There’s a couple of end-of-season Hawaii basketball traditions the NCAA hasn’t touched.
Manoa still doesn’t know if it can play in the postseason — courtesy of the NCAA’s lingering indecision — but it will proceed as usual with its UH Sports Circle of Honor inductions at halftime of tonight’s home finale against Cal State Fullerton. Capping it off, wing Noah Allen will be acknowledged as the team’s lone outgoing senior in postgame ceremonies.
UH BASKETBALL TIPOFF
Today, 7 p.m. at Stan Sheriff Center
Cal State Fullerton (14-12, 8-5 Big West) at Hawaii (13-13, 7-6)
TV: OC Sports
Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
Series: UH leads 11-3
Projected starting lineups
Cal State Fullerton
G 2 Lionheart Leslie 5-10 179 Sr.
G 1 Tre’ Coggins 6-3 193 Sr.
G 0 Kyle Allman 6-3 175 So.
F 34 Jackson Rowe 6-7 210 Fr.
C 33 Darcy Malone 7-0 244 Sr.
When CSF has the ball
Sometimes Fullerton goes big, with the LSU graduate transfer Malone in the middle, or plays some true smallball with guard Khalil Ahmad inserted into the starting lineup and Malone played sparingly. Lately, it’s been a traditional lineup. Rowe is a strong contender for Big West freshman of the year; he’s averaged 9.8 rebounds during CSF’s four-game winning streak.
Hawaii
Pos. No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl.
PG 2 Brocke Stepteau 5-9 160 So.
SG 23 Sheriff Drammeh 6-3 160 So.
SF 32 Noah Allen 6-7 215 Sr.
PF 12 Jack Purchase 6-8 200 So.
PF 21 Gibson Johnson 6-8 220 Jr.
When Hawaii has the ball
If Allen notches another 30-point game, he will match the UH career record of five shared by fellow UCLA transfer Gavin Smith, and Tom Henderson. Stepteau, meanwhile, went scoreless in two of the last three games. Prior to that, he’d been scoreless twice all season. Drammeh has seen his minutes rise; he played 35 or more in each of the last four games.
The university is giving out free shirts to the first 1,000 fans to the Stan Sheriff Center as part of the “Whiteout” festivities against the surging Titans (14-12, 8-5 Big West), who have won four straight.
UH coach Eran Ganot, ever mindful of program history, made sure his Rainbow Warriors (13-13, 7-6) knew all about Circle inductees Riley Wallace, Tony “Bones” Davis and Jim Leahey well before the eventful evening.
“You’re honoring your current group; it’s the last time they play together on that floor,” he said. “You’re honoring Noah Allen, who’s been tremendous. And you’re honoring three stars who will be in the Circle of Honor. Three guys with basketball ties. And you obviously have an important game with a lot at stake. So you have to find a way to balance it all.”
UH’s staff and players will be in the locker room at halftime, so they’ve planned their own presentation to the three Circle honorees immediately after the game.
Allen, UH’s leading scorer (15.2 ppg) in his only season in Manoa, has downplayed the spotlight even as he’s commanded it with his strong play down the stretch.
“I’m just focused on the game, treating it just like any other game,” Allen said. “I know they do a great big ceremony and stuff here, so I’m thankful for that. But I’m just focused on trying to help the team get a win.”
That’s not as much of a given against Fullerton as it used to be. The Titans snapped UH’s 10-game winning streak in the series on Jan. 5, 67-64, back before Allen found his groove — he was held to two points in 13 minutes of that BWC opener. That was also before CSF turned swingman Khalil Ahmad (10.8) into a dangerous weapon off the bench.
“Both teams are a lot different. We’re a lot better, they’re a lot better,” said UH assistant John Montgomery.
The Titans have picked it up on D. Over their winning streak, they’ve held opponents to 62.5 points and 42.1 percent shooting. They’re coming off a 56-54 home win over first-place UC Irvine on Wednesday.
It’s gotten someplace Fullerton hadn’t been under coach Dedrique Taylor — the top half of the standings.
“I think we’re just doing things better,” Taylor said. “We’re not perfect, but we’re continuing to make progress in the areas that we feel benefit us. We have some guys who are trusting each other on the floor, playing for each other … we’ve kind of settled into a nice rhythm here on both ends of the floor, quite frankly.”
The senior backcourt of Lionheart Leslie (10.6 ppg) and Tre’ Coggins (17.4) has gotten some nice support from younger players Kyle Allman (9.2) and Jackson Rowe (10.4). Those four plus Ahmad represent the Titans’ potent smallball lineup that’s lethal in transition and effective at getting to the line.
“Do we go zone, (or) do we match up with them and play Noah at the 4 with our three guards — Sheriff (Drammeh), Leland (Green) and Brocke (Stepteau)?” Montgomery said. “That’s something that we’re going to have to watch, because I think it’s harder when they’re playing that.”
