Highlights from intrasquad scrimmage
Seniors often take the lead in scrimmages early in a season, and the University of Hawai’i basketball team is no exception. It so happens that the Warriors have just one senior this season, and he was the standaout of the team’s first intrasquad scrimmage of the season on Saturday afternoon.
Senior guard Garrett Nevels shot 7 for 10 from 3-point range and scored a team-high 29 points during a 40-minute intrasquad scrimmage. He also contributed five assists and four rebounds, and shot 11 for 16 from the field overall.
The scrimmage was divided into four 10-minute periods, and the rosters were changed for each period. Nevels was the only player to be on the winning squad for all four periods.
“It’s pretty intense; nobody wants to lose,” Nevels said. “We’re going to play hard the whole time and we were able to pull it out today.”
UH head coach Gib Arnold said he deliberately mixed the lineups every 10 minutes to see how players played with – and against – each other.
“These guys are competing for playing time and positions and I wanted to see who went at each other,” Arnold said. “With just the little that we have taught, I wanted to see who could execute, who knows the stuff and who forgets it. That’s pretty apparent in an early scrimmage like this.
“We’re really looking. I’m looking for guys who are going to be in my rotation so it was mostly about competition – who are the best competitors.”
One player who is a virtual lock to be in the rotation is junior forward Isaac Fotu. Although he only returned to practices on Thursday, Fotu contributed 28 points and six rebounds in the scrimmage. He shot 12 of 20 from the field, including 3 of 7 from 3-point range. He sat out the first two weeks of practices to rest a sore back.
Among other players:
• Sophomore forward Mike Thomas shot 6 for 9 from the field and finished with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. He also had five assists.
• Sophomore forward Aaron Valdes shot 5 for 7 from the field and finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
• Freshman guard Isaac Fleming had 13 points, five rebounds and three assists.
• Redshirt freshman point guard Niko Filipovich had three points, four steals, and a team-high six assists (though he also led the team with six turnovers).
• Junior guard Roderick Bobbitt had eight points, four steals and one assist.
• Sophomore center Stefan Jovanovic had eight points and seven rebounds.
• Sophomore forward Stefan Jankovic contributed five points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
• Junior point guard Quincy Smith injured his back early in the scrimmage after falling hard while attempting a driving layup. He remained on the sidelines for the remainder of the scrimmage.
• Three players sat out due to injuries – Brandon Jawato (ankle), Sammis Reyes (toe) and Negus Webster-Chan (ribs).
MAHALO DAYTON! Thankyou for your hard work, dedication, support of Schmidt Ohana, and the WI UH MBB nation, come what may, LOVE to watch UH MBB hoops…See how they are progressing!
Go Bows Rainbow Warriors..Sammis, Negus, Jawato, take time, and get really healthy!
Thanks Dayton and coach for continuing to bring us video updates. No doubt I will watch this a few times today.
warriorhaw:
yes…. rainy day….blessing we escaped ANA direct hit.. however. we have THIS View of Team to watch for next couple of days!
That gym, the humidty, have to wipe and keep dry, guys slipping all over the place, very dangerous, and Q, hard foul hurt his back, has to join the Injured Reserve Rehab list with Jawato, Sammis, Negus ….Hope they all get better, when Official Season first game starts, they are ready to go.
Echo, too bad, as Gib says, numbers wise, cannot run as much fast break, push fast offense, because of lack of numbers.. however as G Money Nevels says, the other 11-12 guys get the court time, and will make them even deeper and stronger, when all guys healthy.. I agree..
Go Warriors
Go Bows.
That Fotu, what a beautiful outside shooting form, long twos and deep threes.. awesome.. And the ballhandlers, about 5 guys, guards, can bring it up… first scrimmage, so have to tighten up dribble, too,.. They working, and grinding, so they can average 80+ppg, score within 8 seconds, if can, have deep 3 ball, and guards can penetrate and dish to shooters… quicker perimeter defenders with good hands, more steals and defelections, Team could be really good Defensively.. we KNOW they can shoot, just tighten up Defense, and take care of the ball.
And KEEP THAT court dry, dangerous, slippery ..wet..
And … before we criticize too much…. ONLY FIRST 40 minute period OFFICIATED scrimmage, Gib let the refs, hold whistle at times, let the guys play through contact.. Who are the Competitors, the guys work hard on O and D, no slacking off, no matter who they are playing with, about 4 different sets of Five guys, which is great, …If Gib has 10+ at same level, all the way till BWC tourney time.. They will be ready to rock..
Quincy take care of that back, he hurt before.. Jawato the ankles, Sammis the toe, and Negus’ Ribs.
Great to see the guys getting at it. Believe it or not, they just have two more Saturday scrimmages before their first Exhibition game.
I know it hurts to breath for Negus…take some time because that second fracture will hurt even more. We are all looking forward to seeing Sammis and Jawato with the near perfect shooting form back on the court. Sure hope Q is okay.
Nevels and Fotu…Solid! Great improvements with Valdes and Thomas. I think whomever can deliver from the point and play shut down defense is going to get the PT. Remember, whoever controls the boards, has the best chance of winning.
Got to take one game at a time, but the first real test will be High Point. The Pitt game could put us on the map. Nearly every team we play in the Gulf Coast Showcase will be ranked higher than us and then there will be BYU on the road. Lots of opportunities this year which will prepare us for post season.
The DHC again has some real name brand teams and we start off with one of them. Come January, I hope we are ready for a much improved Big West Conference this year.
Looking forward to seeing us play in the Championship game in Anaheim.
GO BOWZ
BACKBEAT:
The months did pass by quickly, so much attention to MBB , especially from WI and Dayton’s videos. This Officiated 40 min . scrimmage, great look at team.. A lot of guards that can handle, and you see Gib standing there , or the court, looking, WHO WILL step up, compete, winners, Team first, rotation guys, Still think HE needs that 10 guys at least to step up by BWC time.
This injury thing, takes time, you are right.. However like Eagle says, at the right time, when the injured ready to come back, IT is like the calvary coming to the rescue, or supporting the front line troops.
You are right, a little over two weeks away from HPU official
exhibition game, hope most of the guys are healed, Jawato ankle , NWC ribs, Sammis toe, Quincy’s back, takes time rehab, rest, strengthen, heal, and condition.. That is a lot of fire power and talent in the wings. PG, SF, PF and SG!
Hoops UH MBB ready to Rock The Rock!
Go Bows. Rainbows. Warriors. Go Team!
Do we recognize How Hard it IS
to Fake a Pass and in One Clean Motion Hit a Clean Three?
THAT ‘Most Likely Means’ the Shot is ‘Automatic’ and Reliable…
And Might also Indicate BOTH Options Can Work…
Starting to hear Declarations of Better Defense —
Garrett is probably Accurate, with improved athleticism and numbers…
By the Time we start to hear it from the coaches,
The Team’s Winning Percentage should be Climbing…
Pretty Good “LIGHT Walking Wounded”
[IF We had a Game Today, ALL Could Play…]
Hope Quincy can heal his back. He had some back trouble last year. Hope Bobbitt can keep on his feet, as he has been doing here, for his arm’s sake. In one of his JC highlight videos, he was often falling to the ground on drives, etc.
Good to see Janks working inside .
Good stuff. Nevels needs to stay hot this season for the team to have success. I don’t see any other truly consistent 3 ball shooter unless Jawato comes back healthy and its sure taking a long time for him to recover which worries me little bit. Fotu knocking down 3’s is a new bonus from last year so that will help.
Mike Thomas and Aaron Valdes need to be ready to play. Both these guys are athletic and that helps them get rebounds even though they are both not that big.
It looks like Bobbitt has good anticipation on defense and that leads him to get a couple of steals in the video. Guys like that are always very smart players.
I hope the injury bug goes away soon. I think this will be a better team with Negus in there and Sammis too.
Brian M. had some stats,etc. Glancing at the shooting stats, the 3’s weren’t falling much, except for Garrett, Fleming and some of Fotu’s. Bobbitt may be a good steals player.
When the lights go on, often the 3’s don’t come as easy as before.
Dayton provided assists, steals, turnovers and rebound figures for key players besides the shooting.
FYI, Espn has UH projected as finishing 4th.
Here’s another projection which you may not agree with, however Fotu was picked on the All-Big West Preseason Team, no Mamadou :
NBC Sports
PREDICTED FINISH
1. UC Irvine
2. UCSB
3. Long Beach State
4. CSUN
5. Cal Poly
6. UC Davis
7. Hawaii
8. Cal-State Fullerton
9. UC Riverside
http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/10/19/2014-15-big-west-preview-uc-irvine-ucsb-lead-highly-competitive-race/
islandman: Really telling, how UH will do BWC …. that first 16 games pre Conference schedule… beating Pitt on Maui, start off beating a good High Point team and winning the RBC… beating BYU on the road, Beating Nebraska first round game DHC, and finally winning DHC championship, would be unreal… Maybe UH SOS not top 100, however, for all the young guys and 8 newbies to the court.. My prediction. JMO… if UH comes out of pre conference schedule at 12-4, and perhaps, beats Pitt.. BYU, and Nebraska, and ends up in championship game of DHC.. UH really has something.. Agree, with Nevels, with the quick hands, and This Team, seems to be from the guards, to forwards to the Centers, All the guys have good BB IQ.. even Stepteau, Buscher, they impress…Just curious why Brocke wears the earplugs? to help with hearing? Good little PG who can shoot it.. Buscher has that length, and hustle, he can be the next great 808 guard, when he gets bigger and stronger.. Enos, will be that 3 for 3 from trifecta land, And Jawato, when healed from concussion like symptoms, HE will be that 8 for 8 from 3 ball land, again. Something about this team, the parts are there to be perhaps, the top, or one of the top Defensive teams in the league AND the top Offensive Team in the BWC, which can spell a BWC regular season crown.
Pre season polls, … just have to jump ball, against High Point, and after DHC, we see if UH is at 12-4 or better.. They will be top 3 or 4, for BWC I believe.. good young team.. nice high character guys, and they work together, get along very competitive..JUST STAY HEALTHY GUYS. loooooonnnng season!
Go to NCAA’s in March… steady, in mid november, legal eagles, handle the big brothers, and Rock On Bows, Rock On… Time has Come Today!
Go Warriors Go Bows.
Hey Tonganator, TribeVx4, bigdaddy, your sons, are ready to rolll!
Here is my best guess on the starting 5 and main rotation to start the season:
PG: Quincy Smith 6-0 – If he’s still injured, next up is Bobbitt, followed by Fleming/Filipovich
SG; Garret Nevels 6-2
SG/SF: Negus Webster-Chan 6-7 – If he’s still injured, next up is Valdes
SF/PF: Mike Thomas 6-7
PF: Isaac Fotu 6-8
Rotation:
1. SF/PF Aaron Valdes 6-5
2. PG Roderick Bobbitt 6-3
3. PG/SG Isaac Fleming 6-3
4. C Stefan Jovanovich 6-11
5. PG Niko Filipovich 6-0
Stefan Jankovic and Sammis Reyes will challenge for playing time once they are eligible and/or injury free.
NWC’s shooting and playmaking ability is crucial to provide another scoring option to complement Fotu and Nevels. He needs to get healthy and assert himself in practice. Brandon Jawato is the only other outside shooting threat but he’s been injured forever.
I think (Good News when Confirmed)
THAT Jawato And Reyes WILL BE Available When it Counts…
# 1 – Coach GIB Already Said IF We had a Game Today ALL (injured at that time, including Reyes and Jawato, maybe Not Negus, but i would bet that way as well) WOULD BE Available, ALL Would Pl;ay…
PLUS
#2 – SAMMIS (I think) IS Genuinely Tough…
Jawato’s CLOCK is Running and Desperate Players Find A Way …
Playing thru the Pain is Natural … especially on Good and Great Teams
Especially on Winning Teams …
Team should remember preseason polls mean nothing. Conference play and tournament are what count. Fourth place finish not the goal and no one on this board should feel good about that. Championships are what everyone wants. Long time coming but our day is gonna come. Nothing less than top dogs. Fill up SSC and move on to postseason play. Get them ready, Gib.
Hoosier…year 5…BWC type athletes..with all BWC and FIBA world bb athlete in Fotu..Nevels 3 point shooting ..he still shooting rock well..
plus All sixteen…they want it bad..ncaa bid..
Love the team…from Bobbitt to Brocke..
Eagle ..you right man..Sammis dying to bring his combination of strength ..power..bb smarts and great passing ability..
different team..from last year Cristian one man gang..
takes a whole roster to raise BWC conference championship banner and ncaa sweet sixteen or better sign..and plague
plus uh mbb part of ncaa tounament brings in money
Go Bows..Go Rainbows ..Warriors!!