UH glad to leave the cold

Sub-zero temperatures rarely felt as good as they did on Saturday.

All the same, the Hawaii basketball team was happy to resume practice in the warm confines of Gym 2 at the Manoa Lower Campus on Tuesday coming off its road win over Northern Arizona at 7,000 feet of altitude.

"It feels wonderful to be back, man," said senior captain Brandon Spearman, who shot 6-for-9 for 13 points in the win. "It was nasty out there, nasty. Can’t breathe, man. I couldn’t breathe on the court. Felt like I was dying out there. No, I’m glad we came away with the victory and we fought through it."

UH (6-2) won its fourth straight game overall and snapped a six-game mainland losing streak with the 76-66 decision in Flagstaff, Ariz., over the Lumberjacks (2-7). The Rainbow Warriors’ last such win came in coach Gib Arnold’s first season, in February 2011 at UC Davis, when UH was still in the WAC.

After the game, the ‘Bows had a celebratory snowball fight outside NAU’s Walkup Skydome.

"We were a little delayed out of Honolulu (departing last Thursday), so we didn’t get into Flagstaff until 4:30 a.m. (Friday)," Arnold said. "It was 8 degrees. I checked the weather back in Honolulu. It was 82. We got a lot to be grateful for, and despite the cold I thought the guys played really well and it was a good win for us."

UH’s guards carried the offensive load on a quiet night for UH forwards Christian Standhardinger (1-for-8 shooting, six points) and Isaac Fotu (3-for-8 shooting, six points).

Shooting guard Garrett Nevels led the way offensively with 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting, including 4-for-7 on 3-pointers.

The ‘Bows’ bigs were instrumental at the other end, though, holding NAU’s leading scorer, Max Jacobsen, to four points. Standhardinger had a career-high four blocks and three steals. Fotu had a block and a steal, and center Davis Rozitis energized the team off the bench with 3-for-3 shooting, a swat and two steals.

"They played great on defense. They did other things," said backup point guard Quincy Smith, who had six assists against two turnovers. "That game, the guards were just in position to score more, have more opportunities."

UH’s attention now turns to its annual interisland jaunt. For the second straight year the opponent is Chaminade, this time on Kauai, 7 p.m. Saturday at the Kauai High gym. It will be UH’s first regular-season game played on the Garden Isle.

Note

All three UH assistants — Benjy Taylor, Brandyn Akana and Scott Fisher — stayed on the mainland to recruit early this week, leaving Arnold to conduct practice by himself, a first.

"The point guards were my assistant coaches today," Arnold said. "It went pretty smooth. I’m going to tell my assistants it was the best practice of the year. See what they think about it. It went OK."