Road wins or bust for the Rainbows

It was an important win on Saturday’s senior night, but certainly not a flawless one for the Hawaii basketball team.

The Rainbow Warriors pushed past Cal State Northridge, 89-78, in a response to their worst loss of the season — not in point differential, but in expectations — to UC Riverside two days prior.

“We always bounce back,” said Sai Tummala, one of four players honored during senior ceremonies along with Quincy Smith, Roderick Bobbitt and Dyrbe Enos. “It’s a testament to our coaches, testament to our fans here, and the other seniors that we have as well.”

The victory didn’t settle seeding for the upcoming Big West tournament. It did, however, keep UH in the lead for the No. 1 seed. The big benefit there is an automatic berth to the NIT should the Rainbows fall short of winning three games March 10-12 at Anaheim’s Honda Center for an NCAA appearance.

UH (23-4, 12-2 BWC) plays a critical contest at UC Davis (10-17, 5-9) on Thursday. If the Rainbows can take that game, they’ll clinch the top seed. If not, plenty will be on the line in the regular-season finale at Long Beach State (16-13, 10-4) on Saturday.

From here on out, it’s mainland wins or bust. UH is remaining there through the Big West tournament and any postseason beyond.

“I think we’ve played well on the road so far this year (6-0 in conference), and it’s important,” said Tummala, who scored 16 against the Matadors, one off his career high. “We want to win a Big West championship, we gotta take care of it on the road. It became a little harder when we lost to Riverside, but nonetheless that’s what we want and what we strive for.”

Forward Stefan Jankovic submitted another strong performance against the Matadors, 28 points on 8-for-10 shooting, adding to his resume for a run at Big West Player of the Year.

Were it not for the heroics of those two big men, the joyous postgame vibe might’ve felt considerably different.

UH’s transition defense and ball control was shaky against CSUN. The Rainbows allowed several easy baskets before their defense was set and committed a season-high 23 turnovers, including 14 combined from point guards Bobbitt and Smith.

Fortunately for the Rainbows, CSUN was equally disinclined to defend, and the Rainbows pulled away late. Ganot became UH’s leader in wins for a first-year head coach, surpassing Benjy Taylor’s 22 from last season.

“We made big plays at critical times to create the separation. We were able to hang on,” Ganot said. “Obviously CSUN does a good job turning us over, turning teams over, turning everybody over. We’ve gotta do better. A lot of (them) were unforced.

“We had some defensive breakdowns, significant ones, this week. One of the biggest things we gotta get back to is defending and rebounding. I don’t think we won the boards (35-all), and we didn’t defend, but we hung in there and executed. I thought very effective offensively (52.8 percent shooting) in terms of spreading the ball, sharing the ball. We gotta get back to being effective and balanced on all fronts.”

Bobbitt was reprimanded by the Big West on Friday for verbal misconduct in the Riverside game. He was held out the first eight minutes against CSUN and was clearly out of sorts once he got in, shooting 2-for-12 with a career-worst eight giveaways.

“Lesson learned, hopefully,” Ganot said afterward. “And I think his attitude was great today. The officials commented a lot on how he was, and that’s a credit to him. He was very emotional the other game and got caught up in the moment.”

Questions abound about the role of sophomore Isaac Fleming, the team’s fourth-leading scorer who until recently was averaging double figures. In four games since returning from an ankle injury, the guard has scored a total of seven points in just 12.8 minutes per game. He played five scoreless first-half minutes against CSUN and didn’t get in after the break, while freshman Sheriff Drammeh got the start in Bobbitt’s place and played 32 minutes. Fleming disappeared from the bench for part of the second half and appeared glum when he was visible.

Ganot declined to address Fleming’s status on Sunday.

It was still a mostly positive evening. UH came out for warm-ups in “Aloha State Warriors” shirts in honor of Enos.

The Kamehameha product received quite the sendoff from the near-capacity crowd. Just before he checked in with 1:30 to play, the game in hand, the building echoed with chants of his name.

“It was chicken skin for sure,” Enos said. “I’ve had that happen one time in my high school career, but this was … sellout crowd, everyone saying it. I was happy to just get on the floor. I’ll never forget this moment, it was awesome. I love it.”