Rivals or not, Hawaii’s win over Fresno was sweet

That’s the way you finish a rivalry … or just a long series of games against an opponent you might not play again in a long time, if ever.

Hawaii center Vander Joaquim is too young and from too many continents away to know much about UH and Fresno State teams led by coat-throwing and towel-chomping coaches and NBA-bound point guards — or other aspects of a fairly long and intense history that may have ended with the Rainbow Warriors’ 62-58 victory over the visiting Bulldogs on Saturday.

“Rivalry? No, they’re not a rival,” said Joaquim. “They’re just another team.”

He didn’t mean it as an insult. But if there was an opponent this week the Warriors were more excited about, it was Nevada on Thursday. The results didn’t indicate that, but that’s another story — one about rebounding. Hawaii was crushed on the glass by the Wolf Pack, but came back to top Fresno State 35-29 on the boards.

There may, however, have been some additional motivation for Joaquim, who dominated down low with 23 points and 12 rebounds against the Bulldogs.

Teammate Zane Johnson said Joaquim was “called out” by Fresno State’s Jerry Brown III.

UH coach Gib Arnold said there isn’t a lot of talk about rivalries among the team. “But there might be something occasionally in (an opposing team’s city’s) paper that we might put on the locker room wall.”

On the court, there didn’t seem to be any of the chippiness or trash talk you’d expect from teams that don’t like each other much.

But judging from in-game comments by folks on my Twitter feed, there’s still some hate for all teams Fresno among the Hawaii fan base:

AlmightyJ: I don’t want a win against Fresno, I want an outright demoralization.

SEAhawkNation12 (also a big UH fan): I don’t know who I hate more, Fresno State or these WAC refs. Ugh.

UNLESS THEY MEET in the Western Athletic Conference tournament next month, the book is closed with 26 happy chapters for Fresno State and 19 for Hawaii. Next year UH plays basketball in the Big West and FSU does so in the Mountain West.

This rivalry isn’t quite as intense as some others biting the dust due to conference realignment, and it’s not even close to the biggest in UH sports. Still, some of us felt a slight sense of loss when the final horn sounded on UH’s victory.

Arnold and athletic director Jim Donovan both said, though, that they would consider scheduling Fresno State as a nonconference basketball opponent. The question, of course, is if this would make sense financially for both schools.

“They can come here all they want,” quipped Arnold, who then added that he is open to scheduling home-and-home series with the Bulldogs, as well as Nevada. He’s already inquired with the Wolf Pack about the possibility.

As for the players, they are eager for a rematch with Nevada sooner — as in at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, preferably with the WAC championship and an NCAA Tournament bid on the line.

There’s a long way still to go for that to happen. But bouncing back from Thursday’s disappointment to play some consistently solid team defense against Fresno State has Hawaii headed back in the right direction. And that’s whether you consider the Bulldogs a rival or not.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.