HONOLULU — Eran Ganot stepped into the postgame interview room, emotion plain on the Hawaii basketball coach’s face.
An 87-71 exhibition victory over Hawaii Hilo on Thursday night was difficult to enjoy, and not because it came in the preseason. The Rainbow Warriors were subpar in three emphasized areas — defense, rebounding and turnovers — but that wasn’t the main reason for the red eyes for the usually stoic program leader, either.
One of the standout performers of the night, guard Juan Munoz, scored 16 points on superb shooting and dealt five assists in his first outing in a UH uniform, but left the game in the second half with an apparent leg injury.
“We’ll find out what’s going on,” Ganot said of the guard who’s dealt with multiple knee injuries in seven combined years at Longwood and UH. “But I think he was tremendous on the floor. You could see what he’s capable of. He’s one of the biggest inspirations I’ve ever been around, still. I just ask everybody to pray for him as we find out.”
It had all the makings of a feel-good night: A return to action for three players whose 2021-22 season came to a premature end due to injuries, plus unofficial debuts for five newcomers ahead of the Nov. 11 regular-season opener against Mississippi Valley State.
Last year’s injured players — Munoz, shooting guard Noel Coleman and wing Samuta Avea — all made promising returns. Coleman poured in 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including 6-for-8 from long range in his first action since a season-ending orbital bone injury in February. Avea, the Kahuku High graduate who last played for UH in 2019-20, seemed back to his springy self after two lost seasons and contributed six points off the bench. And Munoz showcased his touted shooting ability by sinking four of seven shots from long range, while also running the offense smoothly for 20 minutes.
But the night took a turn with 12 minutes to play and the Rainbow Warriors leading by 18. Coleman hit a 3 on a dish from Munoz, and last season’s second-team All-Big West guard followed with a steal in the open court and a second swished triple in the span of 11 seconds.
During the sequence, Munoz went down on the floor behind Coleman without contact with another player, possibly while making a quick change of direction.
Munoz, who got hurt last preseason upon transferring to UH from Longwood and was out the whole year, was visibly frustrated as he left the game and exited through the tunnel behind the team bench.
“He’s been tremendous,” Ganot said. “It’s hard to not be emotional because nobody anywhere should go through this, certainly him, who’s already been through it. And who keeps coming back.”
Coleman, like many of the 1,608 in the arena, was oblivious that Munoz had gotten hurt until later. The Belgian said he was impressed by what he’d seen from Munoz and Avea, but he was disappointed in the team-wide effort on defense and on the boards in a game that didn't count on the team record or statistically but could set the tone for the real opener in a week.
"I haven’t seen them play against anybody else except for ourselves, so I was definitely excited just as the rest of the team was excited for them," Coleman said. "But just gotta get better, everybody."
UH, with a variety of intriguing pieces, was picked to finish second in the Big West coming off a third-place showing in 2021-22.
Hilo was picked to finish seventh in the Division II PacWest Conference. The Vulcans battled UH to a draw on the backboards, 30-30, and out-scrapped the ‘Bows on the offensive glass for 13 extra possessions. Jamaican center Nadjrick Peat, at 6-11, had five of them.
UH seemed to miss forward Jerome Desrosiers — now a team graduate assistant — and graduated center Mate Colina in that regard.
“I thought we’d make jumps there, but you lose those guys and somebody’s gotta step up,” said Ganot, who noted the Vulcans also won more 50-50 balls. “We’re bigger. … We’ll look at it. I’m glad it was exposed, because we’re not going to get away with that, obviously, against good teams. … The rebounding was not acceptable.”
UH also committed 16 turnovers, including nine off Vulcan steals as coach Kaniela Aiona tried out some early fullcourt pressure.
Coleman pointed the finger at himself for Vulcans guard Carlos Ramsey Jr.’s 21-point night on 9-for-18 shooting.
“We knew exactly what we were up against, but we just didn’t execute,” Coleman said. “We didn’t play defense at all. That started with me. As the leader of the team, I gotta step up and guard their best player, and I didn’t do that today.”
JoVon McClanahan, Coleman, Zoar Nedd, Kamaka Hepa and Bernardo da Silva got the start for UH. Avea and Munoz were first off the bench. Hepa and Da Silva, the starting frontcourt, combined to shoot 7-for-9 for 18 points.
Newcomers Mor Seck from Senegal, Washington State transfer guard Ryan Rapp, Australian forward Harry Rouhliadeff, and Portland transfer Matija Svetozarevic saw time off the bench. Seck, a 7-foot-11 freshman who’s only been playing basketball for a few years, went 3-for-3 from the field and entertained with his earnest energy.
Aiona, who’s brought his team to the Stan Sheriff Center for an exhibition in each of his three seasons, said it gave the Vulcans plenty to chew on heading into their Nov. 11 home opener against SAGU American Indian College.
“The pace of the game was hard for us tonight. Our first time playing a fast team like this,” Aiona said.
“Manoa, they’ve got a good group,” he added. “Excited for their season that they can have this year. They shot it well. They’ve got good size. Their bigs did a great job of finishing around the basket tonight. Guards did a good job of managing the game for them. I was really impressed with them. They got a bunch of guys who can step up and on any given night help carry them.”
Some more photos from the night:
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.