Rainbows looking to go big

Zigmars Raimo took a chest pass, faced up and launched a 3-point shot from the left wing.

Swish.

Even in a practice, like Saturday’s three-hour session in the Stan Sheriff Center to signal the beginning of the 2019-20 preseason, the sight had no precedent. For the first three years of Raimo’s career, he would take shots from the elbow in drills while his Rainbow Warriors teammates hurled shot after shot from behind the arc.

>> Photo gallery of first day of practice for UH men’s basketball

“I was working on it all summer, basically,” said the senior and last season’s co-leading scorer (11.5 points per game) who is 0-for-8 on 3s in his career. “I think it’s getting better. I still need more practice. I still have like two months until the first game.”

UH hosts Chaminade in a preseason exhibition on Oct. 30 and opens the regular season against Florida A&M in the Outrigger Rainbow Classic on Nov. 8.

UH has a mind to go big this season, or at least bigger than its standard three-guard lineup of the past two years. Moving the 6-foot-8 Raimo from center to power forward — the spot formerly occupied by the program’s all-time 3-point shooter, Jack Purchase — is the linchpin in making that work. And in the ’Bows’ four-out offense, the power forward needs to hit 3s to stretch the floor.

“He’s different (than Purchase), but he’s worked hard to make the perimeter game an option for us,” fifth-year coach Eran Ganot said.

If it works, the ‘Bows could play one of their three 7-footers (Dawson Carper, Mate Colina, Owen Hulland) in the post, the 6-foot-3 Drew Buggs at point guard and a wing like the 6-6 Samuta Avea or 6-6 Justin Hemsley at the small forward.

“There are some scenarios where this is a really big team,” Ganot said. “Drew at the point is big. So, I think this is a team that will play multiple ways. … But we’re more apt at this point to play bigger than we had been in a while.”

UH went 18-13 (9-7 Big West, fourth place) in 2018-19, with a first-round loss to Long Beach State in the Big West tournament.

With last year’s seniors Purchase, Brocke Stepteau and Sheriff Drammeh having exhausted their eligibility, and would-be seniors Leland Green and Brandon Thomas leaving in the offseason, there’s plenty of room for new leadership and production.

Raimo and Buggs, a fourth-year junior, tried to set the tone in that regard Saturday.

“We are doing as much as we can do help those guys. We just need more time, more practices,” Raimo said.

UH had several players still recovering from injuries and ailments in the fall. All but Saint Francis School graduate Kameron Ng were able to give it a full effort.

There are five other newcomers on the roster, not including Junior Madut, a junior college wing who was UH’s first 2019 recruiting class signee. Madut is expected to arrive in January after recently receiving an eligibility hardship waiver.

“It’s been great. Teammates are funny, teammates are very competitive,” said guard Ahmed Ali, a 5-foot-11 senior transfer who averaged 7.3 points and 2.9 assists at Washington State last year. “I can bring energy, ball-handling, shooting and just enthusiasm.”

It was also the first full practice for new assistant coach Chris Gerlufsen, who replaced former associate head coach Adam Jacobsen, who is now an assistant at Cal Baptist.