[ UH BASKETBALL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Carl English went up for a shot against Ryne Holliday during yesterday's Green-White scrimmage at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Hawaii basketball team has been practicing since Midnight Ohana, but it got its first real look at itself yesterday during three 20-minute scrimmage sessions at the Stan Sheriff Center. Wallace wants Rainbows
to get in better shape
Star-Bulletin staff
"It's a lot different than practice," said UH point guard Mark Campbell, who unveiled a more aggressive game than Hawaii fans have seen. "When there's real refs, guys can't foul, you've got to play real defense. And it's more pressure. People aren't in the stands, but it's a lot more of a game situation.
"And people perform differently in practice than they do in games."
Head coach Riley Wallace divided his team in two for the three simulated games, two played exclusively in man-to-man defense, the third in zone.
The White team, with a starting five of Campbell, Milos Zivanovic, Haim Shimonovich, Vaidotas Peciukas and Carl English defeated a Green squad that started Phil Martin, Jason Carter, Michael Kuebler, Paul Jesinskis and Tony Akpan in the first game 31-22. The Green then traded Carter and Jesinskis for Campbell and Peciukas and the Green and White split the next two games by identical 32-29 scores.
Wallace said he noted two things from the day -- his team needs to get in better shape, and his newcomers need to learn Hawaii's offense.
"The offense is not clicking the way we want it to do," Wallace said. "When Haim doesn't have assists, that means that they're not cutting and getting open. A lot of it's conditioning. (Missing) shots, they're not in shape yet for games."
It was most notable with forward Phil Martin, a key player down last season's stretch run. Martin missed most of the first week of practice due to "discipline," Wallace said. He couldn't do much last week thanks to two sprained ankles. A winded Martin finished the day with no points in three games.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Paul Jesinskis grabbed a rebound for the Green team against the White in yesterday's scrimmage.
"He didn't look like Phil Martin today at all," Wallace said.
Campbell didn't look like himself, either. The former pass-first, shoot-last guard is more aggressive this season, charging the basket and looking to score. In the 20-minute contests, Campbell had 6, 2 and 9 points, respectively.
"My role is going to be to score more, and pick up the points we lost from last year to ease the load on Carl and stuff," Campbell said.
English got hot in the final minutes of the first game, draining three 3-pointers to lead his victorious White team with nine points. He also had 12 points in the second game.
As for newcomers, Peciukas started slow, then improved, nailing a clutch 3 for the winning margin in Game 2 with 3.2 seconds remaining. Shooting guard Kuebler is still trying to get comfortable in the UH scheme. But Wallace liked what he saw from Carter, a guard who got banged around but provided a spark.
"Carter gave us what I thought we wanted out of him, that speed and quickness," Wallace said.
Both teams knew the other's offense and defended accordingly. But Wallace saw that as a positive.
"When a team scouts us, they know our plays, too," he said.
Campbell sounded like his coach: "It's kind of the best defense. It makes you really learn the offense."
Note: Wallace said after the scrimmages that one of his newcomers has left the program. Dane Dmitrovic left Saturday for personal reasons. He returned to Slovenia and is not expected to return.
Dmitrovic is a 6-10 forward who played his high school ball at Gimnazija Bezigrad High School in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds a game.
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