The Hawaii basketball team’s goal this senior week is a good bye.
This year, the regular season’s top two teams will each earn two byes in next week’s eight-team Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nev. The third and fourth seeds will have one bye. The fifth through eighth seeds will play in next Wednesday’s opening round in the Dollar Loan Center. Second-place UC San Diego is in the final season of a four-year transition to Division I and is ineligible for the tournament.
At 9-9 in league play, the Rainbow Warriors would be the fourth seed if the season were to end today. For the first time in Eran Ganot’s nine years as head coach, the ’Bows are ending the regular season at home. They play host to 9-10 Cal State Northridge tonight and 8-11 Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday’s senior night.
To boost interest tonight, the ’Bows will wear specially made “heritage” uniforms that will be auctioned after the game. Admission will be free for fans 18 and younger tonight and Saturday night.
Andy Newman, CSUN’s first-year head coach, praised the new tournament format, which rewards regular-season success. The league’s tournament winner earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“Having a bye until the semis for the 1 and 2 seeds is a huge advantage,” Newman said. “Having to win two games to win this thing is huge; 3 and 4 having to win three games is huge. And then it’s a lot tougher for 5, 6, 7, 8. Four games in four nights puts a lot more importance on the regular-season games, which is good for the Big West because this is a one-bid league.”
Last April, Newman succeeded interim head coach Trent Johnson, who retired — again — after CSUN lost 12 of 16 Big West games during the 2022-23 season. Newman, who led UC San Bernardino to three NCAA Division II Tournaments in five years, inherited an empty roster.
“When I got the job, there were zero players in the program,” Newman said. “Everybody had gone into the (transfer) portal. It was like, ‘You’ve got 13 scholarships. Let’s go to work.’”
After reviewing game videos, Newman’s staff targeted 6-6 wing De’Sean Allen-Eikens and 6-2 guard Dionte Bostick as players that needed to stay put. During postseason workouts, Newman implemented his fast-paced, free-styled offense.
Allen-Eikens told Newman: “I’ve seen enough, Coach. I’m coming back.”
“De’Sean was the tipping point,” Newman said.
Center Dearon Tucker, forward Lamine Niang and, finally, Bostick decided to withdraw from the portal.
“That was step one,” Newman said.
Forward Mahmoud Fofana, a standout at UC San Bernardino, decided to reunite with Newman. “He’s just a stud — a defender, rebounder, great kid, 4.0 student,” Newman said.
Newman said he also wanted CSUN to be a program that welcomed back Los Angeles-area players who went away and wanted to return to Southern California. Forward Kyle Frelow and guards Jordon Brinson and Gianni Hunt are bounce-back transfers.
To fill the roster, Newman promoted the Matadors’ offensive pace.
“You never have any problem recruiting when you say: ‘Do you want to play in a fast-uptempo style and have fun and be free?’” Newman said. “I’ve never had a kid say, ‘Nah, I’d rather walk the ball up the floor and play super slow and run 50,000 different plays.’ I’ve yet to encounter that recruit out there.”
The Matadors won 10 of their first 13, including an upset of UCLA, before Brinson, the starting point guard, suffered a season-ending Achilles injury. “He’s on the Aaron Rodgers 6- to 9-month recovery,” Newman said.
The Matadors struggled to regain their balance, losing six of the next eight, but have refocused with Hunt and Jared Barnett rotating at the point. Newman said the emphasis on defense and rebounding has helped the Matadors win five of nine Big West road games.
“There’s never a day that goes by that we don’t talk about the impact of defense and rebounding,” Newman said. “Basically, every drill we have has some kind of defensive and rebounding element into it. … It doesn’t matter where you’re at. If you’re at home or the road or at a park or Manhattan Beach, if you’re defending and rebounding, you’re going to put yourself in position to win wherever you are.”
Rainbow basketball
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Cal State Northridge (18-13, 9-10 Big West Conference) vs. Hawaii (17-13, 9-9 BWC)
>> When: 7:05 tonight
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: 1420-AM, 92.7-AM
>> Promotion: Free admission for fans 18 and younger.
