They won’t be boring. And, thanks at least partly to an overall friendly looking schedule, we can be fairly assured the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team will win more games than it loses in 2012-13.
How many more W’s than L’s in Gib Arnold’s third season as coach of the Rainbow Warriors? Hard to tell until we see this team with its main man in the fold, center Vander Joaquim. Joaquim was hopeful he would be back from a knee injury in time for the season opener in five days, but now we’re told he won’t be ready.
UH is fortunate it opens with some weak competition in Maryland-Eastern Shore, as the Rainbows barely held off Division II Hawaii Pacific 75-67 in an exhibition Friday.
Now, keep in mind HPU isn’t terrible. We know that because the Sea Warriors nearly stole one at Division I Santa Clara last week.
Yes, this was just an exhibition. So Arnold was trying various things he might not do in a regular game.
Still, the most glaring flaws of this young team were exposed.
If there is an answer at point guard we didn’t see it against HPU. The three candidates for playing time there combined for 11 points, three assists, five turnovers and seven fouls in 47 minutes.
Most alarming to me was the two playing the most minutes combining to go 2-for-9 on free throws. Manroop Clair, who played five minutes, went 3-for-4 from the line. This is, of course, a small sample size, but the prospect of being forced to use a true freshman at the point because the others can’t consistently hit the freebies is scary.
As a team, Hawaii shot 23-for-39 from the line for a poor 59 percent.
Someone contended afterward that the Rainbows shot a "solid" 43.9 percent from the floor. Not sure where that adjective comes from. A percentage closer to 40 than 50 percent might be considered decent in high school ball, or for a team that relies heavily on 3-pointers.
But that’s not Hawaii, at least on this night; UH went 2-for-12 from beyond the arc. Outside shooting comes and goes, so that’s no reason for distress — yet. This team has no 3-point ace like Zane Johnson, so you hope when needed, Hauns Brereton, Brandon Spearman and others hit enough from outside to keep opponents honest.
The return of Joaquim will bring the team’s overall shooting percentage from the field up, but on Friday the Rainbows missed on way too many open looks around the basket. It was a good thing for them they still had a height and rebounding advantage and used it to score 14 second-chance points to eight for HPU.
Newcomer forwards Christian Standhardinger and Isaac Fotu are fun to watch and stars in the making. They are full of energy, ability and unselfishness. They did miss a few chippies, but the shot selection for both was very good, and I’m betting their touch improves as the season wears on.
Standhardinger has the heart of a scrappy walk-on practice guard and the physique and skill of a legit multi-purpose forward.
From what we saw in the exhibition against HPU on Friday, it’s confirmed the UH frontcourt will fill the stat sheet as well as the arena seats.
Fotu, who is Tongan and English and from New Zealand, and Standhardinger, a Munich native who is half German and half Filipino, are emblematic of one of the more culturally diverse teams in the program’s history — which is saying a lot for the Rainbows.
It’s a good omen … the Hawaii team that went to the NCAA Tournament back-to-back in 2001 and 2002 was from all over the world, too. And, the first year, it handled point guard by committee.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.
CORRECTION: UH beat Hawaii Pacific 75-67 Friday. An earlier version of this story and the story in the print edition contained an incorrect score.
