Ferd Lewis: Hawaii’s struggles give Big West basketball coaches a jump start in scouting

For their Christmas presents Wednesday, all Big West Conference men’s basketball coaches had to do was turn on their televisions.

Right there in the comfort of their homes was a scouting report and game plan on the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team direct from the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, courtesy of ESPN and Georgia Tech.

What coaches around the nine-member conference glimpsed from Davis, Calif., to Riverside, Calif., was an early primer on how to beat the Rainbow Warriors when league play begins in two weeks.

The Yellow Jackets laid it out by the numbers in winning the tournament’s third-place game, 70-53, before a gathering of about 2,500 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

In UH’s run to an 8-4 record a question that loomed was could the ’Bows still win if their two top scorers and perimeter shooters, Eddie Stansberry and Samuta Avea, were, somehow, both contained?

It was a question for which the ’Bows, on this final day of the tournament at least, had no immediate response against the 6-6 Yellow Jackets.

As Stansberry’s current shooting slump deepened to 5-for-34 over three games with 2-for-9 shooting (0-for-5 from 3-point range) Wednesday for six points, Avea also struggled. He also produced six points on 2-for-6 shooting (0-for-3 from the 3-point arc).

Very little of the slack was picked up by the rest of the roster on an afternoon in which no ’Bow managed to score in double figures for the first time this season. Zigmars Raimo and Drew Buggs (two of eight shooting) came closest with nine points apiece but had foul trouble.

Overall, UH made good on 36.4% of its shots and just one of 15 from 3-point range.

The frustration was most evident in the final nine plus minutes of the game in which Hawaii did not manage a field goal. The ’Bows were credited with their last field goal of the game with 9 minutes, 52 seconds remaining on a goaltending call.

At that point, UH led 46-45 before being outscored 25-7 down the stretch.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to manufacture points when our perimeter guys aren’t scoring,” acting head coach Chris Gerlufsen said.

“I thought we could have gone inside a little more to Zigmars,” he said. “We don’t want to have to live and die by the 3s.”

But between their cold outside shooting and escalating foul trouble, the ’Bows did expire that way, never finding an offensive rhythm or a hot hand in their lineup.

Gerlufsen acknowledged that Big West Conference rivals were no doubt taking note of what the Yellow Jackets were able to do. “I think that’s probably what the game plan is going to be at this point in the season to, maybe, pressure us and keep Eddie and Samuta from breaking free to shoot the 3s,” Gerlufsen said.

But Gerlufsen said, “We can do a better job of manufacturing points in other areas as well. We’ll get back in practice, watch the film and see what we can do to clean it up before we get into conference.”

The turnaround for conference comes soon enough for the ’Bows. UH plays its last non-conference game Sunday against Maine at the Stan Sheriff Center before opening Big West play with Jan. 9 and 11 games at Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine.

And now they have their homework assignment.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.