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Monday, January 8, 2001
Hawaii can’t hit Hawaii was hoping a reinforcement on its just-completed conference-opening road trip to Texas would make it a bigger and better basketball team.
WAC ‘heights’
With Ostler hurting and
Shimonovic in limbo, UH prepares
to host UTEP on ThursdayBy Dave Reardon
Star-BulletinInstead, the Rainbows ended up flying their best post player back the other way, and UH got even smaller. The rest of the team returned last night, with an 0-2 Western Athletic Conference start.
Hawaii (6-7 overall) never received word from the NCAA on the eligibility of Haim Shimonovic, who was ready to catch a plane to join the team in Dallas. To make matters worse, the Rainbows sent hobbled Troy Ostler home halfway through the trip.
Height was supposed to be a strength this season for UH, but not having two 6-foot-10 starters hurt the Rainbows, as they started WAC play with lopsided losses at TCU (103-64 on Thursday) and SMU (69-56 on Saturday).
UH is still awaiting word from the NCAA on Shimonovic, and Ostler's left ankle sprain of over two weeks ago is still bothering him.
"His mental state is not good," coach Riley Wallace said of Ostler, who scored four points and got one rebound in nine minutes against TCU.
Ostler, whose ankle got worse on the plane ride to Texas, returned to Hawaii on Friday.
"He felt he was hurting the team more than helping. His mind was shot. We had to get him back and get him healthy," Wallace said.
Junior guard Mike McIntyre's minutes and effectiveness have also been limited, by a right-ankle sprain.
Wallace hopes his lineup will be taller and more experienced Thursday when UH opens home conference play against UTEP (12-1, 1-0). But he isn't counting on it.
"I have no idea (who will be able to play). I can't worry about it, because it's up to them and the doctors."
Wallace was able to find some positives after UH's third-straight loss, as post Phil Martin and guards Carl English and Jeep Hilton, all freshmen, continue to learn on the job.
Martin leads the WAC in field goal percentage (.672). English had career highs in points (10) and rebounds (eight) against SMU. Also against the Mustangs, Hilton dealt four assists with no turnovers.
"It's going to help on some level," Wallace said. "They're building up their confidence.
"I think the second half of the SMU game was the only good basketball we played," he said. "We have to be patient because we don't have firepower and we have to go all out on the boards because we're a very small team now."
Hawaii made 46-of-125 shots from the field in the two games -- only 37 percent.
"It's kind of tough," McIntyre said. "It's hard to shoot like you do at home on these trips. You have to come ready to run your offense. Against teams like TCU and SMU, you can't run up and down the court with them here.
"To beat these teams, we had to control the tempo."
Rainbows (6-7, 0-2 WAC) SMU 69,Hawaii 56
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 6 19 1 2 33 5 5 16 Martin 4 7 0 0 26 4 2 8 Hilton 0 1 0 0 20 0 4 0 Burneika 3 11 0 0 31 4 1 8 Puida 0 6 0 0 24 5 0 0 English 4 6 0 0 23 8 3 10 McIntyre 1 6 0 0 20 0 0 2 O’Connor 2 2 0 0 7 0 0 4 Fields 4 7 0 0 16 3 0 8 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 24 65 1 2 200 31 15 56 Mustangs (11-3, 2-0 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Hancock 6 12 5 7 34 4 1 17 Sasser 4 13 1 2 35 12 8 9 Ross 4 8 5 6 30 5 0 15 Kelley 3 6 1 1 26 5 0 7 Davis 6 10 4 8 33 9 1 16 Nedd 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Heath 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Atkins 0 0 0 0 6 1 2 0 Lowe 1 2 1 2 11 2 0 3 Floyd 0 3 0 2 20 8 0 0 Smith 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Forinash 1 2 0 0 2 1 0 2 Team 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals 25 56 17 28 200 49 12 69 Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
Halftime-SMU 38, Hawaii 25.
3-point goals--UH 7-22 (Savovic 3-9, English 2-2, Burneika 2-5, Puida 0-2, McIntyre 0-4); SMU 2-4 (Ross 2-3, Hancock 0-1). Personal fouls--UH 21, SMU 10. Fouled out--None. Technical fouls-None. Steals--UH 6 (Burneika 2, Puida 2, English, McIntyre), SMU 8 (Ross 4, Sasser 2, Hancock, Davis). Blocked shots--UH 1 (Fields), SMU 5 (Floyd 3, Hancock, Sasser). Turnovers--UH 10 (McIntyre 3, Burneika 2, Savovic, Martin, Puida, English, O'Connor), SMU 14 (Hancock 5, Sasser 3, Atkins 2, Kelley, Lowe, Davis, Smith). Officials--Ballesteros, Staffen, Jacobs. A-2,306.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
