Warriors face Dons in Gulf Coast opener
The University of Hawai’i basketball team proved its worth on a short trip. Now the Warriors will try to do it again on a long trip.
The Warriors will take on San Francisco on Monday – the opening night of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Estero, Florida. The game is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. (Hawai’i time) at Germain Arena. It will not be televised, but will be live on radio (ESPN 1420 AM).
Hawai’i is 4-1 after a 74-70 upset victory over Pittsburgh on Friday night at Wailuku, Maui. The Warriors departed Maui for Florida on Saturday evening, not leaving them much time to celebrate the win – which is just how acting head coach Benjy Taylor wants it.
“I don’t want to get loose with it,” Taylor said. “I don’t want to get undisciplined, whether it be how we dress, how we operate, how we work, how we prepare for practice. Everything’s going to be the same now. We’re 0-0 right now, we’re not 4-1. We have to approach it like that.”
The Dons are 2-0 and will provide another tough test for the Warriors. San Francisco has not been challenged in its two victories – 91-52 over South Carolina State, then 86-46 over Notre Dame de Namur (NCAA-II team).
Kruize Pinkins, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound junior forward, is the Dons’ top player with averages of 21.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
Tim Derksen, a 6-3 junior guard, is averaging 12.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game; Mark Tollefsen, a 6-9 junior forward, is contributing 12.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
“They’re a good team – they can shoot it, they’re big, they play good defense, they’re well-coached,” Taylor said of the Dons. “We’ll have to execute like we did (against Pitt).”
Rex Walters is in his seventh season as head coach at San Francisco, and he was the head coach when the Dons beat the Warriors in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2011.
The Warriors are led by sophomore forward Aaron Valdes, who is averaging team-bests of 15.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Senior guard Garrett Nevels is averaging 11.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, and junior point guard Roderick Bobbitt is contributing 10.4 points and 6.0 assists per game.
“Getting that win (over Pitt) when everyone doubted us – ESPN had us losing by 13 – it’s a big confidence booster,” Bobbitt said.
The Warriors have been strong on defense, limiting opponents to a .395 field goal percentage. They are also averaging better than 10 steals per game, led by Bobbitt with 3.6 per game.
The Warriors will play three games in three days at the Gulf Coast Showcase. By Wednesday, they will have opened the season by playing eight games over a stretch of 13 days.
“Just enjoying the time with my guys, getting better,” Bobbitt said of the long trip to Florida. “Trying to bring the championship back to Hawai’i.”
Gulf Coast Showcase
Monday’s schedule
East Carolina (2-1) vs. Green Bay (1-1), 7 a.m.
Evansville (2-0) vs. Fresno State (1-2), 9:30 a.m.
Marist (0-2) vs. Florida Gulf Coast (3-0), 1 p.m.
Hawai’i (4-1) vs. San Francisco (2-0), 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday’s schedule
First consolation game, 7 a.m.
Second consolation game, 9:30 a.m.
First semifinal, 1 p.m.
Second semifinal, 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday’s schedule
Seventh place, 7 a.m.
Fifth place, 9:30 a.m.
Third place 1 p.m.
Championship, 3:30 p.m.
Go Rainbow Warriors. Get the first W against USF.. then next.. and next..
just keep on grinding, play hard, smart and stay together, as a team..
bigdaddy says cream rise to the top.. now you all can be the CREAM OF THE CROP !!
Go Bows !!
🙂
I’m pretty sure Hawai’i WAS A Second Round Florida Gulf Coast Opponent in a schedule i saw weeks/months ago…
Now ‘Bows are ‘Up To TBD’ instead of Host’s Sacrificial Opponent?
Go ‘Bows!
Recover That CIT Tourney ‘shoulda-been’ USF WIN!
Neutral Court…
Second Straight Upset “Road WIN!
Take The East Coast By Storm…
Action speaks louder.
Be coach-able.
Physically & mentally readied to execute properly.
Blast from the past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg02jNN11Xw
Runbows, Kepola ;
Brian M mentioned that website today and he says free streaming at
http://www.asun.tv
It redirects you to America One Sports. I signed up and it seems free, so far, for about one year .
Mr. Aloha; good video. Who was on that 1997 team ?
AC Carter, Alika, Ambrozich, Galloway, Casey Cartwright, . . . ?
( saw coaches Wheeler, Nash in the background too)
Bobby Knight was nice to Riley after the game.
UH had to pay $25,000 to play in the Gulf Coast Showcase, per Bobby C. But UH had a scheduling problem when a game had to be replaced.
BIG Challenges…
Young Team…
Keeping their heads in it (coach thinks they’re smart)
Travel East (even Pros have trouble with this)
Five-Six Time Zones, MAJOR Travel East
Adjusting to Road — FIRST Trip Tough
Legs Weary, Slow?
Agressive Defense? Without Legs = “Reaching?” & Foul Trouble?
Slow Mo or Full Energy?
WHO Are Your Energy Guys?
Whose Steppin’ Up?
Who Can Perform Back to Back Games?
WITHOUT The Crowd Energy
Challenge of a Higher Rated Opponent
Tough USF
Top 100 Team from Tough West Coast Conference
Go ‘Bows!
WIN Big Again!
?Surprised?
Just Win
Whatever it Takes
PLUSSES+++
Comin” OFF A BIG WIN!
Confidence is HIGH!
We KNOW This (USF) Coach
He Might NOT Know Benjy [PITT Was NOT Ready for a Full-ON ZONE]
This Team IS SMART [ PROOF? ONLY SEVEN Turnovers VS Athletic PITT]
This TEAM IS TALENTED And Skilled
This Team CAN Perform
WILL IT?
We’ll See….
Go ‘BOWS!
WIN!
Start & Finish Strong!
40 Minutes Plus (Just Like VS Pitt)
————
SIDE B…
PITT Plays Chamiinade Today (Televised 4pm)
PITT May be Down
They ARE NOT So Smart (Witness Them Firing UP Isaac Fleming]
Some Think Chaminade WILL Give UH A Good Game (December 19)
Even Challenge For a WIN…
And Challenge Their NCAA Playoffs…
islandman:
thankyou very much for free online stream of USF vs UH game today. That is an interesting site, the free stream and legit.
Mahalo again from WI UH MBB fan nation !
🙂
Yes.. On the UH Athletics site, MBB.. there is the post about Live online streaming of game:
http://www.americaonesports.com/atlanticsun.asp
RunBows, others,
How come the UH website says game on 1420 radio with Curran and Portnoy ?
Bobby was doing his morning show today and Jeff is on Maui to watch the Maui basketball tournament.
islandman:
We all know, espn 1420 calls the shots.. if they want Bobby doing his morning show, he isn’t going on the road.. Maybe, KKEA will have broadcast team from American One sports audio?
Either way, if have live stats or whomever doing broadcast/simulcast, as long as we can follow.
ON SIDEBAR: Interesting after Historic win for a feel good MBB team win over highly rated Pitt, Star Adv. does Front Page article about possible NCAA findings, and so on and so forth.. That is where, if they are any good, and UH is willing to fight.. the Alabama Special, whatever allegations. have to fight for UH MBB team.. That is what they do.. figure out possible scenarios, and be proactive..
Still Does Not take anything away from what Benjy his staff and team are doing.. Still say, not a W’s thing, however, it really is.. Very sure UH MBB team wants to win close to if not more than 20 out of 32 games pre BWC tournament, then go after BWC tourney title and NCAA bid..
How Benjy, Que, Loyd, and Autry, and assistant managers, secretary, trainer, ball boys and girls are doing it.. It has to be the talk of inner circle NCAA coaches, and it is.. even Rex Walters, USF coach, says Benjy doing great job, keeping the guys together.. and that makes UH very scary, or dangerous team…a Galvanized. team.. never like to see the student athletes hurt, or suffer, consequences, However, this will go down, just having to deal with the junky stuff.. as ONE OF THE BETTER teams in UH MBB history..whatever the final season record will be.. One Ohana, and High Character young men
RunBows and Islandman ~
Many thanks for all your research into the streaming possibilities.
ASun sounds promising, but it’s good to know that even if it doesn’t work we’ll still have online radio + our imaginations to fall back on. : )
As always, this week and every week, infinite gratitude to Dayton and the site’s sponsors for the beyond-superb coverage of MBB, all year round.
Kudos also to all the faithful fans for their heartfelt support of the program, and for their entertaining & informative posts.
Happy Thanksgiving week to all, and Go ‘Bows!
Whether zones are fun to watch or not it does not matter because it’s coming up with the win that matters. But with more and more colleges going zone defense I am wondering if the NCAA will institute some kind of restriction on zone, following the lead of the NBA where the defender cannot be inside the key for more than 3 seconds. On the Collegiate level zone defense is a way for weaker teams to stay in the game against stronger teams. It definitely helps us because we are not strong down low. Also we have all 8 key players that are quick, which is why the offense has a tough time penetrating or getting off a good shot. So in our case, hope the zone defense remains, unlike the dull days of the 4 corners offense that used to make watching college basketball suck.
Anybody interested and have time, Shamburger and Missouri vs. Arizona at 12 noon on ESPN 2.
Yesterday, the Missouri women’s basketball team was stuck in their hotel elevator of 90 minutes and got to the SSC late for their game vs. Cal but lost by only 12.
Gonna be a tough tournament with the travel and all the games played this past week and a half.
I don’t know what to expect. San Fran is a always a tough out for the top teams in the WCC, but both are travelling cross country. FGCU is a program that’s on the upswing and likely to await the winner of UH v SF.
Even though shooting may suffer on the road, but the good news is that defense and tenacity travel everywhere.
islandman…Arizona smoked Mizzou. Not very competitive.
As I said earlier, Shamburger doesn’t’ have the size or quickness to hang with the quality guards he’s going to have to play against in the SEC. Today, he got 11 pts, but went 0-3 from 3pt range and had more TOs (4) than Assists (2). Not a good stat line for PG.
Sham’s stats are down in all the important categories for his position. Assists-Turnover ratio, FT% and points are down from last year. What doesn’t look good is that he’s playing more minutes and his numbers have dropped from last year. Other than Arizona, he hasn’t played against good competition yet. It’s only going to get tougher for Mizzou as they get into the meat of their season.
well, San Francisco is just too tough..They are dominating us on the boards……Pitt is a weak team..Chaminade is giving them fits….Hopefully Jankovich gives us a boost when hes eligible….NWC still not playing up to potantial and Garret Nevels is really struggling…Its gonna be a rough road trip
Ouch! Following game and USF laying a whipping on the Bows. Legs seem gone. Question – what is wrong with Nevels and NWC?
Next game vs Marist at 2:30 EST or 9:30 am HST .
well, UH traveled over 6000 miles, and got outrebounded by 20, and really could not hit shots inside or out.. turnovers..etc..however.. still 2 more games in consolation round, still good tournament to prepare for BWC.. good if the tournament was in San Francisco or West Coast, however not team fault for scheduling.
Rainbow Warriors, this is Big Test number Two for this year.. to bounce back from getting beat by bigger team and fresher, team.. UH actually had runs, to get that 8 point lead in 2nd half, just could not close out..Will see how the Warriors bounce back against Marist.. I think they, will, maybe should go inside more.. just have to hit their shots and rebounding by commitee.. Team gave 110% effort till final buzzer, these guys will not give up.. Pretty good mid major in season tournament..
Go get Marist Rainbow Warriors !!
🙂