Gibson Johnson sat down for an impromptu meal in the relatively frigid side room used for postgame interviews at the Stan Sheriff Center. He seemed right at home, and not only because he’s a regular presence there as a team captain.
Johnson chuckled at the prospect of cold weather and altitude in his native Utah, where the Hawaii basketball team arrived Thursday night. Temperatures were in the 30s in Salt Lake City.
“That’s going to be just normal,” the senior post player said Wednesday. “Playing where it’s warmer and everything, usually I have to get used to that. … Ever since I was a kid, winter meant basketball season. Cold and basketball have always gone together for me.
HAWAII (4-1) AT UTAH (5-1)
Saturday, 2 p.m., Huntsman Center (15,000), Salt Lake City
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
Series: Utah leads 48-10
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“For the other guys, they’ll have to get adjusted but they will.”
The Rainbow Warriors (4-1) get in a practice today in preparation for Saturday’s 2 p.m. (Hawaii time) contest against the Runnin’ Utes (5-1) at the 15,000-seat Huntsman Center, the only nonconference road game for UH this season and the program’s first in two years.
Two ’Bows — Johnson and freshman wing Samuta Avea — will be right at home. It’s a 15 minute drive down the road from Johnson’s hometown of Centerville, and the Kahuku graduate Avea played his junior year of high school at Bingham, a similar distance away on the opposite side of downtown Salt Lake.
“It’s going to be lots of fun,” said Avea, whose mother is from Utah. “It’s going to be a lot of people I spent time with and know, so I’m excited to play in front of them again.”
UH coach Eran Ganot desired to keep the discussion of road difficulties limited to the Pac-12 foe’s considerable abilities, and off factors like altitude. UH has a 1-22 all-time record against Utah in Salt Lake, with the last meeting there coming as WAC foes in 1999.
“You don’t want to overcomplicate things, overthink it and create some of these built-in excuses,” he said. “That’s why we work hard to get in shape, that’s why we have depth. It’s more about playing a good Utah team on the road. You don’t want to get into all those external factors. I think we have experience dealing with that and being prepared for that.”
Thursday was a full day of travel; UH departed in the early morning, had a layover in Los Angeles, then arrived in Salt Lake that night. Thirteen players traveled — the full roster minus walk-on Trevor LaCount, and reserve point guard Jaaron Stallworth, who recently quit the team.
UH elected not to play a nonconference road game last year, when it committed to play in the two-game Pearl Harbor Invitational. Its only such game to date under Ganot came on Nov. 28, 2015, an 82-74 loss at Texas Tech, an eventual NCAA Tournament team like UH.
Ganot is hopeful his team gains similar confidence from a strong road effort.
“A lot of similarities there,” he said. “If you want to handle it like that group — we lost the game at Texas Tech and then I think we broke the (school) record for consecutive road wins (seven) after that. It’s safe to say that experience helped us.”
UH’s leading scorer, senior forward Mike Thomas (13.2 ppg), was held to two points in 10 minutes in an 87-77 win over Division II Adams State on Monday. He aggravated the sore left wrist he suffered against Nevada three days prior. (It is unrelated to the right wrist surgery for which he redshirted last season.)
“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here, but it’s trending up and he’s got a couple more days to (continue that),” Ganot said before the team’s departure. “It’s going in a good direction.”
After Saturday’s game, UH plays seven straight at home to conclude its nonconference schedule.