Rainbow Warriors look to rebound after tough loss

To rebound from Thursday’s ego-bruising 83-60 loss to Cal State Northridge, the Hawaii basketball team is seeking to return to what it usually does best: rebound.

“We’re coming off our worst rebounding night, and now we’re playing one of the better rebounding teams in the country,” UH coach Eran Ganot said of playing host to Cal State Bakersfield tonight in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Entering Thursday’s game against CSUN, the Rainbow Warriors were 14th nationally in rebounding margin. They exited dazed after Northridge constructed a 40-25 rebounding advantage, including 14-7 off the offensive glass.

“We’re a rebounding program,” Ganot said. “We block out. We drill it. We talk about it, and we stat it every practice and every game. We were punked on some block-outs. And some we actually whiffed. We (usually) block out and don’t whiff, and we had both in that game. And they took advantage of that. That’s disappointing, and back to work we go.”

Ahead of Friday’s practice, the ’Bows studied video of the CSUN game. The ’Bows went over the scouting report on CSUB, then went through their game plan during the ensuing 90-minute practice in UH’s Gym II.

“I like to think everything happens for a reason,” Ganot said, “then find the reason and attack it. Sometimes people say, ‘It’s one of those days.’ But not in rebounding. Rebounding is a consistent area that is always there for us.”

Against CSUN, the ’Bows missed 17 of 20 shots from behind the arc. They amassed only two assists in the second half, one of which came on an inbounds pass.

“You’ve got to make baskets to get assists,” Ganot said. “Assists have come up recently as our (new) guys have gotten more comfortable. But 3-for-20 (shooting on 3s) isn’t going to get you a lot of assists. Give CSUN credit. They make it tough to get assists because they switch one through five. They make you play a little bit isolation.”

Under coach Rod Barnes, CSUB has emphasized an aggressive defense and rebounding. UH assistant coach Rob Jones noted the Roadrunners’ success on the boards is rooted in “their physicality and their approach to rebounding. … They are super physical. They recruit physical. They recruit rebounding. It’s no surprise they’re a good rebounding team every year.”

This season, the Roadrunners average 12.7 offensive rebounds per game, 13.0 in six Big West games

During Wednesday’s news conference, Barnes told reporters that the days of a winning output in the low 60s has ended. Barnes went the junior college route in pursuit of scorers. The Roadrunners’ roster features 10 players who began their college career at a junior college. One of them is 6-foot-4, 170-pound guard Jemel Jones, who scored 45 points in the Roadrunners’ comeback victory over CSUN a week ago. Jones had 31 points in the second half to rally the Roadrunners from a 23-point deficit.

In Big West games, Jones averages 20.3 points in 25.0 minutes. He has connected on 45.5% of his 3s. CSUB leads the Big West and ranks eighth nationally in 3-point accuracy (40.4%), including 44.4% in league games.

“They’ve got a really good program and a really good coach,” Ganot said. “They’re built on toughness.”

For the ’Bows, according to Rob Jones, “the biggest thing is we’ve got to continue to fight, even when things don’t go our way. … You can’t sit and cry and feel sorry for yourself. Other teams aren’t going to feel sorry for you about that (CSUN) loss. You’ve got to come ready to go.”