Thursday, December 23, 1999
Bluejays
no match
for ’Bows
Hawaii cruises to a 73-53 win
By Pat Bigold
over unbeaten Creighton in the
final of the Nike Festival
Star-BulletinIf local fans needed a good reason to warm up to the new Hawaii men's basketball team, they might have found it last night.
The Rainbows (8-2) routed previously unbeaten Creighton, 73-53, before a crowd of 4,065 at the Stan Sheriff Center while doing just about everything head coach Riley Wallace has wanted them to do all season.
They showed patience setting up their offense. They made 81 percent of their free throws. They played unrelenting pressure defense on the perimeter and yielded only 6-of-26 3-point attempts. They played stronger post defense, allowing only 12 baskets inside the paint. They committed only 14 turnovers, had an assist-turnover ratio of 17-14, and made 5-of-15 3-pointers.
The Rainbows also won the battle off the glass, outrebounding the Bluejays, 37-35.
So devastating was the loss for the Bluejays (9-1), who had beaten Iowa and Nebraska at home and Baylor on the road, that head coach Dana Altman kept his players in the locker room for nearly an hour after the game.
"We just got it handed to us," said Altman. "They were more physical, more aggressive, and we just never got anything done we felt we could do either offensively or defensively."
In sweeping the three-day round robin Nike Festival, Hawaii averaged victory margins of over 20 points a game.
Last night, senior center Marquette Alexander scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Rainbows, who beat Florida Atlantic on Monday and Western Illinois on Tuesday.
Alexander, who averaged 12.6 points and six rebounds over the last three days, earned his second tournament MVP award of the season.
"We're good now, really good, because we're family, and we're all on the same page," said Alexander.
One major problem with the 1998-1999 team was its inability to get to the foul line. That's not been a problem this season.
But when you get to the line, you have to be able to convert. Before last night, Hawaii was shooting a pitiful 59 percent in free throws.
Against the Bluejays, the Rainbows got 32 shots and made 26 of them.
"The good thing is that this club creates fouls," said Wallace. "They make teams foul them. Whereas a year ago we were just killed from the foul line all year. But this team has Nerijus (Puida), Savo (Predrag Savovic), Geremy (Robinson) and Johnny (White) drawing fouls and we have to make our free throws."
Hawaii's pressure defense held down the Creighton 3-point game. The Bluejays usually shoot nearly 40 percent from outside the arc, but last night they shot 23 percent.
"We knew as long we played good post defense that our guards could stay out and guard the '3s' even tighter," said UH center Troy Ostler. "That was a key."
A subtle but critical factor in the game was the defensive job that White did on Creighton's heralded junior point guard Ryan Sears.
"We knew that what made them run was their guards, Ben Walker and Sears," said White.
"Coach Wallace said the other coaches thought we could match up in the post but not on the perimeter. So we just wanted to go and show them that our perimeter guys are just about as good as anybody in the nation."
Sears had 16 points against Western Illinois on Monday. But White held Sears to eight points, four below his season average.
White, meanwhile, committed just one turnover against Creighton while scoring eight of his own and making five assists.
"He did a nice job," said Altman. "Ryan hit a couple of 3s early but then he (White) tightened it up and didn't let him have any good looks after that."
Wallace expressed delight with White, whose game has come back in the last three days.
"It was his career game as far as I am concerned," he said. "He orchestrated, he made good decisions, he got back in the assist bracket and handled the ball almost flawlessly bringing it down and got us into our offense."
In three games, White had 14 assists and only four turnovers.
The Bluejays trailed 34-24 at the half as the Rainbows committed only five turnovers and shot 11-for-12 from the line.
The Bluejays stayed within five during the half until the Rainbows went on an 8-0 run, fueled by consecutive 3-pointers by Mike McIntyre and Lane O'Connor, to take a 34-21 lead.
In the second half, Creighton hung within 10 points until Hawaii went on a 12-2 run to break it open at 52-34 with 11:50 left in the game.
Hawaii shot 57 percent in the second half to Creighton's 36 percent.
Hawaii's next tournament is the Rainbow Classic (Monday through Dec. 30).
Hawaii 73, Creighton 53
Bluejays (9-1) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp West 1 5 0 0 26 6 2 3 Walker 5 12 1 2 30 8 5 12 Sears 3 9 0 0 34 1 4 8 Johnson 5 10 1 4 19 3 0 11 Karlikanovas 2 8 0 0 19 2 1 5 Huss 1 5 0 0 10 3 0 2 Kolder 0 0 0 1 5 1 1 0 Taylor 2 5 0 0 14 2 0 5 Korver 0 4 0 0 15 5 1 0 Klein 0 0 1 2 5 0 0 1 Pyfrom 2 3 0 0 11 0 0 4 Haynes 1 2 0 0 12 2 0 2 Team 2 Totals 22 63 3 9 200 35 14 53Rainbows (8-2)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Savovic 1 4 6 8 14 1 0 9 White 3 9 1 2 35 3 5 8 Puida 3 5 4 4 32 3 5 11 Ostler 4 8 0 0 27 8 1 8 Alexander 6 10 3 6 33 8 1 15 McIntyre 1 3 0 0 14 1 1 3 Takaki 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Hall 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Robinson 1 4 6 6 22 3 4 8 O’Connor 2 5 4 4 20 1 0 9 Holliday 0 1 2 2 1 1 0 2 Team 8 Totals 21 50 26 32 200 37 17 73Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.Halftime-Hawaii 34, Creighton 24
3-point goals--CU 6-26 (Sears 2-7, Walker 1-2, West 1-3, Taylor 1-3, Karlikanovas 1-5, Haynes 0-1, Huss 0-2, Korver 0-3), UH 5-15 (Puida 1-1, Savovic 1-3, White 1-3, McIntyre 1-3, O'Connor 1-3, Hall 0-1, Robinson 0-1). Personal fouls--CU 23, UH 15. Fouled out_None. Steals--CU 4 (Sears 3), UH 4 (White, Puida, McIntyre, Robinson). 3. Blocked shots--CU 0, UH 7 (Ostler 5). Turnovers--CU 15, UH 14. Officials--Rick Hartzell, Vinny Allen, Brian Yamasaki. . A-4,065 (6,631 tickets).
Western Illinois 73, Florida Atlantic 53
WESTERN ILLINOIS: Martinez 7-11 3-6 17, Haggins 2-6 5-5 11, Wessel 1-2 0-0 3, Heisler 0-7 2-2 2, Coloneze 7-10 1-1 15, Fox 0-0 0-0 0, Robins 5-7 0-0 14, Makke 1-1 0-2 2, Fosdyck 1-4 0-0 3, Chism 0-0 0-0 0, Canady 2-2 0-0 4, Nagle 1-1 0-0 2, Turner 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-52 11-16 73.FLORIDA ATLANTIC: Murphy 0-8 0-0 0, Lee 2-6 2-2 6, Griesser 2-8 0-0 5, Hercek 6-14 0-0 16, Williams 5-9 2-3 12, Reimeris 1-1 0-0 2, Skeete 3-8 0-0 8, Baxley 0-0 2-2 2, Peterkin 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 20-59 6-7 53.
Halftime--Western Illinois 34, Florida Atlantic 20. 3-Point goals--Western Illinois 8-21 (Haggins 2-3, Wessel 1-1, Heisler 0-7, Robins 4-6, Fosdyck 1-4), Florida Atlantic 7-24 (Murphy 0-5, Griesser 1-5, Hercek 4-10, Skeete 2-4). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--Western Illinois 32 (Coloneze 13), Florida Atlantic 33 (Lee 9). Assists--Western Illinois 19 (Robins 5), Florida Atlantic 14 (Murphy 5). Total fouls--Western Illinois 12, Florida Atlantic 13. A--NA.
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