); authorizing Charter Flights so players miss fewer classes and have leg room; the appearance of ‘Cammy’, even the NCAA-Compliant “Aloha-print” Uniforms (and NOT ‘Clown’-Critique-able?) BEFORE BWC Tourney-TV Coverage… Hope BJ & Co. are feeling Progress on some of this — Kinda Gotta Ride the Coat-tails of Your HOT & Visible Teams/Programs –ALL ArenaSports are NOW on Upswing (M/WVB Both Top Ten USA, M/WBB Top 3 BWC)…FRESH 4K Resolution Scoreboards/Video Screens from SONY or SAMSUNG (4K/Retina-Plus, Curved Organic L.E.D.,Upgrade or Dump those DIM Upper/Corner OLD-Tech screens, please…) …Awesome Prizes without having Fans have to Act Silly…Billy V on Timer like Awards Shows or even on The Shot Clock…TRULY FREE Wi-Fi (NOT Requiring Cow-Tailing to TWC-Oceanic Who IS NOT Providing Adequate K-5 OR Old-KGMB Levels of Video and Road Coverage); [YES, BJ That was me ‘Hinting’ in Your Ears @MVB, so you felt the need to turn around, but you WERE Entertaining Guests, $New Money$?(GoodJob!) ]
Shamburger rocking the Seahawks beanie! Awesome, go hawks! Condolence to Keith and congrats on the tying shot! Congrats to the team for a great win.
Nice… Sham is rocking the Hawks beanie.
Valerie, excellent report real time from Irvine gym!! Yes we could you and other UH fans cheering for the team!!
Great team.
Mahalo to the fans families and friends of team!
uhfanzonly1.
Go Rainbow Warriors!
Valerie!
Congratulations on ASSISTING The Big Comeback WIN!
And Thanks For The Detailed Reporting!
(As Well As Sponsoring!)
[K-Sham Had Multiple Angels…;-)
jumping on each other??? woah!!!….should’ve keep that secret