HONOLULU — Jaden McClanahan is still kicking himself.
This time last year, the Utah Valley guard had the option of traveling to Hawaii with his father to see his twin brother, JoVon, compete for Hawaii in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic. Instead, he returned home in the Bay Area to spend time with his mother during the holiday gap in UVU’s schedule.
The rest, of course, is history: JoVon McClanahan went on a three-day tear and helped secure the Rainbow Warriors’ first title in the 13 years of the nationally televised event with his long buzzer-beating 3-pointer against Southern Methodist on Christmas. He was named Tournament Most Outstanding Player, to boot.
“I was kind of mad or bummed about missing the game-winner,” Jaden McClanahan said on Thursday in a tunnel of the Stan Sheriff Center, after JoVon and the Rainbow Warriors put away Portland, 69-56, in the first round of the 2023 edition. “This year, same opportunity … so I wasn’t going to miss it.”
UH (8-2) emerged from a sluggish start, aided by an assertive performance from wing Matthue Cotton, who put in 15 points, including a first-half tomahawk dunk and consecutive second-half 3s from opposite corner pockets. Center Bernardo da Silva added his third double-double in four games, 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Noel Coleman supplied 14 points and four assists.
But McClanahan, despite a 3-for-11 shooting night, was an essential ingredient to victory. The undersized team leader had eight points, six rebounds and a season-high seven assists without a turnover, while supplying effective defense that included a drawn charge underneath the ‘Bows’ basket in the second half.
“He’s giving it everything he has and we feed off that,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “He was very impactful for a guy who maybe didn’t score as much. Running the team, and (Portland) made an adjustment really picking up full court. I thought we handled the press well late.”
McClanahan, an All-Big West second-teamer in 2022-23 who was named to this year’s preseason all-conference team, hasn’t been required to put up big numbers for UH so far as a handful of other upperclassmen, led by Coleman, da Silva and Justin McKoy, not to mention a capable bench counterpart in Juan Munoz, have shouldered the scoring load.
But once again, he was in the spotlight of some big moments on national TV. After UH doubled a seven-point halftime lead to 14 in the early minutes of the second half, the Pilots (6-7) rallied to within seven with under six minutes to play on a 3-pointer by Vukasin Masic, who had a game-high 18 points.
The Pilots, so named for their region's nautical prowess, ran aground once McClanahan dished to da Silva for a dunk followed by his steal and toss ahead to Coleman for a layup to build UH’s lead to 17 with 1:38 left.
So how is it that Diamond Head time again bears the early makings of McClanahan time?
“I’m not sure,” McClanahan said. “I mean, I think I rise to the level of competition. The heat of battle. … I missed some easy layups; I know I’m going to make those at the end of the day. And I lot of us are in rhythm right now. If we’re clicking all at once, it’s tough to beat. Regardless of their shooting numbers, I think everyone had an assertive feel to their game tonight. And you see how tough it is when we’re playing like that.”
UH was in control to the extent that seldom-used Matija Svetozarevic, a former Portland wing, was inserted in the final minutes to play against some of his former teammates.
Usually, the McClanahan twins will call each other the night after a game to dissect what happened. (“I love watching the ‘Bows,” Jaden McClanahan said.) His Utah Valley Wolverines of the WAC are 6-6 coming off a tough three-game stretch against Oregon State, Utah and Liberty going into their holiday break.
On Thursday, they got their first chance at a postmortem right outside the UH locker room, giving passersby possible double vision.
JoVon and Jaden share identical 5-foot-10 and 175-pound profiles, though the latter swears he is slightly taller. They were friendly competitors since they were little, pushing each other to improve, and were teammates until they went away to separate junior colleges out of Salesian (Calif.) Prep – JoVon to Sheridan (Wyo.) College and Jaden to Independence (Kan.) Community College.
JoVon McClanahan said he was grateful to have his twin in town along with his father, Thomas. Jaden McClanahan was asked what he’s seen out of his brother in the DHC over the last year-plus, remotely and now in person.
“I feel like you know what’s at stake. It’s not that every other game is not something at stake, but you’re playing in front of the bright lights,” he said. “We’ve been doing that for a long time, any team, we played in big games. I mean, that brings big character and good competitive spirit out of anybody. … Especially like, this is your tournament and for the Island.
“So, I see a different drive from him – just compete and play good for his team. It’s not about him. He just wants to do it for the Island again.”
UH faces Georgia Tech (7-3) of the Atlantic Coast Conference at 6 p.m. Friday with a spot on the DHC final on Christmas Eve on the line. Georgia Tech is a physical lot coached by former NBA guard Damon Stoudamire.
A combined two-game evening-session crowd of 3,632 (5,290 tickets issued) was tallied for the Yellow Jackets’ comeback win from 11 points down in the final nine minutes to beat Massachusetts a 73-70, followed by UH’s contest against Portland of the West Coast Conference.
Friday’s first semifinal, at noon, is an anticipated battle of the two teams with the highest KenPom ratings in the eight-team field, TCU (33) and Nevada (42). TCU, the 2018 DHC champion, is coached by former UH assistant coach Jamie Dixon.
TCU set a DHC scoring record with its 111-87 victory over Old Dominion – a game that was played without ODU head coach Jeff Jones, who was recovering from a heart attack he suffered Wednesday night – while Nevada put the second-half hammer on Temple in an 80-56 runaway.
The second semifinal is a rematch of the 2019 DHC third-place game. Ganot was still on a leave of absence for medical reasons at the time and former UH assistant Chris Gerlufsen, now the head coach at San Francisco, was acting head coach. Georgia Tech beat UH 70-53.
UH will face either TCU or Nevada on the final day of the tournament Sunday, either in the 4 p.m. championship or in the 1:30 p.m. third-place game. Nevada beat UH 72-66 in a lead-in game to the DHC on Sunday.
“We just gotta keep going and grinding,” JoVon McClanahan said. “These games aren’t going to be easy. I think we’ll be ready.”
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.