The Hawaii men’s basketball team’s first game of the season against a power conference opponent proved a tall order.
Utah, the NCAA Division I leader in height with a roster average of over 6 feet 6, went to work in the paint on the Rainbow Warriors at every opportunity and dealt UH its first loss of the season, 79-66, at the Utah Jazz’s Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
UH (5-1) hung with the Runnin’ Utes (5-2) in the first half but the outgoing Pac-12 team needed only three minutes of the second period to establish a double-digit lead it would hold almost the entire rest of the way.
Utah compiled 44 paint points to UH’s 24. Seven-foot center Brandon Carlson put in 17 points and backup big Keba Keita added 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting in 19 minutes off the bench. Third-year coach Craig Smith saw his team win the backboards by nine and shoot 52.6% from the field to UH's 42.1%.
Coach Eran Ganot said afterward that some more makes on several open looks might’ve led to a different outcome, but he could not fault his team’s effort. The 'Bows hit nine times from beyond the arc in 30 attempts.
“We defended the 3 pretty well (Utah was 5-for-14 from 3), but they got comfortable in the paint,” Ganot told Spectrum News in a postgame phone interview. “Even trying to bring some support, they can throw over the top of our support. So, give them credit. I thought the paint was the difference.”
Shooting guard Noel Coleman scored 13 of his 14 points in the first half for UH, which momentarily captured the lead at 27-26 with a 14-3 run.
A basket by freshman Tom Beattie brought UH within three in the final minute of the half but Utah’s Rollie Worster draw a foul on a flailing putback attempt in the last second, and made both to make it 39-34 at intermission.
Ganot still felt good about UH’s chances at that point. The team was moving the ball well, with 10 assists on 11 baskets.
“We thought we had something,” Ganot said. “(We) mixed some things up and played Harry (Rouhliadeff) at the 5 for a stretch to see him get some open looks for him as well. I thought if you're making 11 baskets (with) 10 assists, you know, that’s what we’ve got to be moving forward.”
Rouhliadeff, usually a backup power forward, scored 11 off the bench with five rebounds. Starting forward Justin McKoy scored all of his 11 points after halftime while guard Juan Munoz put in his most to date as a Rainbow Warrior with 12 off the bench.
Production was light otherwise.
Ganot thought the turning point was a flagrant foul on UH starting center Bernardo da Silva in the first minute of the second half. The 6-9, 215-pound Da Silva, overpowered down low, hit the bench repeatedly with foul trouble and was disqualified with four points in just 16 minutes. Ganot felt the contact by da Silva on the flagrant was inadvertent.
Guard Hunter Erickson scored 12 of his 15 points off the bench and after intermission to help the Utes put it away.
UH is 1-23 all-time against its former Western Athletic Conference rival Utah in road games in Salt Lake City, with the lone win coming in 1984 on Crosetti Speight's buzzer-beating prayer from just inside halfcourt. However, Thursday’s game went in the books as a neutral-site contest despite the fact it was a de facto home game for the Utes – just 10 minutes from their campus. It drew an announced crowd of 4,686.
After winning the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Springs, Calif., UH settled for a 2-1 mark on its three-game road trip and now turns to three straight Sundays of games at the Stan Sheriff Center, starting with Central Arkansas (1-8) this week.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.