The first few minutes of Hawaii basketball’s Green & White scrimmage underscored the departure from March.
Once a string of missed shots and wild turnovers were out of the way, the overhauled Rainbow Warriors settled in for most of three 10-minute officiated periods on Saturday afternoon at the Stan Sheriff Center. It was the public’s first look at the team since the ’Bows bowed out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s definitely different. It’s not the same team,” said sophomore point guard Brocke Stepteau, summing up the impression of the few hundred fans in attendance. “We got different strengths than last year’s team and we gotta play to those and not worry about the expectations being as good as last year’s team.”
With three players injured, UH coach Eran Ganot split the rest into squads of six and mixed and matched them between the periods while his assistants coached head-to-head.
“You could tell early there were some jitters, even in the warm-ups, the pregame routine,” Ganot said. “But they finished off well.”
Of 10 newcomers, eight saw action. Drew Buggs (knee), Darryl Matthews (ankle) and redshirting senior Mike Thomas (wrist) were sidelined. Afterward, the team stayed to watch about a dozen UH alumni square off.
UH has yet to hammer out a playing rotation in advance of the Nov. 11 season opener against SIU-Edwardsville, but Saturday’s scrimmage was akin to Ganot opening up his toolbox and picking out some nails.
UCLA graduate transfer Noah Allen played with some aggression, seeking out his shot. That included from 3-point range, which the small forward wasn’t known for as a Bruin. Allen scored 23 points on 7-for-15 shooting (4-for-7 from 3) to go with 10 rebounds in 28 total minutes.
“That’s what it’s for, to have fun today and get up and down … in front of the fans and get in a rhythm playing in front of people,” said Allen, who compared the scrimmage favorably to UCLA’s preseason events.
Guard Sheriff Drammeh (15) and forward Gibson Johnson (13) were next in scoring. Freshman Matt Owies had the best assist-to-turnover count among the point guards, at seven to one.
Larry Lewis Jr., a shooting guard out of Odessa (Texas) College, drew some oohs for a few hard takes to the basket and some layups at tough angles.
“Play inside out, get to the rim, draw fouls,” Lewis said of his strategy. “Get teams in foul trouble and create havoc that way.”
Freshman guard Leland Green struggled with his shot at the outset, but closed strong with 3-for-3 shooting in the final period. Green had six steals for the day.
“I’m proud of him, because he was the guy who missed two good looks early,” Ganot said. “But he has such a consistent, stoic demeanor, that it doesn’t affect him. … A lot of guys, especially freshmen, can go the other way there.”
