In defense of its Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic title, the Hawaii basketball team is putting it on the line.
In practices leading to today’s opener of the eight-team tournament, the Rainbow Warriors have dedicated a portion of practices to free-throw shooting.
“They’re working on it,” said UH head coach Eran Ganot, whose ’Bows missed nine second-half free throws in Sunday’s 72-66 loss to Nevada.
In their losses this season, the 7-2 ’Bows are converting 66.7% from the line. They are at 70.5% in their other seven games.
“We’ve had a really good free-throw shooting team over the years,” Ganot said. “You just go back to work. It could be turnovers. It could be free throws. It could be post defense. Whatever it is, you put in the work, you put in the process, and mix in different ways to do it, also.”
Ganot has been encouraged by the ’Bows’ aggressiveness in drawing fouls. On pick-and-rolls, guards JoVon McClanahan, Noel Coleman and Juan Munoz have thrown to post players curling out of screens for layups, dunks or as foul bait. The ’Bows drew 22 fouls leading to 36 free throws against Nevada.
“When you miss some free throws, guys get shy from going to the line,” Ganot said. “We didn’t (against Nevada). We shot a lot of free throws. … The best is yet to come. That’s our belief, and we’re going to keep working on it. … I want our guys to keep getting to the line. That’s a big part of being a good team. That’s a big part of why we’ve had success.”
Last year, the ’Bows won Diamond Head’s championship game when McClanahan buried a 3 as the final horn sounded. Today, the ’Bows open against Portland, whose starting lineup features four transfers and 6-foot-8 freshman point guard Tyler Harris.
Tyler Robertson, who joined head coach Shantay Legans in moving from Eastern Washington, can play the one through four positions. Robertson averages 16.8 points per game.
Chris Austin is part of the four-guard lineup after needing 19 months to fully recover from a broken leg. Alimamy Koroma, a 6-8 transfer who played 75 games with Cal Poly, scored 23 points against Willamette and 24 against Portland State. And Harris is second nationally among freshmen with 8.3 rebounds per game.
“Shantay Legans has done a great job at Portland and he’s done a great job before that at Eastern Washington,” Ganot said. “He’s doing a great job again. They have a lot of firepower.”
Legans is a 2004 Fresno State graduate. In a game against UH in March 2004, Legans scored 25 points while playing all 40 minutes.
Game No. 1 — 10 a.m.
NEVADA WOLF PACK
>> Record: 9-1
>> Head coach: Steve Alford
>> Outlook: The starting backcourt of Kenan Blackshear, a 6-6, 230-pound point guard, and 6-4 Jarod Lucas account for 40.7% of the Wolf Pack’s 78.3 points per game. Blackshear (16.1) is most effective on a fadeaway jumper. Lucas is in near constant motion during the Pack’s average 17.2 seconds of offense to work his way free for open jumpers. Nick Davidson, a 6-9 forward, can defend one through five positions. And Daniel Foster comes off to boost a defense that has played man-to-man in all but six possessions this season.
TEMPLE OWLS
>> Record: 6-4
>> Head coach: Adam Fisher
>> Outlook: The book on guard Hysier Miller is “No Place Like Home: We have Unfinished Business,” a memoir on the experiences and views of a college basketball player. Miller also has authored a role as a durable guard (37.4 minutes per game) who manufactures most of his 18.2 points per game from within 15 feet. Jahlil White was averaging 5.1 points per 10 minutes before suffering a hand injury against Columbia. After missing five games, White returned to score 14 points against Virginia Commonwealth last week.
Game No. 2 — Noon
TCU HORNED FROGS
>> Record: 8-1
>> Head coach: Jamie Dixon
>> Outlook: It was 30 seasons ago when Dixon was a UH assistant, and the now 58-year-old coach is back with a team that is part old-school toughness (inspired by Riley Wallace) and part modern recruiting (11 Horned Frogs started their careers at other schools). Point guard Jameer Nelson Jr., whose father played 14 NBA seasons, is averaging 11.4 points after scoring 20.6 per game at Delaware last season. Ernest Udeh, a 6-11 transfer from Kansas, is at his best rebounding and protecting the rim. With Udeh in the low post, 6-7 Emmanuel Miller (16.1 points per game), TCU’s best cutter, can attack from the wings.
OLD DOMINION MONARCHS
>> Record: 3-6
>> Head coach: Jeff Jones
>> Outlook: In implementing a four-guard lineup, Jones told reporters this summer: “last year we really only had two dribblers on the court at any one time. This year, we will have four most of the time.” But in a position-less era, 6-5 Tyrone Williams and 6-4 Chaunce Jenkins are not traditional guards. Williams, an Oregon transfer, is the Monarchs’ top rebounder (6.6 per game). Two years ago, he led junior college players in scoring. Jenkins, who averages 16.7 points, excels on drives, step-back jumpers and long-distance accuracy (40% on 3s). Last month against Radford, Jenkins had two chase-down blocks. He has eight blocks this season.
Game No. 3 — 4 p.m.
GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS
>> Record: 6-3
>> Head coach: Damon Stoudamire
>> Outlook: It appeared 6-6 guard Miles Kelly was ready for the next phase of his basketball career when he applied for the 2023 NBA Draft in May. But after researching Stoudamire, who was hired by Georgia Tech after two years as an assistant with the Boston Celtics, Kelly decided to stay put. The Yellow Jackets retained an inside-outside leader, and Kelly gained a mentor who was an All-America point guard, the first player drafted by the Toronto Raptors, and NBA’s 1995 rookie of the year. Kelly averages 16.2 points and 6.2 rebounds this season. After missing the first three games because of a hand injury, 6-9, 212-pound Baye Ndongo is averaging 9.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.
UMASS MINUTEMEN
>> Record: 6-2
>> Head coach: Frank Martin
>> Outlook: With an imbalance of youth — eight freshmen and two sophomores — the Minutemen rely heavily on senior center Josh Cohen and forward Matt Cross. Cohen, a 6-10 transfer from Saint Francis, is the team leader in scoring (18.1 points per game), rebounding (7.9) and steals (1.5). Cohen is creative in the low post on short jumpers and bankers (60% accuracy inside the arc), as well as deceptively agile moves. Last year, Cohen scored 40 of Saint Francis’ 66 points in a loss to UH. The Minutemen have accelerated the pace (14.4 fastbreak points per game) and attacked the offensive glass, grabbing 32.5% of their missed shots. Out of their man-to-man, Cohen makes easy adjustments on defensive switches.
