A Great Effort
By Jeff
What can you say about the Rainbow Warriors after their extraordinary effort against Neveda last night. You can say they lost, but that would be missing the real conclusion to be drawn after their heartbreaking loss. The real conclusion is that this team is for real and will be a force all season in the WAC.
Hawaii had a 7 point lead with 4 minutes to play against a team that had won 10 in a row and in a place they have never won. Credit Nevada with a solid comeback to win, but credit Hawaii for giving the Wolfpack all they could handle.
Vander and Thomas once again dominated inside, and Miah continues to be the prototype pass first point guard with 9 assists to only 3 turnovers. Unfortunately, Zane had just an average game with 13 points on 3-10 from three, or Hawaii might have had its most important road win in years.
Coming after the overtime win against Fresno, Hawaii's game last night has to send a message to the rest of the WAC that this team will be in the hunt for the league championship. They do trail undefeated Nevada and New Mexico State, but both still have to come here, the Aggies this Saturday night.
Its clear that Gib has basically settled on a 6 man rotation with Jefferson and Wiseman sharing that spot. Not much off the bench last night( only 9 points), and hopefully no injuries will pop up to distrupt what has become a very effective starting 5.
La Tech begins the homestand on Thursday and they are really struggling. Shouldnt be able to keep up with the Rainbows. Saturday night's game against New Mexico State should be much more competitive, and could go a long way towards Hawaii's march to the upper two or three teams in the WAC. Nobody ever likes to celebrate a loss. But last night's loss against Nevada comes about as close as you can get
Hoops Talk
January 14th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Agree that Hawai'i has laid claim to Legitimacy -- and just missed Ascending to The Top of the Hill (esp. since Nevada just proved they are for real by Winning @ tough Utah State the previous week)...
MORE: ------
Coach Gib was really disappointed, felt Hawai’i gave the game away…
Even IF we won, there would be so much more room for improvement
(that's good news)…
Some Thoughts in a One-Possession (Three-Point) Final (losing 74-77):
- as a player, i always thought one-shot losses were both the toughest — even though there’s no question your team is “in the game”; the flip side is Every Player Knows he could have done at least one or two things better — and maybe Win … but also most motivating -- we'd use it in practice to drive toward ‘perfection’ or just getting that much better every day...
- One or Two Less Turnovers: UH 15 UNR 12
- Hit & Earn More Free-Throws: UH 12-17 71%, UNR 18-22 81%)
- Hit that Three to Tie or Win: UH 4-13, 31%, UNR 5-14, 36%
- Get that Offensive or Defensive Rebound: UH 32, UNR 35
Awesome Wins on:
- Blocks 9! to 5 and
- Assists 20 to 10 and
- Slight edge on overall shooting 50 to 46% (Both Teams are in WAC Top Three in Defensive Field Goal Percentage, UH # 1)
That’s Likely “The List” above of what the team will be working on ….
i almost (now) wish the La Tech and New Mexico State games this week Thursday and Saturday were at their places, i think the team is playing that well … But We Better Prove we can beat ‘em here And learn enough to repeat later at their places …
January 15th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Hey agree with wish that LaTech and New Mexico State were road games. I think they would them.
January 15th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Gutsy performance against a very credible team. It really was galling that Zane couldn't get one or 2 more from deep. It's okay as long as they continue to play consistently and strongly as they have. I expect Shaq to keep on improving as the season goes along; same for Hauns as he continues to get more playing time. First step...beat La Tech ! Go Warriors!