Warrior Insider

Joining an increasingly long buffet line, visiting Cal State Northridge became the latest team to feast on Hawai’i’s soft defense as the Matadors sped past the Warriors, 77-71, in Big West Conference men’s basketball action Saturday night.

A hungry but unsatisfied crowd of 5,945 (tickets issued) at the Stan Sheriff Center watched Tavrion Dawson and Michael Warren each score 22 points Terrell Gomez add 16 points for the Matadors, who snapped a five-game losing streak and improved to 6-19 overall and 3-8 in the Big West. Drew Buggs scored 17 points and Mike Thomas added 14 points for UH, which dropped its fifth straight game in falling to 13-10, 4-6.

“We haven’t stopped the bleeding on our lack of intensity on the defensive end,” Warriors coach Eran Ganot said. “I’m disappointed that it’s not changing … There’s a difference between feeling (that it’s just) a matter of time because of your defense and your rebounding, but right now you’re just trying to hopefully trade baskets. We’re not deserving of a successful result if we defend like that.

“But credit Northridge, because they worked hard, they outplayed us and outworked us, and they played very united.”

The victory was CSUN’s first victory in Hawai’i since December 1998, ending a streak of seven consecutive losses by the Matadors in the Sheriff Center. It also ended a seven-game losing streak by CSUN against Hawai’i as Big West members (the last time CSUN beat Hawai’i was in 2014 at Anaheim, Calif.).

CSUN head coach Reggie Theus said: “I think it’s important for our program, important for the psyche of our players. This is a tough place to play. The trip is tough. We went to Pearl Harbor yesterday, did some team bonding and we tried to stay focused. The bottom line is you want to do some things as a team when you come here. In the end, we had to refocus them when we got to gym. It kept them loose, and kept them together. I just thought their attitude was fantastic. Hawai’i is a tough to place to win, so it’s a big win for our program.”

The Warriors led 16-9 in the early going Saturday night, but then Gomez capped a 12-5 run with a 3-pointer to tie it at 21-21 with 8:38 remaining in the first half. Warren later gave the Matadors the lead for good at 30-29 on a jumper with 3:18 left, igniting a 9-0 run culminating in Jalon Pipkins’ layup on a baseline drive which put CSUN ahead, 37-29, with 1:07 remaining.

Jack Purchase hit a jumper from the right elbow 20 seconds later to close it to 37-31, which is how it stood at halftime.

UH committed 11 turnovers in the first half, and allowed the Matadors to shoot 62.5 percent (15 of 24) from the field.

“(Those are) two glaring, incredibly tough numbers — 11 turnovers might have been the second-worst thing; the defense (was first),” Ganot said. “That’s how fortunate we were, how were we down only six? You turn it over 11 times and defend at an ‘F’ level … those were the two points of emphasis; we were able to fix one.”

The Warriors closed it to 42-39 after Gibson Johnson’s free throw five minutes into the second half, but that is as close as they would get as CSUN eventually stretched the lead to 72-56 after Pipkins’ reverse layup capped a 7-0 run with 3:18 left.

The Matadors shot a torrid 68.4 percent from the field (13 of 19) in the second half, with Dawson going 6 for 9, Warren hitting 3 of 5 (including two 3-pointers) and Gomez going 3 for 4 (also including two 3-pointers).

“We’re going through a stretch right now where we don’t have a whole lot of defensive pride, and that’s something we’ve always focused on,” Johnson said. “Letting guys like (Dawson) do work around the paint — that’s not what we’re about, but unfortunately that’s what we’ve been giving up lately. We’ll come together and figure this thing out.”

Buggs said the issue was similar with Warren and Gomez on the perimeter and on dribble-drives.

“I think Gibson said it (right), we’re going through a stretch where we just don’t have that competitiveness on defense,” Buggs said. “Against good players, you can’t have breakdowns for any possessions and give them the open look and let them get going, and we did that. And it hurt us in the end.”

Overall, CSUN shot 65.1 percent from the field (28 of 43), including 46.7 percent (7 of 15) from 3-point range. It is the highest percentage for a Hawai’i opponent in at least 15 years.

Just one month ago, the Warriors beat the Matadors, 57-45, at Northridge, Calif., and CSUN shot just 27.5 percent from the field in that game. Now, CSUN is one of three Big West opponents that shot at least 60 percent from the field against Hawai’i this season.

“I’m not sure we’ve had many (opponents) over 50 (percent) the past three years, but all of a sudden it’s a trend, it’s a reality,” Ganot said. “I’m not sure the defensive pride is where it needs to be. Right now we’re struggling to keep the guy in front — that’s from all five positions. Our floor positions have gone away a bit, and our intensity got away … Guys are very comfortable against us, and it’s a shame.”

The current five-game losing streak against conference opponents is the longest since the 2010-11 team lost five straight Western Athletic Conference games. After consecutive losses to the league’s bottom three teams, Hawai’i now goes back on the road for a Thursday game at second-place UC Irvine (13-14, 8-3).

“My feeling (about the next game) is always good — if it’s not, then what’s the point?” Ganot said. “I have, and I have to continue to have, belief that we’re going to turn it around … If I didn’t, then we would just shut it down, and that’s not going to happen here. We’re going to start with — as we always do — go to work, we’ll look at it, and see what we need to do in terms of our fundamentals, and then see what we’re going to do schematically.

“I think our teams have always been united and motivated throughout the entire year, I think we’ve always taken pride in that we’ve always gotten better, and by the end of the year we’re at our best. But this is probably the first time since I’ve been here that it’s not happening currently. The positive perspective is everything, that we do have time to turn it around — if we take advantage of it.

“The positive is that we’ve got a great group of guys, I know they care about it. I think we all have to step up, and embrace the struggle. This thing hurts, it’s very painful. But we have to do something about it, instead of just taking it.”

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(Game photos courtesy Brandon Flores / www.brandonfloresphotography.com)

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Big West Conference
Saturday’s Results
Cal State Fullerton 68, at UC Davis 66
UC Irvine 62, at UC Riverside 52
at Long Beach State 73, Cal Poly 54
CSUN 77, at Hawai’i 71

Wednesday’s Game, Feb. 14
UC Riverside at CSUN

Thursday’s Games, Feb. 15
UC Davis at Cal Poly
UC Santa Barbara at Long Beach State
Hawai’i at UC Irvine, 6:00 p.m. HT

Saturday’s Games, Feb. 17
UC Davis at UC Santa Barbara
CSUN at Cal State Fullerton
UC Irvine at Cal Poly
Hawai’i at UC Riverside, 5:30 p.m. HT