Hawaii’s late-game execution Wednesday reminded coach Benjy Taylor of a far more painful defeat in the not-too-distant past.
He drew parallels from the 61-57 overtime loss to Cal Poly to UH’s season-ending loss to Cal State Northridge, 87-84, in the 2014 Big West tournament first round last March. In both games, the Rainbow Warriors held late leads in both regulation and overtime, only to falter under pressure.
UH (12-5, 0-1 Big West) gets a chance to atone for the Poly letdown against none other than CSUN on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"Defensive mistakes and lack of attention of fundamentals down the stretch hurt us in that (BWC tournament) game," Taylor said Friday. "That’s a lesson that we talked to them about coming in here tomorrow night. They’re a team that, if you don’t stay on task, they’ll make you pay."
CSUN (4-12, 0-1) has been hampered all season by a short rotation because seven players (six freshmen and 6-foot-10 Seton Hall transfer Kevin Johnson) have been held out of all games so far while CSUN conducts an internal investigation, believed to involve academics.
The Matadors play just seven players on some nights and at the most, eight. It has so far cast a pall over Reggie Theus’ sophomore season after the former NBA All-Star coached CSUN to the Big West title game in his first go-around.
RAINBOW BASKETBALL
at Stan Sheriff Center
>> Who: Cal State Northridge (4-12, 0-1 Big West) vs. Hawaii (12-5, 0-1)
>> When: 7 p.m. Saturday
>> TV: OC Sports, Ch. 16
>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
>> Series: UH leads 8-4 |
"Depending on foul trouble, it becomes a real issue. Just gotta work through it. There’s nothing I can do about it, so," Theus said. "I’m hopeful, I’m hopeful (to get them back). But I don’t know (when)."
CSUN is coming off a 71-61 loss at UC Davis on Wednesday.
"I thought we outplayed them in every category but two," Theus said. "But the areas we don’t do well so far is 3-point shooting. We don’t make enough (2.5 per game) and we give up too many (8.9)."
The Matadors have two reliable scorers in seniors Stephan Hicks (17.6 ppg) and Stephen Maxwell (15.6). Hicks, Maxwell and junior forward Tre Hale-Edmerson own the CSUN career records for points, rebounds and blocks, respectively.
CSUN runs plenty of action for the 6-foot-6 Hicks on the perimeter and the 6-7 Maxwell down low. Behind them the Matadors convert 75.3 percent of their free throws, a league best.
"We need to force them to take bad shots," said forward Aaron Valdes, who scored 20 with five steals against Cal Poly. "We know those guys are going to try to get theirs. Just the supporting players we have to limit."
UH will look to limit its mistakes, starting at point guard. Roderick Bobbitt has 16 turnovers in the past three games, and two late giveaways loomed large in the Poly loss.
The Rainbows will still be without senior shooting guard Garrett Nevels, who has not practiced with the team since his right hand surgery 10 days ago.
"He’s day by day, but he won’t play (Saturday)," Taylor said. "We’ll see how things develop between now and (next game Jan. 17 at UC Riverside), but I can’t say right now. The surgery was a little more invasive than we thought."
Freshman Isaac Fleming will likely start again. Fleming shot 1-for-8 against Cal Poly and drew Taylor’s ire early.
"He’s fun to coach and he’s frustrating to coach," Taylor said. "At the end of the day, I told him the same thing I’ve been telling him all year: When he listens, he’s pretty good. And when he gets outside of what we’re supposed to do, he’s just OK. It’s a growth process."
