According to UC Davis’ Jim Les, his coaching gave Hawaii 30 points Saturday, as the Rainbow Warriors remained undefeated in the Big West with a 78-62 win over the Aggies at a nearly full Stan Sheriff Center.
“A lot of it was on me,” Les said afterward. “I told them (Hawaii is) not a jump-shooting team and they made 10 3s. Those are on me.”
Of course it isn’t as simple as that. … Les is one of the most respected coaches in the conference, and judging by UH’s 3-point shooting coming into the game of .321 (and .306 in its four conference games), no one would blame him for protecting the paint more than the arc.
When Isaac Fleming made his third 3-pointer in six tries with 3 minutes and 18 seconds left, it made the score 73-57 and served as the dagger. And — discounting a couple of garbage-time chucks later for UH — it made Hawaii 10-for-25 from long distance … a nice round 40 percent.
Six players, including every starter other than forward Mike Thomas, made 3-pointers. That’s important to note because it includes Quincy Smith, who started and played 37 minutes, and went 2-for-4.
Smith entered the game at just 5-for-25 on long shots. And that is despite nearly all of them being open looks. Opponents, especially conference foes, use past games as evidence to not worry about Smith shooting.
He wasn’t only effective from long range Saturday. Smith scored a career-high 18 points, second only to Stefan Jankovic’s team-high 22.
“(UC Davis’ defense) was pretty sagging, so I just shot it,” Smith said.
When you also consider Smith scored 17 in last week’s road win at UC Riverside, opponents may have to change their tactics and respect his ability to put the ball through the hoop.
“His deal is he’s gotta believe, we gotta believe,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “He’s putting in the work. … Now he’s starting to see some success. Before it was one of the two. You’re at your best when you’re aggressive (and) take what the defense gives you. Some games it will be the other way.”
In the first half, Hawaii made six of 14 from beyond the arc, with the makes spread out among five players, as the Aggies dared Smith and, to a lesser extent, other Rainbows to shoot.
The ’Bows accepted the open looks, and made nearly half. And Jankovic also had his way around the basket, especially from the baseline.
But the Aggies closed the half strong, making talk of them being road-weary and UH better rested seem meaningless, at least at that point. UC Davis cut a 7-point margin to just two at the break.
Ganot was unhappy with some quick triggers late in the first half, and much prefers for the Rainbows to play an inside-out game.
“And when you’re doing that, you’re not getting to the line much,” he added.
The Rainbows were inspired by a huge gathering, which UH counted at 8,114 in the 10,000-seat arena.
“Where are those (empty) seats at?” Jankovic said. “We’ve got the best fans. Our fans travel well too. We basically have a homecourt advantage anywhere we go.”
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.