Lately it has been guard Leland Green, author of Wednesday night’s game-winning shot, in the spotlight, but little by little we’re learning more about this emerging University of Hawaii men’s basketball team.

We now know, for example, that, especially for a freshman, Green not only wants the ball under pressure but knows what to do with it when it comes his way in prime time.

In the process we’re also coming to understand more about the skills of Eran Ganot, the man who coaches them.

While you’d wish for a better record than the 8-9 (2-2 Big West Conference) UH has to show for its season entering tonight’s game against UC Davis, the reality is this is a team that has exhibited notable progress. Maintaining and building upon it becomes the challenge.

But go back to the Pearl Harbor Invitational of six weeks ago and the possibility of even flirting with a .500 record at this point, just past the midway mark in the schedule, seemed remote.

Back then, the Rainbow Warriors were a turnover waiting to happen and their shooting was such that they would have had difficulty hitting the broadside of a battleship. The start to the Diamond Head Classic wasn’t much better in a 4-7 beginning.

There was doubt whether there was enough confidence to hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer even if, somehow, the ’Bows managed to find themselves in a game that called for one.

In the intervening weeks we’ve glimpsed Hawaii’s resilience in turning the page after a humbling defeat. The ’Bows demonstrated the ability to keep pace, basket-for-basket, with more athletically gifted teams and have shown a tenacity on defense when their offense has struggled.

The crucible of conference competition is where the biggest truths are revealed, even in the watered-down Big West. And to this juncture we’ve seen Ganot’s ability to mix and match his players when tested by foul trouble. We’ve watched what he can do with a limited bench and how he has motivated a young team still finding its way.

All of which were genuine questions coming into a season that has promised to be the most challenging in his tenure to date.

Most times a rookie head coach’s first year is the most revealing. But last year, with such an extensively pre-built team, was hardly “most times.”

As the new guy in charge of a team that returned largely intact from a 22-13 finish in 2014-15 and had already been through two head coaches in two tumultuous seasons, Ganot grasped that he was there to guide rather than grind.

It was Ganot, an antipode of his two immediate predecessors, who had to mesh with the players rather than the other way around.

Be assured that he did more than just roll the ball out onto the court, but wisely, beyond providing needed structure, he also didn’t attempt to interject himself too much on a cast of characters that was sure it was going places no matter who the coach was.

What graduation, visions of greener pastures and the ever-present shadow of NCAA sanctions did to the roster for this year has left Ganot with largely his own team and a different set of challenges.

Ultimately, recruiting, an area where the jury is still out and the needs are extensive, will go the longest way to determining the success of Ganot’s stay of UH.

Until then we judge what is in front of us.

And, just past the halfway point of this season with an uphill gradient remaining in conference, Ganot’s on-the-court showing has been encouraging.