UH’s Green heeds the call to duty

The more Hawaii struggled to score on Saturday, the more Leland Green squirmed on the Rainbow Warriors’ cramped bench.

Green missed the past three games with what was described as the aftereffects of a hard-hitting stomach virus. But last week’s matchup with UC Irvine was the only one UH lost, as it felt the full effect of a reduced bench against the much deeper Anteaters.

In the 72-58 defeat, UH’s reserves got blanked for the first time since Jan. 25, 2014, at UC Irvine.

“That was definitely tough, watching my teammates out there,” Green said Tuesday. “It was nothing I could really do but try to support them the best way I can. So yeah, it was definitely tough to watch.”

Two days after the game, Green was an active participant in a practice for fourth-place UH (12-12, 6-5 BWC) for the first time since the start of February. He’s expected to play in this week’s road games, at last-place UC Santa Barbara on Thursday and eighth-place Cal Poly on Saturday. The team departed Tuesday afternoon for Los Angeles on its second-to-last trip of the season.

Green, a freshman shooting guard, is UH’s second-leading scorer in conference games at 11.5 points per game. His buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the right corner gave the ’Bows the first of two wins over Cal State Northridge.

Green started feeling woozy prior to the Feb. 2 game at UC Riverside, a 72-63 UH win in which he scored nine points in 32 minutes. He was scratched from the next game at CSUN on Feb. 4, remaining back at the team hotel.

“The start of the trip, I didn’t feel too good. I wanted to give my team everything I had,” Green recalled. “I played in the Riverside game. That game was pretty tough for me. After that game, the doctor decided I should sit out and just see if I could get better. That’s about it.

“I’ve been working out for the past couple of days and starting to feel better each day. Hopefully I can work my way back.”

UH coach Eran Ganot said the team took a cautious approach to his recovery.

“He was up and down, but I feel now he’s in the right direction,” Ganot said. “Long term, he’ll be back. He was playing probably his best basketball going into that stretch. He’s our second-leading scorer, he’s shooting the ball well and he’s one of our best defenders. And when we lacked some depth, that’s a concern for us. I think for the first time it showed it was a concern with Irvine (and) their great depth.”

With Green out, guard Sheriff Drammeh entered the starting lineup. He supplied 12 points against Irvine.

But the bench — Matt Owies, Ido Flaisher, Zigmars Raimo and Larry Lewis Jr. — only attempted two shots against the Anteaters, missing both. The reserves’ previous season low was six points against Florida Atlantic on Nov. 14.

“It was the first time in a while we had … that from our bench,” Ganot said with a pause. “We’re not going to have a lack of faith or lack of belief in our bench. We go to work and we’ll expect more.

“Leland coming back will help our bench production for sure. And I think in the meantime, the games prior will help those guys. It was one of those days, one of those nights. I imagine we’ll bounce back.”