In the view of its head coach, the Hawaii basketball team’s 75-71 loss to UC Riverside on Saturday was indefensible.
“We weren’t bad defensively,” Eran Ganot said in post-game radio interview. “We were atrocious.”
The Rainbow Warriors were accurate (55.8-percent shooting), unselfish (25 of their 29 baskets came with assists) and protective (one second-half turnover). But the ’Bows could not slow the host Highlanders, who hit 13 of 25 shots from behind the 3-point arc. Dragan Elkaz hit seven 3s and finished with 25 points. Dikymbe Martin, a 6-foot-1 point guard, conjured up 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting. And 7-foot-1, 275-pound Callum McRae sank six of eight shots.
“We should have won that game,” Ganot said. “If our defense was average, we win that game. If our defense was bad, we may win that game with the way we scored.”
Instead the ’Bows, who sought their third 3-0 start in seven years of Big West membership, fell to 11-6 overall and 2-1 in the league.
The Highlanders, under first-year head coach David Patrick, improved to 7-13 and 1-3. The Highlanders are 6-2 in the SRC Arena this season.
Sheriff Drammeh, who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, provided an early spark for the ’Bows. Drammeh hit a 3 from the top of the key to give the ’Bows a 32-24 lead with 5:58 left in the first half. But the Highlanders scored 12 of the next 14 points to take a 36-34 lead into the intermission.
Jack Purchase’s jumper cut the ’Bows’ deficit to 70-68 with 2:05 to play. But the ’Bows, who never led in the second half, could not get any closer.
Purchase scored 24 points, but guard Eddie Stansberry struggled with his accuracy. Stansberry entered averaging 17 points as a starter. But on Saturday, he was one of seven, missing all five of his 3s. He finished with two points.
“To his credit, he’s been pretty consistent,” Ganot said of Stansberry. “This was a dud. And I think he’ll respond. … He’s a great kid. We love him to death. We believe in our guys. He’ll respond. He’s had one of these earlier in the year, and he came right back. I expect him to do it again.”
The Highlanders, meanwhile, received an unexpected boost from Elkaz, who entered averaging 7.7 points. But he hit eight of 11 shots, including seven of 10 3-point attempts.
Martin also caused chaos with jab moves, drives and step-back shots.
“He gets people on skates a little bit,” Ganot said of Martin. “He does it with a little bit of everything. He’s slippery, and he’s good in ball screens, and (he’s a) big shotmaker late. The combination of those things, and when you have a guy who can shoot like that, you’ve got to honor all those fakes. And he made us pay, especially late.”
The ’Bows rotated 7-foot reserves Mate Colina and Dawson Carper to pester McRae. McRae was able to gain position deep in the lane.
“One of the things McRae does is he fakes and pivots and pivots and pivots,” Ganot said. “You’ve got to hold your ground, and make sure he shoots over the top. We kept giving him angles, and he made us pay for it.”
Ganot said McRae benefited from a supporting cast of deep shooters. “That’s why they’ve been the best-shooting team (on 3s),” Ganot said. “We didn’t stop that trend.”
The ’Bows will have a brief recovery period. They return to Honolulu today in advance of Wednesday’s game against UC Irvine, which was picked as the preseason favorite.
