This is when any college basketball team that gets hot and makes some 3-pointers has a chance to survive and advance, at least for a while.
That’s the part we all notice on the highlights as tickets are punched for the Big Dance or seasons are suddenly ended.
But the other side of the equation is at least as important.
You can win ugly with stifling defense, especially on the perimeter. That’s one of the reasons the University of Hawaii women could be the last team left standing in the Big West tournament.
They don’t necessarily have a shooter’s chance, they’ve got a stopper’s chance.
The Rainbow Wahine enter the tourney close to the middle of Division I in field-goal percentage defense, 170th out of 343 teams at .385.
Nothing remarkable there. But this is: UH is a stingy .280 when opponents shoot from beyond the arc, putting the Wahine in the top 18 percent in the country. That helps explain why Hawaii guard Sydney Haydel was voted by coaches as the Big West Defensive Player of the Year.
(Now, before you say this is skewed because the Big West is not a great league, don’t forget the Hawaii team stats include games against No. 1 Baylor, No. 4 Stanford and Oklahoma, which also got votes in the latest AP poll.)
During his first two seasons as coach, Gib Arnold and his Rainbow Warriors prided themselves on field–goal percentage defense that was among the best in the nation. Overall in 2013, they’re still in the top half at 147th out of 345 teams with a .422 yield.
But as good as the UH women have been in not allowing open looks from 3-point land, the men have been bad: Foes hit from long range at .364, putting UH in the bottom 17 percent nationally at 288th.
Ball-handling and free-throw shooting were cited as weaknesses most often early in the season. The Rainbow Warriors improved significantly in those areas.
They went in the opposite direction on perimeter defense, though, especially after guard Brandon Spearman suffered a high-ankle sprain Feb. 16 and hasn’t played since. Including that 80-71 loss at Pacific, in which Spearman missed the entire second half, Hawaii lost three of its last four Big West games.
UH did have Spearman at the Stan Sheriff Center on Feb. 9 for its 78-72 win against UC Irvine, which it plays Thursday in the first round of the Big West tournament. He also played on Jan. 9 in Irvine, when the Anteaters beat Hawaii 68-64.
Even with Hawaii’s best defensive guard on the court for 60 minutes in those two games, however, the Anteaters made good on 18 of 43 bombs.
It’s extremely doubtful that Spearman can play Thursday. Even if he does, what kind of defense can he provide with the tender ankle?
Without Spearman in the last three games against fellow Big West teams, UH has allowed more than 40 percent success on 3-pointers. The total carnage came out to 30-for-71 for .423.
One of those games was against UC Santa Barbara, and Hawaii prevailed 70-66 despite the Gauchos making 12 of 27 shots from beyond the arc and the Rainbow Warriors fouling 3-point shooters four times.
Hawaii’s big frontline that gives it a plus-six per game rebounding advantage can make up for a lot of flaws.
But just like teams that rely too much on 3-point shooting, squads that can’t defend the perimeter are on borrowed time in March, too.
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Reach Star-Advertiser columnist Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 539-4783.
