All college basketball players seek out precious pockets of time to rest their bodies. The six-month grind — from preseason practices in October through postseason play in March — demands it.
Hawaii senior Christian Standhardinger, a font of boundless energy, must take his hoops breaks on the mental side. After reaching the 1,000-point career plateau in the Rainbow Warriors’ 63-61 loss at Long Beach State last Thursday, a few days of recuperation were most welcome by the captain.
"Two (practice) days off helped a lot, to get the body rested and especially the mind rested," Standhardinger said. "I did a lot of reading, so my mind is sharp again. I read a lot of psychology books and some science fiction fantasy books, just to get my mind off of the basketball life."
That life, at least as a ‘Bow, is swiftly coming to its conclusion for UH’s three seniors, Standhardinger, Brandon Spearman and Davis Rozitis. Fourth-place UH (19-9, 8-6 Big West) must negotiate an unusual final week of the regular season, then it’s off to the conference tournament in Anaheim, Calif., next week.
First, a quick look back at a couple of milestones. At LBSU, Standhardinger broke John Penebacker’s single-season free-throw attempts record of 224, and needs 10 more to pass Chris Gaines for UH’s single-season attempts record at the line. But most notably, his 1,000 points at UH were accumulated in just two seasons, something only three others — Anthony Carter, Tom Henderson and Reggie Cross — accomplished.
"That means a lot. I mean, I kind of like, made a little history there for myself," Standhardinger said. "I’m happy, but I couldn’t have done it without great teammates around me. I think my 1,000th point was an assist from Keith (Shamburger). That was an easy bucket. He put it right on the rim and I just had to jump and lay it up. I appreciate that. I couldn’t have done it without the great teammates I had last year like Jace (Tavita) and this year like all the guys playing around me, Keith, Brandon (Spearman), G (Garrett Nevels) is a very good passer too."
Rozitis, who tends to be tagged with more foul calls than he earns on opponents, had a grudging appreciation for his teammate’s methods of production.
"Christian, he’s an energy guy. He goes hard every night," Rozitis said. "And I think a big part of that is he goes to the line every time." He smiled. "Just gotta knock down those free throws. He’s an energy guy. He helps us win and he affects winning. So, it’s a great milestone. To do it in two years is a great accomplishment, and we should all be happy for him."
Not for too long, though. The ‘Bows are tasked with a challenging week. They’re at second-place UC Santa Barbara (19-8, 10-4) on Thursday, then must hustle home for senior night against Cal State Fullerton (11-17, 6-8) on Saturday.
UH can improve its tourney seeding to as high as third if it takes both games and Long Beach loses twice this week. UH will practice early Tuesday morning, then depart for Los Angeles in the afternoon.
Looking ahead, there are three possible first-round Big West opponents: Fullerton, Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly. The ‘Bows are 1-0 against Fullerton and split their meetings home-and-home with Northridge and Poly.
Standhardinger isn’t concerned with specific matchups or seedings at this point.
"The thing that I’m thinking about is making a run at the NCAA Tournament," he said. "I think we have a great team, so I think that’s quite possible."
Coach Gib Arnold has given the standings a cursory look and knows where his team might fall, with the odds stacked toward the 4-5 game.
"Obviously we don’t control anyone else, so all we can do is control us," Arnold said. "You gotta beat three teams to go to the NCAA Tournament in this league. So, everyone’s in the same boat starting next week."
