At the end of their pregame warm-up, the Hawaii basketball players gathered in a circle, then yelled, “dominate!”
The late-afternoon chant became the evening’s theme as the Rainbow Warriors surged to a 91-51 rout of Maine in the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Warriors’ widest margin of victory against a Division I opponent since 2006 came in a game in which head coach Eran Ganot returned to the sideline after a 51-day medical leave and guard Eddie Stansberry regained his shooting touch.
“It was emotional in some ways,” said Ganot, who recovered from a combination of ailments. “It was a long road. It’s like people told me, ‘once the ball is tipped, things will get back to normal.’ That’s been the goal: how quick things get back to normal. I didn’t want this to be about me. I appreciate the effort and inspired play the guys showed today.”
The Black Bears won the opening tip, but the Warriors controlled everything else.
The Warriors stifled the Bears into 36.4% shooting. The Warriors converted 20 of 26 free throws to the Bears’ five of five. The Warriors finished with a 38-22 rebounding advantage, including 11-6 on the offensive glass. The Bears did not grab an offensive board until 9:22 to play.
“I thought the guys had a good couple days of practice,” Ganot said. “They came in very inspired. I thought balance was important. We’re not a one-dimensional team. We can’t be a one-dimensional team. We defended. We shared the ball. We tried to create the message to our guys to be balanced to do what we want. Today was the full package: defensively, offensively, the glass. Turnovers were the biggest focus for us. It’s been an epidemic for us.”
The Warriors averaged 17.3 turnovers the previous four games. They turned the ball over eight times against Maine. “Which was really good,” Ganot said.
The ’Bows tried to set the tempo early. “The intention was to really run these guys,” Stansberry said. “We knew that this team was a slow-paced team. … Whoever was the one man ahead, to kick it to (him), and get early transition buckets. … We knew (point guard) Drew (Buggs) pushing the pace was going to help us free up the perimeter for us to get easy buckets early on. That was pretty much the game plan the whole game to speed it up and play our style of ball.”
Stansberry opened the scoring when he looped to the right wing and drained a 3. During the three-game Diamond Head Classic, Stansberry was two of 28 from behind the arc.
“The feeling is a lot better than seeing you miss the first one,” Stansberry said of the 3. “As a shooter, and just a player in general, just seeing your first one go in is always a good feeling. … It went in, I was happy. It was just moving on to the next play.”
Stansberry next shot was awkwardly launched from the right corner. That 3 also swished.
“That shot was a little bit of luck,” Stansberry said.
“He always does that,” wing Samuta Avea interjected.
“I rode with it, ” Stansberry said. “Seeing it go in definitely felt good.”
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Stansberry finished with 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting.
“We want to take what the defense gives us, but he’s our guy,” Ganot said of Stansberry. “He’s our guy from Day 1. He’ll always be our guy.”
Avea, who scored seven points in UH’s 13-3 start, ended up with a career-high 17 points. Four were gravity defying — a tip-dunk and then a one-handed jam.
“I was speechless,” Stansberry said of Avea’s second slam, “but it’s nothing I’m shocked. It’s what he does.”
Forward Zigmars Raimo held Andrew Fleming, who entered as the Bears’ leading scorer, to no shots in the first half. Fleming finished with eight points.
Bernardo da Silva, a freshman, made his first start. Da Silva drew the assignment because Vilgot Larsson is a five who prefers to play the perimeter. Larsson was held to zero points and one rebound in 19 minutes. Da Silva had 11 points and six rebounds.
“It felt good,” da Silva said of his first start.
