SPOKANE, WASH. >> Hawaii turned to its rock when it found itself caught in a hard place.
Forward Mike Thomas gave it his all — his 19-point, 11-rebound game was the best of his career — but the Rainbow Warriors could not ride the co-captain’s effort to glory in the NCAA Tournament second round on Sunday.
UH, a 13 seed in the South Region, fell 73-60 to No. 5 Maryland at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena with a spot in the Sweet 16 at stake.
“We knew this was a good team,” said Thomas, who shot 8-for-12 from the field. “We knew we were going to give them a fight. We thought we could win this game.”
Perhaps the Rainbow Warriors could’ve, had a few other players matched Thomas’ efficiency. But putting aside his sublime statline, UH shot 25.9 percent and fell short of replicating its success of Friday’s NCAA victory over California.
“We knew this was a good team. We knew we were going to give them a fight. We thought we could win this game.”
Mike Thomas
UH forward
Early on, it was clear it was going to be a strong night for the 6-foot-7 junior. He drove into the lane repeatedly against the much larger Terrapins without hesitation, scoring three quick baskets in UH’s 13-6 start on the scoreboard.
“I just wanted to be aggressive today,” Thomas said. “I knew those bigs were big, but they weren’t as mobile as I’ve seen. And offensively I wanted to attack that. But on the boards, I think it was trying to outplay them every possession.”
Typically, he’s not counted on to shoulder the scoring load; he was one point off his career high of 20 set at home against Long Beach State. It was only his eighth time in double-figure scoring for the season.
But with his starting frontcourt mates Stefan Jankovic and Aaron Valdes largely bottled up, it fell upon UH’s glue guy to hold things together.
“Well, he’s The Rock,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “The Rock was The Rock again. He was aggressive early. We felt just like against a Cal defensive team, we gotta continue to move the ball and find gaps. He found some gaps in penetration, he found some in transition. Just so proud of him, so proud of all our guys.”
In a somber postgame locker room, it had to be asked: Would Thomas be coming back for his senior season? He is one of four ’Bows who could elect to depart early because of the postseason ban laid out by the NCAA for next year.
But like the other three juniors — Jankovic, Valdes and Stefan Jovanovic — Thomas knew it wasn’t the time or the place to make that call.
“I’m going to talk to my family, talk to the coaches,” he said. “And have some time to think in the offseason. I’m not making any decisions today.”
When Ganot took the job in April, Thomas was one of the established players from the 22-win outfit under interim coach Benjy Taylor.
After a heart to heart with a guy he just met, Thomas was instrumental in helping Ganot hold most of the group together for what became a historic season.
“I think they did a great job this year,” Thomas said of the new coaching staff, including assistants Adam Jacobsen, Chris Acker and John Montgomery. “I think taking a dynamic group, who was loyal to their coach last year, and basically having to start fresh. And having an NCAA postseason ban for the following year, they know it’s going to affect recruiting, and not letting that affect how they coached this year, putting their everything into this season.
“They knew how special this team was and they value this team, and didn’t just think it was somebody else’s players. That, I think, was a big deal. We know they worked hard at it, and they believe in us.”
Thomas, whether or not it was his last game in a UH uniform, gave everyone a reminder why.
