Oklahoma basketball’s decision to fly out to Hawaii twice in December for different nonconference events raised a few eyebrows locally, and surely more back in Norman, Okla.
But the Sooners’ sublime play has turned more heads still.
Third-ranked Oklahoma (8-0) headlines the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic as one of six unbeaten teams in the country. OU, host Hawaii and six other teams will battle for the title on national television with games in three of the next four days. The tournament begins at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Stan Sheriff Center and, as has been the case every year to date, is capped off on Christmas Day.
Sooners coach Lon Kruger, who took his UNLV team out to the DHC in the eight-team event’s inaugural year of 2009, had no reservations about booking reservations to Oahu twice in a three-week span. Oklahoma was just here for the Pearl Harbor Invitational to face Villanova at Bloch Arena. The Sooners hit 14 3-pointers in dismissing the then-No. 9 Wildcats by 23 points on Dec. 7.
“We originally had the Christmas tournament scheduled,” Kruger said. “And then Fox Sports had called, and wanted to make a Pearl Harbor Day game. We really couldn’t say no because of the fact of the educational aspect of it. The significance of Pearl Harbor Day, to be in Hawaii, it’s great for our players.”
As for potential travel weariness — it’s an eight-hour flight to get here — Kruger shrugged.
“They’re young. They’ll respond,” he said. “I don’t know if the coaches totally will, but the players, they recover quickly.”
OU guard Buddy Hield was named to the AP preseason All-America team and has more than lived up to the billing so far. He leads the DHC field and is ninth nationally at 23.5 points per game.
Kruger’s team has used a devastating combination of superior outside shooting and smothering defense to wear down opponents.
The Sooners equal Arizona in 2012 as the highest-ranked team to appear in the tournament. OU has improved its win total in every year so far under Kruger: (15, 20, 23, 24).
UH, meanwhile, is still gunning for its first Diamond Head title. Its best finish was last year, when it beat Nebraska, lost in overtime to Wichita State and defeated Colorado in the third-place game.
This season, more than most, the DHC represents by far the toughest competition UH will face in nonconference play.
“It’s an honor for our group to host it every year, one of the great tournaments in college basketball, really, and at a great time,” UH coach Eran Ganot said.
The Rainbow Warriors (7-1) open up the tournament against Northern Iowa (7-3), which boasts wins over then-No. 1 North Carolina and No. 5 Iowa State.
Between UNI and OU — a potential semifinal opponent — UH’s side of the bracket is stacked. That’s not to mention 7-2 Washington State of the Pac-12.
“The schedule’s the schedule,” Ganot said. “I actually think year in and year out, whoever you open up with is going to be tough. That’s the way the field has been put together every year. I know in the future that’s how it will be. We’ll have to be ready for the challenge, embrace the challenge.”
HAWAIIAN AIRLINES DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC DAY 1
Tuesday at Stan Sheriff Center
>> Game 1: Auburn vs. New Mexico, 9:30 a.m.
>> Game 2: BYU vs. Harvard, 11:30 a.m.
>> Game 3: No. 3 Oklahoma vs. Washington State, 6 p.m.
>> Game 4: Northern Iowa at Hawaii, 8 p.m.
>> TV: All 4 games on ESPNU
>> Radio: UH on KKEA, 1420-AM
AUBURN TIGERS (5-3)
Coach: Bruce Pearl (2nd season)
Conference: Southeastern
Big games: vs. Colorado, 91-84 L; at No. 10 Xavier, 85-61 L
Key players: G Kareem Canty (20.0 ppg, 44.3% 3FG, 5.8 apg); F Tyler Harris (15.4 ppg, 8.5 rpg); G T.J. Dunans (13.0 ppg)
Notes: UH sophomore Jack Purchase transferred from Auburn in the offseason … Tigers were here for the 2011 DHC and beat the Rainbows 65-62 in the first round. … Pearl, who was fired at Tennessee in 2011 for NCAA transgressions, had to wait out a three-year “show cause” order before returning to coaching in 2014. … Point guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen injured his shoulder against Xavier on Saturday, which Pearl called “just devastating” to the team’s rotation.
BYU COUGARS (7-3)
Coach: Dave Rose (11th season)
Conference: West Coast
Big games: at Utah, 83-75 L; at Colorado, 92-83 L
Key players: G Kyle Collinsworth (14.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 7.3 apg); G Nick Emery (15.6 ppg); G Chase Fischer (15.5 ppg); F Kyle Davis (13.2 ppg, 10.7 rpg)
Notes: BYU has never finished with fewer than 20 wins under Rose and has made the NCAA or NIT tournaments every year under him. … Collinsworth, the “Triple-Double King,” has two this season and eight career for an NCAA record. He had his first in a win against UH (19 points, 12 rebounds,10 assists) in Salt Lake City last season. He ranks among the BYU career leaders in several categories … The Cougars were also in Hawaii last season for the Maui Invitational.
HARVARD CRIMSON (3-6)
Coach: Tommy Amaker (9th season)
Conference: Ivy League
Big games: at Providence, 76-64 L; at No. 4 Kansas, 75-69 L
Key players: C Zena Edosomwan (12.7 ppg, 10.1 rpg); G Tommy McCarthy (10.0 ppg, 4.3 apg)
Notes: First Ivy League school in DHC history … Crimson have made the last four NCAA Tournaments and have notched six straight 20-win seasons. … Harvard is 2-for-2 in winning in-season tournaments under Amaker, with the 2011 Battle 4 Atlantis and 2013 Great Alaska Shootout titles under its belt. … Despite win-loss struggles, Crimson held their first six opponents of the season under 40 percent shooting from the field.
HAWAII RAINBOW WARRIORS (7-1)
Coach: Eran Ganot (1st season)
Conference: Big West
Big games: vs. Nevada, 76-75 W; at Texas Tech, 82-74 L
Key players: G/F Aaron Valdes (18.1 ppg, 57.0% FG, 5.5 rpg); F/C Stefan Jankovic (15.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 56.9% FG); G Isaac Fleming (12.0 ppg, 50.0% FG, 2.0 spg); G Roderick Bobbitt 9.4 ppg, 6.6 apg, 2.4 spg)
Notes: The Rainbows are 10-8 all-time in Diamond Head Classic games. … It is Ganot’s third time in the DHC. He was a UH assistant with Bob Nash in the tournament’s inaugural year of 2009, and came back as an assistant with Saint Mary’s in the 2013 edition. His teams went a combined 1-5 in the event. … Four UH players have made DHC all-tournament teams: Dwain Williams (2009); Zane Johnson (2011); Brandon Spearman (2013); and Fleming (2014).
NEW MEXICO LOBOS (7-3)
Coach: Craig Neal (3rd season)
Conference: Mountain West
Big games: at No. 11 Purdue, 70-58 L; vs. Northern Iowa, 76-57 W
Key players: G Elijah Brown (19.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 85.7% FT); F Tim Williams (16.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 58.9% FG); G Cullen Neal (14.9 ppg, 5.2 apg)
Notes: Neal is widely known for his nickname of “Noodles” for his wiry build as a player. … The Lobos and UNI Panthers played in Albuquerque on Dec. 12 as an additional DHC exempt game. … On Saturday, UNM suffered a meltdown loss to Rice when Williams, a junior, tried to call a timeout with 0.1 seconds left in a tie game. But the Lobos had no timeouts left and Rice hit a free throw to win the game.
NORTHERN IOWA PANTHERS (7-3)
Coach: Ben Jacobson (10th season)
Conference: Missouri Valley
Big games: vs. No. 1 North Carolina, 71-67 W; vs. No. 5 Iowa State, 81-79 W
Key players: G Wes Washpun (16.5 ppg, 55.2% FG, 6.5 apg); G Paul Jesperson (13.1 ppg, 44.8% 3FG); G Matt Bohannon (12.7 ppg, 43.5% 3FG)
Notes: The Panthers are still making noise coming off a 31-win season. Washpun posted career highs of 28 points and 11 assists in the upset of ISU in Des Moines on Saturday, while Jesperson scored a career-best 21. … UNI is 2-0 against ranked teams this season. Its three losses came against Colorado State, Richmond and New Mexico. … UNI has defeated 13 ranked foes since Jacobson joined the Panthers’ staff in 2001-02.
OKLAHOMA SOONERS (8-0)
Coach: Lon Kruger (5th season)
Conference: Big 12
Big games: at Memphis, 84-78 W; vs. Wisconsin, 65-48 W; vs. No. 9 Villanova, 78-55 W
Key players: G Buddy Hield (23.5 ppg, 50% 3FG, 87.5% FT); F Ryan Spangler (11.5 ppg, 10.0 rpg); G Isaiah Cousins (13.8 ppg, 4.9 apg)
Notes: Oklahoma’s No. 3 ranking is its highest since the 2008-09 season … Sooners rose to No. 2 behind Blake Griffin. The Sooners are tied with Saint Mary’s for the best 3-point accuracy in the country at 47.7 percent, and are No. 2 in field-goal percentage defense at .343 … Hield scored a career-high 33 points in a 13-point win over Creighton on Saturday. The Sooners lost to Chaminade in the 2010 Maui Invitational seventh-place game.
WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS (7-2)
Coach: Ernie Kent (2nd season)
Conference: Pac-12
Big games: vs. No. 13 Gonzaga, 69-60 L; at Idaho, 78-74 L
Key players: F Josh Hawkinson (16.5 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 61.5% FG); G Ike Iroegbu (13.3 ppg, 60% 3FG)
Notes: It is the second appearance in the DHC for Wazzu, an effective shot-blocking team at 7.0 per game. Last time, they had an all-tournament shooting guard named Klay Thompson. … WSU is 11-7 all-time in games in the Aloha State and has never played a tournament here without notching at least one win. … The 7-2 start is the team’s best since the 2010-11 season.
