Sunday, February 17, 2002
No offense -- although that's what San Jose State presented -- but Hawaii began practice for Tulsa in the second half of the Rainbows' 71-46 romp over the Spartans last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Win prepares ’Bows
for HurricaneBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comSharpshooters Carl English and Mike McIntyre scored 23 and 17 points. They also admitted to thinking about the Golden Hurricane during last night's game.
Not that UH slacked off after taking a 35-17 lead into halftime. The Rainbows continued to play tough defense after the break, knowing a full 40-minute effort will be needed against Tulsa on Thursday.
"You have to use anything as a way to prepare," English said. "Coach (Riley Wallace) is already beginning to prepare us (for Tulsa)."
Wallace said the Rainbows didn't look past the Spartans going in -- especially because UH lost to San Jose State on the road this season and was coming off a loss at Louisiana Tech.
While UH was impressive offensively, shooting 52 percent from the floor, defense keyed the victory. San Jose State shot 36 percent and did not make a field goal over a stretch of 12 minutes and 42 seconds spanning both halves.
"They came out and did what we wanted them to do," Wallace said. "They picked up the defensive intensity and stayed out of foul trouble. We switched our offense to completely different sets. We had (post players) Phil (Martin) and Haim Shimonovich touching the ball early and getting the ball out to the shooters."
Martin's stats weren't very impressive, but Wallace still gave him "an A-plus" because of his defensive effort (with help from Mindaugas Burneika) against the Spartans' David Granucci. Granucci scored two points in 31 minutes.
"His defense was excellent. What he did probably led everyone else to play good defense," Wallace said. "He denied the middle, which is key to their offense."
English said backup forward Paul Jesinskis deserved credit, too, for simulating Granucci in practice. Granucci scored a career-high 17 points in the Spartans' 57-53 victory over UH last month in San Jose.
"It was definitely our defensive pressure that made the difference," McIntyre said. "At their house we were a little lax. This time we took it personal.
"It helps that Carl was shooting the lights out, too," McIntyre added.
English grinned.
"You weren't too shy yourself," he said.
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