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All Nae Nae Calhoun could do was watch.
But that didn’t mean she couldn’t continue to grow and contribute.
After a knee injury last winter ended the University of Hawaii point guard’s sophomore season after just one game, Calhoun used the down time to study up on the game and stay engaged with her Rainbow Wahine basketball teammates.
“She watched every one of our games and she was still studying film when she was out,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “I think that gave her a completely different perspective of what it means to really be a good point guard and to learn the game of basketball in a different way.”
With an offseason of recovery and rehab, Calhoun was cleared to return to full-speed workouts in time for the official start of practice. She returned to a leadership role and was back in the starting lineup for UH’s exhibition game against Hawaii Pacific University last Wednesday with the Wahine set to open the regular season on Tuesday at San Diego.
“Being off the court had helped tremendously,” Calhoun said recently. “Seeing the pace of the game, seeing things differently has helped when I’m on the court.”
Calhoun wasn’t off the court much as a freshman in the 2019-20 season when she started 29 of UH’s 30 games and was second on the team in averaging 28.6 minutes per game. She set a UH freshman record with 104 assists while averaging 5.6 points per game and was named to the Big West’s All-Freshman Team.
That season ended abruptly when the Big West tournament was called off in March 2020 in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the uncertainty heading into an abbreviated season, Calhoun started in UH’s opener against HPU but suffered the injury before UH’s next game.
The injury pushed freshman Kelsie Imai into the starting lineup and the Waiakea graduate led the Wahine with 68 assists and averaged 4.5 points per game. Like Calhoun a year earlier, Imai earned a spot on the Big West All-Freshman team along with fellow UH guard Daejah Phillips.
Along the way, Calhoun said she sent texts to her teammates and “giving (Imai) little insights that I saw throughout the season.”
While Calhoun could provide guidance for her younger teammates, she also leaned on the experiences of others in her working back from the injury. Senior forward Amy Atwell and redshirt freshman guard Olivia Davies had been through the rehab process, “so they were giving me a lot of treatments to stay on top of it,” Calhoun said. “Things to do even after I was cleared to keep my leg strength up.”
“My first few years (at UH) were definitely injury plagued to say the least and I feel like that made my and Nae’s bond even stronger when she did go down with similar injuries,” Atwell said. “I had been through everything she was going through. It was easy for her to lean on me and to give her advice because I had been through the same thing.”
When Calhoun was cleared to return to practice, Beeman said her presence was evident in not only seeing her on the court but hearing her voice in the gym.
“She just brings that much to our program,” Beeman said.
Calhoun returned to a deep backcourt rotation along with Imai, Phillips and Davies. Calhoun and Imai shared time at the point in last week’s exhibition and Beeman said they could be on the court together as well.
Calhoun scored 11 points against HPU, going 9-for-9 from the free-throw line, with three assists and no turnovers. Imai added six points, two assists and five rebounds.
“Having a 1-2 punch with Kelsie and Nae at the point guard is tremendous,” Beeman said after UH’s 86-76 win. “We keep them fresh, they have very similar styles in some areas and very different styles in others.
“The fun thing about this team is when you get your point guards going like that, we can score at times with good chemistry out of broken plays. We don’t normally do that.”
RAINBOW WAHINE BASKETBALL
At Jenny Craig Pavilion, San Diego
Hawaii vs. San Diego
>> When: Tuesday, 3 p.m.
>> TV/Radio: None
>> Live stream: wccsports.com
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