UH’s ‘Big V’ honored again

Success is becoming less and less of a surprise to Vander Joaquim.

The first time he received Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors this season, the Hawaii junior center reacted with a measure of disbelief. But on Monday, when he received the award for the second time, Joaquim merely offered an easy smile.

The 6-foot-10 Angolan offered a thank you to his teammates, then said: “I stayed focused. It’s all about winning. I only have one more year left (after this), so I’m trying to do whatever I got so we can try and win a championship.”

He averaged 22.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5.0 blocks in helping UH (10-7, 2-1 WAC) to a split of its road trip to Fresno State and Nevada.

“Good for Vander. He earned that,” UH coach Gib Arnold said. “He was the best player on the floor, I thought, both nights. Maybe that second night (Nevada’s) Deonte Burton was pretty special, too, but for two nights in a row I thought he really came to play.”

Joaquim was instrumental in Hawaii’s 74-68 overtime win at Fresno State on Thursday, scoring 14 of the team’s final 20 points in the second half and the extra period, and grabbing 16 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.

Then he gave the Wolf Pack all it could handle in a 77-74 UNR win on Saturday. He put in 22 and swatted seven shots, one off the school record.

“I was just timing it right, playing smart out there,” Joaquim said.

Surprisingly, the Nevada game was the first time this season Joaquim — the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.8 ppg — actually led the team in scoring.

He also succeeded in getting the Pack’s de facto center, Dario Hunt, in foul trouble. While Burton (25 points) and Olek Czyz (24) gave UH fits with their scoring, shutting down Hunt (one point) was a key factor that allowed UH to entertain thoughts of picking up its first win ever at Nevada.

Ultimately, it was the first time in 10 games this season, and second time in 27 instances under Arnold, that UH lost when leading with 5 minutes left.

“(Going to Vander) was the game plan both nights and it’s going to continue to be that,” Arnold said. “You know, when you got a cannon, shoot it. He’s our cannon. We’re going to try to get that ball down to him, and Joston (Thomas) as well. … It starts with going through Big V.”

UH continues WAC play at home this week against Louisiana Tech (8-10, 0-3) on Thursday and New Mexico State (13-5, 3-0) on Saturday.