Hawai`i might have served notice that they are finally turning things around with their upset of UCSD on Thursday. In a way, their season has been a reverse of the Ags. Starting out 8-4 with their only losses against power 5 conference teams, things were looking good but fell apart in league play, whereas UCD was looking shaky, then surprised us all in the Big West. Even the Rainbow Warriors usual home court dominance has not held up with losses to Fullerton and CSUN. Going into the game against the Tritons things were looking bleak with their big man, Mor Sek out for the season and their starting point guard JoVon McLanahan injured in the warm up before the game. Off guard Noel Coleman did a god job defending Bryce Pope, holding him to 1 for 7. I suspect they'll have him try to guard Eli one on one. I'll be at the game, so will not be chatting tonight.
The schedules at both schools show it being live on Spectrum Sports. Whenever I watched Hawaii on ESPN+ the announcers have been the regular Hawai'l announcers.
Thanks. That's what I suspected, but I always go to the game here live. Those guys should then be Kanoa Leahy and Artie Wilson. Might be the best pair in the Big West, given that Bob Williams is not always with Scott Marsh.
45-35 Hawai'i at the half. The Bows shot 71% overall and an unbelievable 9-11 from 3. If we continue to allow them to shoot uncontested 3's...this game is over.
Hawai'i was just the much better team tonight. They are capable of beating anybody in the league when they play like this. They shot lights out in the first half and were the more aggressive team for the entire game.
The Ags were only 5-25 from 3 and, although Pepper got 27, he was only 8-25 overall from the field including only 3-13 from 3. We only had 7 assists tonight and Hawai'i pounded us on the boards 39-27.
Les didn't come out for the radio post-game interview which usually indicates that he not at all happy with how the team played and he's having an extended conversation in the locker room. If there's one thing that will get the team in the doghouse with Les, it's when he feels that his team was not the aggressor and got outplayed.
I had a seat in the first row, tight behind the Aggie tea. I could hear what JimLes was saying and I could see how frustrated he was getting. At one point midway through the second half he said something like "You just have to do your jobs." He would throw his hands in the air whenever a Hawai`i player got a wide open shot. Being that close to the court, I could see how often Aggie defenders were out of position in the first half and how quick Hawai'i was to close near the basket in the second half. The thing that was amazing was that the Rainbow Warriors hit so many 3s in the opening half. This is a team that barely shooting over 30% from beyond the arc and they go over 80% in that half?! Many of those shots were from unexpected sources like Justin McCoy who went 3 for 3 and the freshman from Japan, Akira Jacobs (who is like a baby-faced Rui Hachimura) and hit 2 of 2. I was certain that they would cool off in the second half and they did, but they also got a lot more points in the paint and hardly missed any free throws in the second half. These guys are going to be dangerous in the tournament as they seem to have turned things around. Bernardo Da Silva was a beast last night and dominated both Rocak and Borra. This was their best game and after they beat both us and UCSD, the fans out here are pretty excited. I hope we can beat them in Davis.
Hawai'i was on fire in the first half...sizzling hot...and, as you noted, even players who hadn't hit 3's all season were knocking them down with their eyes closed. They couldn't miss if they tried to. Obviously, we were not making them take difficult 3's in the first half but, give Hawai'i credit, they were simply shooting out of their minds.
Riverside beat Irvine in essentially the same manner. They were raining 3's over and over again. Sometimes a team can catch fire and the ball finds the hoop not matter what. I highly doubt that we'll see either of those teams shoot 3's like that again any time soon. That said, we did a poor job of defending the 3 point line also. So when a team is on an uncanny hot shooting streak and you're defending poorly...well, you're gonna get burned and Hawai'i fried us.
The thing that was most disappointing to me was how out of position we were so often on defense. You have to give Hawai'i some credit again. Their ball movement was outstanding. They were swinging the ball finding the the open look and we were slow to react and out of position to defend. We looked like we were 2 or 3 steps slow on defense all night. I'm sure that some travel fatigue affected the Aggies but that wasn't the main reason we got solidly beaten. Hawai'i simply played a great game. The more they drained those 3's, the more the crowd got into it and the Warriors fed off the that energy.
Hawai'i often does not play well on the road. Likewise, the trip to the island is tough for the rest of the Big West teams. We got caught in a double whammy with the travel and encountering a blazing hot Hawai'i team. It will be a much different game when the Rainbow Warriors come to Davis.
When Coach Les told his players that they weren't doing their jobs, I think he meant that they were too often out of position on both offense and defense. I could see him "directing traffic" when the Ags had the ball in the second half in front of the UCD bench. I had never noticed how often the players, especially T Y Johnson, look at him even as they are handling the ball. Les was not happy with the teams spacing on offense and in one in bounds play, I heard him yell out the play and when it failed, he threw his hands up in disgust at the lack of execution. Much like their game against UCSD, the Ags were having a poor game against a team that was having one of their best. I agree that it will be very different on February 29.