HONOLULU — Hawaii proved itself the superior pace maker on Saturday night.
In a true contrast of college basketball styles — meticulous versus manic — UH defeated Cal Poly 68-55 at the Stan Sheriff Center to avoid its first 0-3 start to Big West play while handing the Mustangs their 42nd straight BWC regular-season defeat stretching across three seasons.
Only four of those losses have come under the purview of first-year Mustangs coach Mike DeGeorge, who installed an analytics-driven run-and-gun system emphasizing 3s and layups when he came over from Division II Colorado Mesa in the offseason.
"They play one way. They have a clear identity," UH coach Eran Ganot said afterward. "Road, home, they’re playing that way. That’s why you saw us trying to be locked in."
[Note: See below for more photos of Hawaii-Cal Poly basketball.]
A Saturday night crowd of 3,328 (4,763 tickets issued) watched as the Rainbow Warriors’ superior size and effective interior passing helped dictate a deliberate tempo against the No. 1 team in the country in quickest shots per possession. Then UH (9-5, 1-2 Big West) hit a 15-2 burst coming out of halftime and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Cal Poly (6-10, 0-4) came in averaging 84.3 points per game, but it was held to a season-low total nearly 30 below its average; the Mustangs had scored at least 80 in five straight contests, including a 98-89 overtime loss to UC Irvine at Mott Athletics Center in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Thursday.
Cal Poly was held to 33.8% shooting, including 22.6% (7-for-31) on 3-pointers as they shorted a number of them on tired legs. UH converted 45.1% of its attempts to beat Cal Poly for the ninth straight time overall, and 11th straight time in Honolulu.
Ganot said he told his team to swing the ball side to side on offense to make the Mustangs work on defense and, the 'Bows hoped, have the effect of limiting their 3-point makes below their 14th-ranked national average of 10.9 per game.
"I think we just stopped their transition offense, which is their strength I think," forward Gytis Nemeiksa said. "When they need to play their offense, plays or motion, it’s harder for them."
UH got 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists from Nemeiksa and 15 points from guard Tom Beattie in relief of Marcus Greene, who battled foul trouble. Center Tanner Christensen supplied 11 points and 10 rebounds and four assists for his third double-double of the season.
Beattie could laugh afterward about asking for a sub for the first time in his career. It was his first double-digit scoring outing in 10 games; the fact that the Mustangs ran the co-captain from New Zealand a little ragged was OK.
"I love it. There’s been heaps of ups and downs this season," Beattie said. "But I think the coaches have done a good job of keeping my spirits up, changing my thinking a little bit."
He said he focused on celebrating his teammates over that stretch. Ganot played him starter's minutes in Thursday's 64-61 loss to UC Santa Barbara, which he said helped get him going on the defensive end.
Beattie overcame a couple of early turnovers Saturday and threw down a dunk in traffic in the first half as he put in nine points in the period on 4-for-5 shooting.
"It’s not always going to be smooth, and it shouldn’t be," Ganot said. "We’re going to let him go through it, but it has been coming on. ... People forget, so do I sometimes, that Tom’s a sophomore."
UH came out of an offensively challenged first half leading by only five points, but Nemeiksa and Christensen found each other for three assists during the ensuing salvo of seven UH baskets in a little over four minutes.
DeGeorge, who succeeded John Smith, told Spectrum News that the game against UCI drained his team physically and mentally on Thursday night. By the time the team finished a four-hour drive from the Central Coast to Los Angeles, his players got a limited amount of sleep prior to the flight to Hawaii on Friday morning. A player's sleep two nights ahead of a game is the most important, DeGeorge said.
The Mustangs missed their first nine shots Saturday and converted 25% of their attempts from the field in the first half as UH led 27-22 at intermission.
"Hawaii did a really nice job of contesting us at the rim so we missed a lot of shots early in the paint, and we were missing some spray-outs for 3s," DeGeorge said. "When we got those we were just leaving a lot of shots short, so we didn’t really shoot it like we normally do and we didn’t finish like we need to. We just couldn’t get going offensively in that first half. To start the second half we really didn’t play very good defense for the first nine or 10 minutes."
Owen Koonce led a squad of semi-interchangeable Mustangs in the 6-foot-5 to 6-foot-8 range with 15 points. Cal Poly's top complementary scorers, Jarred Hyder, Isaac Jessup and Mac Riniker were a combined 2-for-19 from long range.
The Mustangs had no answer for Christensen, who shot 4-for-5 from the field, drew six fouls and finished with a plus/minus of a whopping plus-30 in 25 minutes.
When Cal Poly drew within 11 points with 11 minutes left on back-to-back 3s by Koonce, Akira Jacobs responded with a three-point play and added another basket to push the lead to its largest of the night at 20.
UH freshman guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor hit his first 3-pointer of the season in the second half and had three assists and no turnovers.
The game was attended by new UH President Wendy Hensel, who succeeded David Lassner on Jan. 1.
The 'Bows continue the 20-game Big West season at UC Riverside (10-6, 3-1) at 5 p.m. Hawaii time Thursday and at Cal State Fullerton (5-11, 0-4) at 11 a.m. HST Saturday.
Note: This story was updated with details, photos and quotes.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.