The opponent is locked in. The Hawaii men’s basketball team thinks it is, too.
Third-seeded UH learned Wednesday night it will face seventh-seeded Cal State Northridge in Thursday’s second-round Big West tournament game at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev.
UH (19-13) enters the tournament having won nine of 12 games since a 2-6 conference start, with still plenty to prove. Will the Rainbow Warriors maintain their turnaround in their 3 p.m. Hawaii time matchup with the Matadors, or will hopes of a deep tournament run go unfulfilled, a la the postseason struggles of the last several years?
Forward Justin McKoy, a North Carolina transfer who was accorded All-Big West second-team honors in his first and only season with the program, thinks the senior-laden ‘Bows have all the tools they need to inscribe a new story.
The 'Bows need to win three times in three days at the 6,000-seat Dollar Loan Center for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016.
“I think we’ve shown we’ve gotten hot at the right time,” McKoy, who led UH in conference games with a 13.6 scoring average, said after Saturday’s senior night win over Cal State Bakersfield. “I think some of those losses motivated us to play super hard and bounce back and show that even though we’re playing well doesn’t mean that someone can’t come in and beat us. I think we have exactly what we need to go into the tournament and make some noise.”
UH also got two Big West honorable mentions this week for shooting guard Noel Coleman, the No. 8 scorer in program history with 1,253 points and second all-time 3-point maker with 182; and center Bernardo da Silva, who is nine points shy of 1,000 for his UH career and vying to become one of the few UH players to shoot better than 60% for a season.
Since winning it all in 2016 in Eran Ganot’s first year as head coach, UH is 1-6 in Big West tournament games, with the lone win coming by a point over UC Riverside in the 2022 first round.
The shortcomings have included an overtime decision to Cal State Fullerton last year and fall-from-ahead defeats to UC Irvine (2018) and Long Beach State (2019) in the final minutes.
“There’s teams that’ve had their ups and downs in tournament time and fallen off a cliff and gotten beat the crap out of (them) — we haven’t had that,” Ganot said on senior night. “We’re knocking on the door. We’ve got to keep putting ourselves in position so it’s not a possession game, like it has been for some tough losses.
“I do think our guys are playing some good basketball going in. It’s good to see JoVon (McClanahan) healthier going in. … I do think we’ve got to continue getting better, even in this turnaround. That’s what this team’s done well. We’re playing our best basketball. We have to take it up a notch.”
McClanahan, a co-captain and UH’s former starter at the point, has accepted a lesser role on the floor following a shoulder injury and the team’s subsequent hot streak behind guard Juan Munoz.
“I like our connectedness. I think I’ve been telling you guys this for months now, but we really are a connected group, win or loss,” McClanahan said. “And we’ve been having more wins lately than losing. I really think that’s going to be the separator. The mental toughness of our group and the connectedness of everybody. I really think that’ll bring us over the top.”
UH will have a decided rest advantage Thursday, and not just because of its bye for having a top-four seed.
CSUN advanced Wednesday by virtue of its 87-84 overtime win over UC Santa Barbara in front of a sparse DLC crowd. The Matadors were engaged in a high-energy, closely fought battle the whole way with the Gauchos, and now must play in the first of two men’s basketball time slots.
In its only previous meeting with CSUN in the tournament, the 2014 first round, the Matadors beat the Rainbow Warriors 87-84 in overtime in what would be Gib Arnold’s final game as head coach.
That was the last year that CSUN won a tournament game, until Wednesday.
The Matadors, though still shorthanded, played with abandon under first-year coach Andy Newman and got 24 points from Keonte Jones, 23 from Big West first-teamer De’Sean Allen-Eikens and 18 from Dionte Bostick.
It completed a disappointing 2023-24 campaign for UCSB and coach Joe Pasternack. The Gauchos, with reigning Big West Player of the Year Ajay Mitchell, were picked to win the conference but instead entered the championships with a losing league record. Mitchell, in what could’ve been the last game of his college career, registered 36 points, nine rebounds, five assists and five turnovers on 10-for-21 shooting.
UH split the season series with CSUN, with a 72-70 win at the Stan Sheriff Center just eight days ago in which the ‘Bows held off a big Matador charge at the finish.
The ‘Bows took 26 foul shots to the Matadors’ five in that game, despite CSUN’s propensity to drive to the basket and largely eschew 3-point shots. Jones was scoreless and fouled out in 21 minutes.
The key matchup could be McKoy on Allen-Eikens, who scored a career-best 34 points in that game.
Da Silva, the Big West’s leader in field-goal percentage (.602), needs nine points to become the program’s 18th 1,000-point scorer. The other UH players to shoot better than 60% in a season were Phil Martin (.627) in 2000-01 and Isaac Fotu (.623) in 2012-13.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.