UH rolled dice and lost

OK, so who’s going to pay for this? Only 3,544 tickets were issued for the glorified rec league tournament game the University of Hawaii basketball team played in Wednesday. We were told UH would have to get 6,500 to break even. Obviously, it didn’t come close.

We hear good old Riley Wallace is providing a hometown discount for this pay-to-play consolation prize to the consolation prize.

And a couple of people said Wednesday that basketball boosters would pick up the tab, one adding that UH "wouldn’t lose a dime" on this financial misadventure — which looks to be around $30,000 or so in the red.

"I haven’t heard that," said UH athletic director Ben Jay, responding to my question about a boost from the boosters from his courtside seat during the second half of UH’s 69-65 loss to Air Force.

A prominent supporter told me the same. Hadn’t heard about that.

Jay knew this was a risky move, a Wednesday night game on short notice. His heart was in the right place to want to give the student-athletes another game, a chance to redeem themselves after getting crushed at the Big West tournament.

Overall, though, it was a mistake — maybe not a major one especially if, indeed, boosters make up for a financial loss. And some will say a few thousand dollars was worth it for the players who actually wanted to play and the fans who actually thought it worthwhile to show up.

But the athletic department and the university are rightfully under intense scrutiny for every dollar expended, especially after the financial follies exposed last summer, and perception matters.

Those fans who did show Wednesday were great. They helped propel the Rainbow Warriors back into a game that looked like they might lose by 30.

But Jay underestimated the fair-weather nature of the casual Hawaii fans. Almost 9,000 showed up for senior night two weeks ago. But including that game, UH lost three in a row headed into Wednesday — and you know what that means.

Even the team didn’t show up for this one, until it was too late. Sure, they played great in the latter part of the first half and during spurts late.

Still, you can’t fall behind by 13 in the first 10 minutes as often as this team did and expect to pull it out. Especially when the guy who is supposed to be your best player doesn’t produce anything except a bad foul and a tech leading to four consecutive free throws in a game you end up losing by four. And then he leaves the arena with about 15 minutes left.

It’s sad that Vander Joaquim ends his UH career that way. But then we got a reminder that there’s a bright future on the low post as freshman Isaac Fotu scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds and showed why Gib Arnold — whether you like the way he coaches or not — should get an extension that will aid him in recruiting. Who is going to come to a school where the coach has just one year left on his contract?

The program has taken some crazy turns in Arnold’s three years. But if he can build around young No. 42. maybe there will be no need to consider rolling the dice on events like this in the next few seasons.

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