The arguments have been argued, the analytics have been analyzed, and this is the conclusion: There’s no defending the Hawaii basketball team’s defensive slump.
“Why are we inconsistent and having some of the lack of success recently?” UH coach Eran Ganot said of the Rainbow Warriors’ season-high, three-game losing streak. “It’s because of defense. Both in terms of our mentality and execution. We’ve been exposed there, and it’s created a lot of heartache for us.”
In the past three games, the ’Bows have surrendered an average of 83.7 points on 51.4-percent shooting. The ’Bows have been particularly generous in the second half, allowing 48.0 points on 56.6-percent accuracy.
In Big West games, the ’Bows are among the best offensively in scoring (73.2), field-goal percentage (46.4), 3-point accuracy (46.4), assists (16.5) and maintaining possession (10.5 turnovers).
“If we’d been average on that other end,” Ganot said of the defense, “we’d be all right. But we’ve been below average, and that’s the reality of the situation. That’s a shame. That’s something we’ve taken great pride in, and something that means a lot to me. But it’s not happening right now. We’ve got to chip away and get it going if we want to have any kind of success in the future.”
For tonight’s road game against UC Davis, the ’Bows are seeking to congest the lane. In the past three games, opponents have averaged 36.7 paint points per game, and rebounded 28.7 percent of their missed field-goal attempts.
“It hurts you to the core,” Ganot said of the lapses. “It’s part of life. It’s really hard to fathom and to take. And you go back to work. There’s nothing you can do if you sit there and pout about it. It hurts. It should hurt. Let’s do something about it.”
The ’Bows’ man-to-man defense is structured and free flowing, with basic concepts to stop penetration and the instincts for a help defender to rotate to an uncovered area.
“We put so much pressure on our help with our inability to defend the point of attack,” Ganot said. “And so we’ve got to take some personal pride in point-of-attack defense and go from there.”
The ’Bows’ challenge begins at the point. TJ Shorts II leads UC Davis in scoring (14.2), assists (4.15), steals (1.58) and, at 5 feet 9, in rebounds (5.0).
The Aggies won five in a row when Shorts suffered a knee injury. He missed the next two games, both losses, and was held to nine points in his return. The past game, he scored 18 points but converted on 2-for-7 shooting. He made 14 free throws.
“He was less than 100 percent,” Davis coach Jim Les said of Shorts. “That obviously affects us. He’s our best player. He’s our quarterback. He’s our point guard. We’ve had to regroup getting him back healthy and trying to get back to playing the way we were during that five-game stretch.”
BIG WEST BASKETBALL
>> Who: Hawaii (16-12, 7-7 BWC) at UC Davis (11-17, 7-7 BWC)
>> When: 5 p.m. today
>> Where: The Pavillion in Davis, Calif.
>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
>> TV: None
>> Video streaming: BigWest.tv
UH’S DEFENSIVE WOES
OPPONENT / FG% / 2ND HALF FG% / 3-PT.% / PTS. IN PAINT / OFF. REB
UC Santa Barbara 50.0 62.5 25.0 48 10
Cal Poly 53.3 53.3 58.3 22 7
CSUN 50.8 55.2 43.8 40 8
