‘Bows a step away from return to NCAAs

‘Bows a step away from return to NCAAs

HENDERSON, Nev. — The wait is sort of over.

Hawaii’s males’s basketball team last performed in the NCAA Tournament in 2016. The Rainbow Warriors are 40 minutes away from returning to the Big Dance after advancing to the championship game of the Big West Tournament Friday.

Hawaii, the No. 2 seed, defeated third-seeded Cal State Fullerton 78-63 at Lee’s Family Forum. They’ll face top-seeded UC Irvine at 7 p.m. Saturday for the convention’s automated bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Anteaters took out Cal State Northridge 93-78 to return to the Big West championship game. Irvine fell to UC San Diego in last 12 months’s final.

“Obviously, an incredible feeling for a great group of kids,” Hawaii coach Eran Ganot said. “We have overcome a lot of adversity to get to this point. But we knew it was going to be tough.”

For Hawaii, which is leaving the Big West for the Mountain West on July 1, successful right here in Henderson can be the excellent parting reward. At 23-8, the Rainbow Warriors’ resume isn’t fairly strong sufficient to get in as an at-large. Their NCAA NET ranking is 110, tops in the Big West however a lengthy methods from getting a favorable nod from the NCAA choice committee. So it’s all or nothing on Saturday for Ganot’s team.

Ganot was in cost the last time Hawaii certified for the NCAAs so he is aware of what the course of is like. The faculty’s lone NCAA win, which got here over California as a part of a report 28-6 season, was its first look since 2002. So there have been large gaps for Hawaii when it comes to collaborating in the NCAAs.

This group? There’s dimension with 7-foot senior heart Isaac Johnson, a first team all-Big West choice who averages 13.7 factors. There’s athleticism with Dre Bullock, the 6-foot-6 guard who leads the team in steals with 48 and guard Hunter Erickson who has dished out a team-best 110 assists. And there’s experience with eight seniors/graduate gamers on the roster.

But what could also be most spectacular about Ganot’s team is how they compete on the boards. Hawaii is a actually good rebounding team. It led the Big West in rebounding margin at +5.8 and it helped get the Rainbow Warriors into Saturday’s title game after they outrebounded Cal State Fullerton 53-26.

“We have great buy-in from our kids,” Ganot said of their willingness to do the work on the glass.

Friday, it was all on show against the Titans, who had narrowly misplaced to Hawaii 87-85 after they met on Feb. 28 in Fullerton. The ‘Bows took care of the Titans in the first meeting in Honolulu back on Dec. 6, 69-59.

Fullerton did not back down and the game was still up for grabs at the midway point of the second half at 44-44. But the ‘Bows turned up the defensive pressure, went on an extended 17-3 run tp lead 61-47 with just under six minutes to play.

“We challenged our team to get back to their identity — toughness and get on the glass,” Ganot said. “And you saw the way they responded.”

So it’s one step to go for Hawaii. Like Irvine, it only had to play one game to get to the title contest, Still, it’s about relaxation, hydration and psychological preparedness for what figures to be a 40-minute battle.

“We have to carry the momentum from tonight into tomorrow,” said senior ahead and captain Harry Rouhliadeff, who had a double-double of 16 factors and 10 rebounds against Fullerton Friday. “We have to get back to work and keep going.”

For Ganot, his message to his gamers for Saturday is simple.

“Be you,” he said. “It’s the consistency in the messaging. That’s what prepares us for these moments. Have fun. Enjoy it. Do what we do.”

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