Maybe the University of Hawaii football team’s 6-7 finish and inability to qualify for a bowl game weren’t a disappointment everywhere on campus.
Especially for the men’s basketball team.
That the Rainbow Warriors hoopsters got slot receiver Miah Ostrowski two weeks early this year and are 8-5 entering today’s 3 p.m. game against 19th-ranked Nevada-Las Vegas is hardly coincidental. A blessing, to be sure, but definitely not happenstance where the 5-foot, 9-inch point guard is concerned.
A 2-minute, 38-second span in the second half of Thursday night’s 100-73 victory over South Carolina State underlined just how much of a Christmas present it was getting Ostrowski early this year and how much they have come to rely upon the energy he brings to the team.
In that period, Ostrowski had a hand in 11 of the 16 points — scoring seven points and assisting on two more baskets — to allow the ‘Bows to pull away from a tight 53-48 game to a 69-51 advantage en route to their first march to the century mark since 2002. Overall, Ostrowski had seven points, six assists and three rebounds in 20 minutes before the bench was cleared.
Add his game-changing role in the victory over UC Davis, seven assists against Xavier and eight assists versus Clemson, and the ‘Bows would not be where they are without their "loaner" from the football team.
Last year, when the football team went 10-4 and played in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, basketball coach Gib Arnold didn’t get Ostrowski until Dec. 25, the day after the bowl game. And even then it was several weeks before Ostrowski was getting playing time in double-digit doses or making a significant contribution.
But by Dec. 11 this year, a week from the end of the Warriors’ football season, Ostrowski was making an immediate impact. His first on-court appearance produced eight assists in 24 minutes against UC Davis. This, remarkably, coming after all the hits Ostrowski absorbed as a part-time starter in an injury-slowed football season.
Funny thing is, this is the year Ostrowski was supposed to assume a less-prominent role on the floor. Of course, one thing we’ve come to learn is not to assume anything is beyond the reach of the smallest ‘Bow.
Last year Ostrowski was forced into action by injuries to Hiram Thompson and Bobby Miles. But this time, with Miles healthy and Shaquille Stokes, the prize of the recruiting crop, Ostrowski was penciled in to play more of support role. He was to be a living insurance policy at point guard.
Instead, even as he works to get the rust off his jump shot, Ostrowski has emerged as the gotta-have guy on the court for his instinct and floor leadership.
Not a bad deal at all for basketball, whose main out-of-pocket expense has been providing the No. 11 jersey Ostrowski has made popular.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
