UC Irvine’s pressure gets to Hawaii

ANAHEIM, Calif. >> For one of the only times all season, Hawaii buckled under the pressure.

There were multiple factors that triggered the Rainbow Warriors’ collapse from up 10 with four minutes left against UC Irvine in the Big West tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night. But one, the Anteaters’ switch to fervent ball pressure, was a repeated subject in the aftermath of the depressing 68-67 defeat.

After Mike Thomas’ two-handed dunk with 4:08 left, UCI closed the game on a 16-5 run, including nine straight points. That was about when UCI went to its pressure. UH broke it the first couple of times — then committed three turnovers in the last 2:19 against it.

“In that same segment, everything had to go wrong,” UH coach Eran Ganot lamented. “They hit a couple shots, we had a couple good looks, and Jack (Purchase) had an open 3 that didn’t go in. But I think if we take care of the ball, handle that press better like we did for most of the year, it’s a different outcome.”

Making it all the more remarkable, the Rainbows had taken exceptional care of the ball to that point. Even their unforced turnover out of bounds on an inbounds miscommunication with 7:03 left didn’t burn them, as they got a stop and score. UH finished with 20 assists against 11 turnovers — eight in the second half.

The only other time UH coughed up a double-digit lead in the Big West season, it was mostly due to Cal State Fullerton guard Kyle Allman Jr. hitting shot after difficult shot.

Irvine typically relies on its size to prevail. But backed against the wall, with UH patient in the halfcourt and shooting close to 60 percent most of the second half, the Anteaters went small.

“I was impressed with the level Hawaii played at offensively to execute, get good shots against us,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “And that was the reason why they maintained the lead. They built the lead, and maintained it. I think they played at such a high level that they probably were tired at the end of the game. I think that may have affected them; we had a small team on the floor that was athletic and quick and challenging them.”

Said Anteaters guard Evan Leonard, “Just showing them something different, that was key for us.”

On one play, facing pressure, UH had a wide inbounds pass from Mike Thomas to Brocke Stepteau go off Stepteau’s hand and out of bounds on the sideline. On another, Stepteau was swarmed for a jump ball with the arrow pointing to UCI. Then Eyassu Worku stole the ball from Sheriff Drammeh in the halfcourt with 40 seconds left and Drew Buggs fouled out trying to get it back.

“Man, we just had a couple crucial turnovers,” forward Gibson Johnson said. “Kind of took the clock management away, took the ball out of our hands, and into the hands of their guards. They did a great job of taking the ball to the hoop and getting fouls. Obviously those were big plays.”

Johnson said his team was not surprised by the pressure, however.

“That’s kind of expected when they’re losing at the end of the game,” he said. “You know that the pressure’s going to be turned up, so it’s not like we were not expecting it. We knew they were going to come with everything that they had. The season’s on the line.”

Ganot shook his head when asked if the type of press was different than anything UH had seen before.

“No, I don’t think so,” Ganot said. “We’ve seen that before. (Usually) we’d get a first, second pass, and it was over. The straight out of bounds ones, that’s tough. That’s a combination of giving them the ball back with zero time (run off). We had some tough, quick fouls, so they get to the line to shoot free throws. They shot a lot of them. So the combination of those deals made it tough. But certainly we should’ve handled that better, that press.”