DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Michael Kuebler drove to the basket between SMU's Patrick Simpson, left, and Quinton Ross as UH won by 17. Kuebler scored 17 points.
Rainbows After Hawaii struggled defensively during a rough road trip, coach Riley Wallace switched the roles of his assistants this week in practice, and the switch paid off in a solid defensive effort in the Rainbows' 72-55 win over Southern Methodist last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
defend home turf
UH beats SMU for its
'Bows slow Ross & Co.
20th straight win at
the Stan Sheriff CenterBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comWith Wallace and assistants Bob Nash and Bob Burke working extensively with the starters, the Rainbows limited SMU to 40 percent shooting.
"Defense worked well," Wallace said. "We had three guys working with the starters and I thought that worked out better, because Bob (Nash) put some more energy in these guys getting after them."
Hawaii (9-2, 2-1 Western Athletic Conference) extended its winning streak at the Sheriff Center to 20 games, dating back to Dec. 14, 2001, by winning its WAC home opener.
UH has also won 17 straight conference games at home. The Rainbows haven't lost consecutive games since February 2001.
"You have to take pride in our home court," Hawaii forward Carl English said. "That's how we feel. No matter who they are, No. 1 or No. 200, they're not going to get a win here. That's what we strive for."
SMU fell to 5-7 overall and 0-2 in the WAC. All of the Mustangs' losses have come on the road.
The Rainbows return to the Sheriff Center tomorrow for a WAC contest against Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs (5-4) enter the game 2-0 in the conference after dispatching San Jose State 80-67 yesterday in California.
Hawaii concludes it three-game homestand Monday against Fresno State.
A crowd of 4,164 watched the Rainbows contain SMU swingman Quinton Ross, who entered the game as the WAC's leading scorer, averaging 19.6 points per game.
Ross was at his silky best in dropping in 10 points before halftime, but struggled to get off his shots in the second, hitting just 2 of 5 field-goal attempts.
UH guard Michael Kuebler was assigned to Ross most of the night and helped limit Ross' scoring opportunities.
"It's kind of frustrating when he just pulls up in your face, you have a hand up and you're right in front of him, but those are just tough shots and he hit them," Kuebler said. "He got a couple points early, but I think I was able to somewhat contain him in the second half.
Said Wallace: "(Kuebler) did a good job. (Ross) can get off, he can do some things. He gets 16 tonight, but he worked for them. They didn't get any just flat-wide-open looks."
As a team, the Rainbows held SMU to 27 percent shooting from the field in the second half.
"Our team takes pride in our defense," UH guard Mark Campbell said. "Nobody wants to get beat, so in the second half we came out a little more intense."
English was right behind Ross at 19.2 points per game, and finished with 19 points, 15 coming in the first half.
Kuebler knocked down three 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 17 points. Forward Phil Martin scored 11 on 5-of-6 shooting despite picking up three fouls in the first six minutes of the game.
"They were hustling fouls," Wallace said. "He sat there and when he came back in he didn't pout, he got his shot going, he was boarding and he played good defense. So you have to give him credit for that."
Hawaii opened its biggest lead of the half at 24-12 on an English 3-pointer. SMU crept back to within four at 30-26 with 2:49 left in the half, but the Rainbows regained command on two Kuebler 3-pointers in the last two minutes.
The Rainbows pulled away in the second half as SMU continued to misfire from the field.
Martin reentered the game with less than 11 minutes remaining in the game and sparked the Rainbows with two steals and a jumper that gave UH a 60-45 lead with 7:37 left.
SMU didn't challenge again in the game and will seek its first WAC win tomorrow at San Jose State.
Hawaii 72, SMU 55
SMU (5-7, 0-2) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Simpson 6 11 2 2 30 5 0 15 Hopkins 6 14 0 0 34 3 1 15 Ross 6 11 4 7 36 5 3 16 Castro 2 4 1 3 23 6 1 5 Lowe 0 3 0 0 16 1 0 0 Isham 0 1 0 0 18 0 2 0 Miller 0 2 1 2 5 0 1 1 Aitkenhead 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Hopkins 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Atkins 0 1 1 2 11 1 0 1 Rackauskas 0 3 2 2 14 2 0 2 Kelley 0 0 0 0 13 2 0 0 Team 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 Totals 20 50 11 17 200 27 8 55
UH (9-2, 2-1) fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 5 6 1 1 17 5 1 11 Takaki 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Alama-Francis 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Zivanovic 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 Carter 0 1 0 0 6 0 0 0 Shimonovich 3 8 0 0 38 8 6 6 Campbell 0 5 4 4 37 3 8 4 Peciukas 3 7 2 4 15 2 0 8 English 7 14 4 4 35 7 2 19 Kuebler 6 10 2 2 34 4 1 17 Holliday 0 0 0 0 0+ 0 0 0 Akpan 3 6 1 2 10 3 1 7 Team 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 Totals 23 66 5 7 200 40 16 56
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 -- Hawaii 40, SMU 31.
3-point goals--Hawaii 4-17 (Kuebler 3-6, English 1-6, Peciukas 0-2, Campbell 0-3), SMU 4-15 (Hopkins 3-9, Simpson 1-1, Ross 0-1, Castro 0-1, Isham 0-1, Miller 0-2). Personal fouls--Hawaii 18, SMU 18. Technical fouls--None. Steals--Hawaii 8 (Martin 2, Campbell 2, Carter, Shimanovich, English, Akpan); SMU 7 (Hopkins 2, Ross 2, Simpson, Lowe, Kelley). Blocked shots--Hawaii 2 (Martin, English); SMU 5 (Simpson 3, Hopkins, Rackauskas). Turnovers--Hawaii 14 (Shimonovich 3, Campbell 3, Kuebler 2, Martin 2, Zivanovic, Carter, Peciukas, English); SMU 17 (Hopkins 5, Simpson 4, Ross 2, Rackauskas 2, Kelley, Isham, Lowe, Castro). Officials--White, Sorenson, Wells. A--6,607.
UH Athletics
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Expect the unexpected. Then don't let it happen. ’Bows slow Ross
and supporting castBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comIt's the new defensive philosophy for the Hawaii basketball team. In previous seasons, the Rainbows had a tendency to defend an opponent's leading scorers well, only to allow another player to have a career night and spoil what had been a potential victory.
Think Chris Herren. Think David Granucci. Think Romain Sato.
Last night, Southern Methodist senior guard Quinton Ross got a hard-earned 16 points, below his league-leading 19.6-point average. And freshman guard Bryan Hopkins, the conference's preseason pick for top newcomer, got loose for three 3-pointers en route to 15 points.
But the Rainbows held the other Mustang shooters pretty much in check in a 72-55 Western Athletic Conference victory at the Stan Sheriff Center. It was the 20th straight home win for Hawaii and its 17th straight in WAC home games.
"They're a really athletic team and we prepared really well the past couple of days on defense," said Rainbow senior guard Mark Campbell, after helping hold the Mustangs to their lowest scoring total of the season. "Carl (English) and Kueb (Michael Kuebler) did a great job on their quick, athletic guards."
"And Mark shut down No. 11 (Hopkins), took him out of a lot of things," added English, who regained the WAC scoring lead with his game-high 19 points. "It's tough to shut down a kid like that.
"Our big men stepped up, got a lot of big rebounds. Overall, it was a good team effort on defense."
The one Mustang who got more than his average was sophomore forward Patrick Simpson, who finished with 15, seven above his average. But unlike previous outcomes, Simpson was unable to do enough damage to jeopardize Hawaii's home winning streak.
Simpson took advantage of Hawaii first-half foul trouble to score six of his team's final 11 points to pull within 40-31 at halftime. Simpson's 3-pointer with 10:40 left in the game brought the Mustangs to 51-43, and his ensuing jumper closed it to 53-45.
But Simpson didn't score again, finishing with 15 points. And SMU got no closer the rest of the way in extending its road record to 0-7.
Hawaii junior center Haim Shimonovich did an outstanding job on SMU center Eric Castro, playing the high-low post switch perfectly and floating into the key for an early steal, a block and six defensive rebounds among his eight boards.
"'Big Daddy' just clogs up the middle," Campbell said of Shimonovich. "Our team takes pride in our defense. We picked up our intensity in the second half."
Hawaii, which leads the WAC in rebound margin (plus-8.9), was right about its average. The Rainbows won the battle of the boards 36-27.
"We needed to do three things," said SMU coach Mike Dement. "We needed to defend the 3-pointer, which we actually did. We needed to rebound, and we didn't. The games we've outrebounded or rebounded WITH people, we've won. Every game we've lost we got pounded on the boards.
"And the third thing is we needed to make some shots. We didn't. We shot poorly from the field and from 3-point range."
SMU was 40 percent from the game from the floor (20 of 50), 26.7 percent from 3-pointer distance (4 of 15). Hawaii finished 46.6 percent from the floor (27 of 58), and just 23.5 percent from 3-point range (4 of 17).
It was Hawaii's second-best defensive effort point-wise, second only to last week's 64-52 victory at UTEP.
Conversely, SMU's defense showed why it was ranked last in the WAC (76.5 ppg). The Mustangs had a good double-team on the ball during a half-court press, but the Rainbows were able to get the ball to the open man, including twice on consecutive possessions to reserve Vaidotas Peciukas that led to a 69-51 margin with 4:05 to go.
UH Athletics
