Rainbows showed their grit and made the right plays

Sometimes you can learn a lot more about your team in a loser’s bracket than a championship game this time of year — like how good is it coming off the mat.

But that kind of thing is more the concern of coaches and of little, ahem, consolation to a guy like Garrett Nevels. The Hawaii senior guard desperately wanted a shot at the Diamond Head Classic title in his last chance.

But this 2-1, for third place, could have a more lasting long-term positive effect for the Rainbow Warriors than a 2-1 resulting from going to the championship game and losing. They remain without back-to-back losses and head into Monday’s game against Southern at 10-4.

This UH team doesn’t know how to stay down, and that will serve it well as conference play approaches.

The Big West is slowly becoming more competitive, so even after a pre-conference slate of knocking off Power Five conference schools — the most recent being the Pac-12’s Colorado on Thursday — it’s still difficult to predict how this team will fare.

You can be very encouraged about this: Hawaii beat Nebraska in the first round Monday despite shooting less than 40 percent from the floor. And they edged the Buffs despite yielding 41 rebounds while grabbing just 29.

The common denominator?

Defense.

A big main course of it, plus double side orders of toughness. Those elements go well together.

Roderick Bobbitt, Negus Webster-Chan and Nevels all needed to be patched up, but all made contributions in crunch time.

Trainer Jay Goo deserved a spot on the all-tournament team.

And UH appears to have some depth now, especially with sophomore big man Stefan Jankovic getting indoctrinated. Other than an early 3-pointer his offense wasn’t there on Thursday, but Jankovic’s defense at the rim was one of the decisive end-game plays.

The last few minutes were somewhat like the semifinal overtime loss to Wichita State, except this time Hawaii made the plays.

Benjy Taylor was beaming afterward. What coach wouldn’t be? Getting your guys to play for each other is what it’s all about. Match that culture with some talent and you’ve got something.

Don’t forget the resilience, that’s huge. Santa Claus didn’t come down the chimney the other night delivering the secret of "how to win" after the downer against the Shockers.

That comes from within, and after Thursday’s game it’s obvious this group has at least some of the clutch gene, and Taylor has nurtured it properly to this point.

With all the hubbub surrounding his interim status, the question had to be asked. Taylor deftly addressed it, and later added that UH "never promised me anything."

All lame duck athletic director Ben Jay can do now is send him congratulatory texts; installing a coach of his or her choice could be used by the administration as an enticement for the incoming AD. But how long will that take?

In the meanwhile, the Rainbow Warriors plan to keep playing as hard as they can. And Taylor said he will do the only thing he can do, take it day-by-day.

"We want this feeling in our locker room to spread through the university and the community," he said. "I don’t know what the future holds but I’m having a blast."

It’s understandable why Taylor can’t be made permanent party at this point. But a holiday gratuity might be in order. Bonuses have certainly been handed out for less.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.