Seeing double is a given when you play against Nevada. It’s up to Hawaii to prevent triples from the Wolf Pack, too.
Tonight’s 8 p.m. “Greenout” game at the Stan Sheriff Center represents, by far, the Rainbow Warriors’ toughest test of the young season.
Through a combination of skill — especially 3-point shooting — and personnel, UH’s unbeaten former WAC rival (5-0) has dazed opponents with interchangeable talent. It starts with the Martin twins, Caleb and Cody, who are listed identically at 6-foot-7 and 205 pounds. The paired production from the North Carolina State transfers is potent: 33.8 points per game.
If they weren’t enough, 6-7 Jordan Caroline is a nightly double-double threat (18.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg). The forward who began his career at Southern Illinois helped the Pack win the Mountain West last season and make their first NCAA Tournament in a decade.
UH BASKETBALL
Nevada (5-0) at Hawaii (3-0)
Today, 8 p.m., at Stan Sheriff Center
TV: Spectrum Sports
Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
Series: Nevada leads 20-12
Promotion: Greenout
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And 6-7 Josh Hall (sensing a pattern yet?) has been reliable for double figures off the bench (11.2). There’s also 6-7 Purdue transfer Kendall Stephens.
“They kind of have a four-headed monster with their size. Everybody’s 6-7 past the 2,” said Mike Thomas, UH’s 6-7 power forward and leading scorer at 18.7 ppg. “(It’s about) just attacking that smart and taking advantage of our size in that area, too. They’re (of) like size with us. So going inside a lot, playing tough and being aware of how they reach, play and scrap. They’re a good team, so we gotta play hard.”
UH (3-0) outlasted comeback bids by North Dakota and Troy its last two games. But Nevada is a different beast: The Pack are rated top-10 in RPI after winning handily against Davidson and reigning Atlantic 10 champion Rhode Island. They’ve yet to score fewer than 81.
“Look, it’s a very balanced team,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “That’s why they’ve won 50-plus games the last two years … why they’re picked to go back to the (NCAA Tournament). … They pose a lot of offensive threats, unique threats. They’ll play big, they’ll play small, they’ll post their guards and have their bigs shoot.”
Nevada is shooting 50 percent from long range in its past two games (32-for-64). That included a school-record 17 3s at Pacific last week.
They’ve hit 41 in their past three. By contrast, UH has 14. But the ’Bows have so far defended well, holding foes to 40.1 percent shooting overall.
“We are (mindful of their shooting),” Thomas said. “There’s some adjustments in coverages we’ll make going forward. But it can’t be something you fear. You gotta play hard and play them like any other team.”
UH has experimented with both its big (Thomas-Gibson Johnson-Jack Purchase) lineup and its three-guard variation, with Sheriff Drammeh at the 3, since last playing Nov. 13. Opponents’ full-court ball pressure has been emphasized.
The teams are comprised quite differently than their last meeting two years ago at the Sheriff.
UH’s 76-75 thriller in the 2015-16 Rainbow Classic — when a sprinting Roderick Bobbitt banked the game-winner high off the glass at the horn — was the first collegiate defeat for Pack coach Eric Musselman, a former NBA head coach with the Golden State Warriors.
“They’re a way different team, we’re a way different team,” Musselman said outside UH’s Gym 2 on Thursday. “Every game has its own identity, its own theme.”
With its array of D-I transfers — there’s also players from Iowa State and St. John’s — Nevada has not missed forward Cameron Oliver, who went out for the NBA Draft after his sophomore season. (Oliver went to camp with the Houston Rockets before being cut.) The Pack used an offseason foreign tour to Costa Rica to get a head start on molding their disparate talent.
It all comes together with junior point guard Lindsey Drew, one of Musselman’s first recruits. Drew boasts an astounding 9-to-1 assist to turnover ratio.
“We’re a unique team. We can dribble-drive and we also have great 3-point shooting,” Musselman said. “We still have a lot of room to grow … we have empty possessions where we don’t move the ball well enough. We’re a work in progress for sure.”
Hawaii accepted into Wooden Legacy
Hawaii will play in the eight-team Wooden Legacy basketball tournament in Southern California during Thanksgiving week next season, it was announced Thursday. UH joins Miami (Fla.), Northwestern, Seton Hall, La Salle, Utah, Fresno State and a team to be determined.
It will be UH’s first early-season mainland tournament since the Gulf Coast Showcase in 2014-15.
“I think it’s a great challenge for our program, in terms of the competition, the exposure,” UH coach Eran Ganot said.
The tournament runs Nov. 22, 23 and 25; the 22nd is Thanksgiving. It is run by ESPN Events, like the Diamond Head, and has been played at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym.