Hawaii gets another shot at Princeton, this time on home floor

It’s beginning to look a lot like … last year.

Hawaii faces Princeton at 9:30 this morning for a shot at fifth place — and a winning record — in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head classic. If this is familiar, it’s because the teams met up on the last day of a December tournament just 12 months ago; Princeton topped UH by 13 in the Pearl Harbor Invitational in historic Bloch Arena.

By some twists of fate in the eight-team DHC, the basketball gods decreed that Princeton become the fourth opponent repeated on the Rainbow Warriors’ 2017-18 nonconference schedule (along with Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Troy and Hawaii Hilo).

Of those, Troy and Princeton defeated the Rainbow Warriors in 2016-17. UH already exacted revenge on Troy, winning by five on Nov. 13.

UH (8-3) knocked off Davidson 79-71 on Saturday night, limiting the Wildcats’ 3-point prowess for its fourth win in five games. But Princeton (6-7), despite its losing record, is playing as well as anyone at the Stan Sheriff Center. The academically elite New Jersey school won in overtime at USC — a team in today’s 1 p.m. championship game along with New Mexico State — on its way out to the islands.

“A tough challenge on a quick turnaround … a team that was an NCAA Tournament team last year and could very well be in the NCAA Tournament this year,” said UH coach Eran Ganot, who credited his Princeton counterpart Mitch Henderson as one of the best in the country. “A team that, just like Davidson, had some deceiving records because they have top-50 schedules. You’re seeing the growth in their program. They did that last year. You could say the same thing at this point.”

Shortly after beating UH 75-62 in clinical fashion last Dec. 7, Princeton rattled off a 19-game winning streak that carried it through the entirety of Ivy League play. The 12th-seeded Tigers fell 60-58 to fifth-seeded Notre Dame in the NCAA first round.

Of Princeton’s production against the Rainbows, the Tigers return just 18 points. Their losses include Ivy League player of the year Spencer Weisz.

Hawaii, minus Noah Allen, has its nucleus back; Gibson Johnson scored 19 against the Tigers last year, a career high the senior matched Saturday against Davidson. Junior guard Sheriff Drammeh is averaging 19.7 points over the last three games.

“That was a really inexperienced team that was learning,” Johnson said of last season’s UH squad “I think this team’s a lot more prepared to take on that caliber of team. So we’re really looking forward to the … rematch.”

Princeton, accustomed to outdoing talented foes with its motion offense, has already been in two final-possession thrillers in the Stan Sheriff Center. The Tigers had a halfcourt heave (off the mark) in a 69-67 opening-round loss to Middle Tennessee, but it came back with a well-executed possession on an inbounds play to beat Akron, 64-62 on Saturday. With under six seconds left, 6-8 freshman Sebastian Much took a handoff and drove underneath the basket. He drew a crowd and dished to guard Myles Stephens, who fumbled the ball, recovered it and put it off the glass and in at the horn.

“It’s funny, one day, you don’t have the ball at the end of the game and you lose, (Saturday) we have the ball at the end of the game and we get it done,” Henderson said. “(Much) just made a great basketball play.”

Henderson is wary of facing UH on its home court. The hosts are 6-2 in DHC Christmas games, having won four straight.

Stephens (15.4 ppg) and guard Devin Cannady (17.6, 42 3s) are the Tigers’ top threats, with Much coming on strong.

UH will try to jump-start forward Mike Thomas (10.4 ppg), who has scored one point in the tournament. He fouled out in eight minutes against Davidson.

“Mike’s fine. I mean, in terms of getting him on the floor, we gotta look at that,” Ganot said. “But in terms of getting him mentally going, he’s always ready to roll. He’s the leader of our team. He’s a captain. If anything, some of that stuff’s fixable.”

Meanwhile, USC can become the first two-time Diamond Head champion if it can defeat NMSU, which upset No. 6 Miami 63-54 on Saturday. The Trojans won the inaugural DHC of 2009.

Because of ESPN’s scheduling, the third-place game between MTSU and Miami caps off the day.