Rainbows got just what they needed from Davis

It was another Saturday Night Special for Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors have now won six weekend games in a row. They just need to get Thursdays figured out a little better.

As point guard Keith Shamburger said, UH must have the chip on its shoulder for the first game of the week.

But a lot of it this week was luck of the draw, as Thursday’s opponent was Big West Conference leader UC Irvine and UC Davis on Saturday night was undersized and underskilled, except for Corey Hawkins. If he had a little more help, the Aggies might have done what they did last year, when Hawkins dropped 40 on the Rainbow Warriors and beat them here instead of falling 86-77.

That 29 points this time around was nearly as impressive, considering Hawkins was hurt and out of the game several minutes early in the second half. He makes my all-time UH opponent backcourt, with Chris Herren.

By contrast, the marquee player for the Anteaters was Mamadou Ndiaye, a 7-foot-6 roadblock at the basket. As Tony Sellitto said after UH’s Thursday night overtime loss with the line of the week, if not the season, “(Ndiaye) had one block and a hundred scares.”

But there was nothing to fear in the paint Saturday. UH faces as tough a defense from its own scout team. So Christian Standhardinger and Isaac Fotu attacked the low post with abandon.

Usually in basketball, if you call a team a doughnut it’s because there’s a hole in the middle, no center. But Arnold used a baseball comparison, in effect describing Ndiaye as the doughnut from that sport.

“It’s a big difference when he’s not in there,” Arnold said. “He may be the best in America at what he does (clogging the low post). So like baseball, when you put the weight on the bat and it’s easier to swing when you take it off. It’s probably what the guys felt like, it’s a little bit different when the (opposing center is) a foot shorter and not as strong.”

Hawaii’s outside shooting was also much better, and getting off to a fast start from outside was imperative. Brandon Spearman and Garrett Nevels hit their first 3-pointers.

Hawkins matched UH’s outside production himself, with four treys. But when Davis closed to within single digits late in the game, Hawkins turned into a passer, closing out his scoring at the 4:58 mark with one of his nine free throws in 13 tries.

“It’s really annoying when someone shoots that many free throws,” said Standhardinger, which was kind of funny since he made nine of 12 himself on the way to tying Hawkins for game high with 29 points.

The difference on this evening was Hawkins had little help, while Hawaii had four players in double-figures and a strong bench contribution from Aaron Valdes, who played 17 minutes, and Dyrbe Enos, who played a capable six minutes at the point when Shamburger and Quincy Smith got in early foul trouble.

Looking ahead, if UH is going to have a chance to win three games in three days to take the conference tournament it will need some similar bench contributions — and against better opponents.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.