The University of Hawaii basketball team received an early Christmas present with the addition of a standout point guard.
Justus Jackson of DME Academy — a training and educational prep school in Daytona Beach, Fla. — is eligible to play for the Rainbow Warriors against Vanderbilt in tonight’s opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Jackson’s last game with DME was this past Friday.
Jackson, who is 6 feet 1, has four seasons of eligibility — one of which he will use during the current season. Jackson’s father, Chris Jackson, is an assistant receivers coach with the Chicago Bears. The elder Jackson was quarterback Ryan Leaf’s favorite target at Washington State in the late 1990s.
The addition of Jackson, who graduated from Millennium High in Goodyear, Ariz., in June, reverses a trend of DNPs for the ’Bows.
During fall training, the ’Bows had to tweak their rotation — and game plan — after wing Samuta Avea and point guard Juan Munoz underwent surgeries for season-ending injuries. Combo guard Noel Coleman recently rejoined the active roster after missing nearly three full games because of a hip ailment. Center Bernardo da Silva, who has missed four games because of a hand injury, is not expected to play tonight. In just three games, da Silva leads the ’Bows with averages of 15.3 points and 8.0 rebounds. He has connected on 86.7% of his shots, all launched in the paint.
Texas transfer Kamaka Hepa, who is 6-10 with a 7-foot wing span, has played the three in the ’Bows’ adjusted rotation. “I feel comfortable in that position, honestly,” Hepa said. “I kind of played on the perimeter a little bit. I’ve been trying to get more inside. But being out there, having that mismatch with the smaller guy on me, has been a good experience for me as a basketball player and continuing to grow my game and expand it overall.”
Jerome Desrosiers, a 6-8 transfer from Princeton, has thrived in an expanded role. He can play all the front-court spots with the ability to hit 3s, drive and pass, or post up. Princeton did not play last season because of the pandemic. He averaged 12.5 minutes, 5.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in 2019-20. This season, he is averaging 11.6 points and 7.9 rebounds in 30.7 minutes per game.
“When you play that amount of minutes, you also have to perform,” Desrosiers said. “You just can’t be out there and do nothing. I think I’ve always had (multiple skills), but being out here has allowed me to grow even more.”
Coleman, who hit six of UH’s school-record 18 3s against Hawaii Pacific two weeks ago, and 6-6 Junior Madut provide lineup flexibility. They can play both guard spots, with Madut also sliding to the wing when the ’Bows want to go with a quicker lineup. JoVon McClanahan has been an attacking point guard, offensively and defensively, and appears to have rediscovered the outside shot he mastered in junior college.
“It goes from game to game what system works well for us,” Coleman said. “That’s why we’re so loaded. We can play a lot of different ways. I think that’s what’s so good about our team.”
Two well-known names lead Vanderbilt. Head coach Jerry Stackhouse played 18 NBA seasons. He was the starting off guard for the North Carolina team that played UH in 1994. (Rasheed Wallace was the Tar Heels’ center.) Scotty Pippen — son of NBA legend Scottie Pippen — is the Commodores’ leading scorer (17.3 points per game). UH coach Eran Ganot said Pippen is a three-level shooter who can hit jumpers from mid-range and behind the arc.
“He knows how to play,” Ganot said of Pippen. “He’s very crafty, very intelligent. You talk about the ability to score, but his ability to get to the (free-throw) line, to draw fouls, to capitalize on mistakes, things like that.”
Pippen draws an average of 6.4 fouls per game. The Commodores have a per-game average of plus-7 points when Pippen is on the court.
UH BASKETBALL
At SimpliFi Arena, Stan Sheriff Center
Diamond Head Classic
>> What: Hawaii (4-3) vs. Vanderbilt (6-4)
>> When: 7 tonight
>> TV: ESPN2
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Live Stream: ESPN.com
>> Other games today: Liberty vs. Northern Iowa, 10 a.m.; Wyoming vs. Stanford, noon; BYU vs. South Florida, 4:30 p.m.
