Gameday: UC Davis
Hawaii will be without its most clutch shot-maker, guard Brocke Stepteau, for tonight’s pivotal Big West game against UC Davis.
The winner will likely assume control of first place in the conference, if Long Beach State can hang on to a 17-point halftime lead at home and beat Cal State Fullerton.
Stepteau, UH’s fourth-leading scorer at 9.9 ppg, is in street clothes recovering from the finger fracture on his right hand. He’s got the hand wrapped up nice and tight pregame.
Brocke Stepteau has his injured right hand wrapped up nice and tight. pic.twitter.com/8Uz0JjgdyF
— Brian McInnis (@Brian_McInnis) January 21, 2018
UH (12-5, 3-1) is favored by four over Davis (12-6, 3-1), though the calculus likely changes with Stepteau out. Leland Green steps back into the starting lineup after coming off the bench the last five games. Sheriff Drammeh tweaked his ankle in practice on Friday but appears good to go.
Mike Thomas and Gibson Johnson vs. Chima Moneke should be a very intriguing matchup. UH’s frontcourt duo has shot the ball exceptionally well of late, especially Thomas, who’s missed just five of 30 shots in Big West play. That’s absurd.
But Moneke is a strong BWC player of the year candidate, and nearly 20 and 10 per game. He’s coming off his lowest output of the season, six points and seven rebounds in a nine-point win over LBSU, but he still affected the game in other ways, including four blocked shots. UH will need to have its bigs stay out of foul trouble as long as possible against him.
And watch out for Siler Schneider. The redheaded guard is coming off a career-best 29 points with six assists against The Beach.
It was a team win but special props to Drew Buggs for fighting through cramps and fatigue to help UH hang onto the lead down the stretch. What a performance.
Sheriff Drammeh is lucky that the ref didn’t “tee” him up after being called for his fifth foul.
Doesn’t two technical fouls mean having to sit out the next game?
Streaking down the court is a form of showing up the referees, bad as they were.
UC-Davis’ RPI is 64.
I think Hawaii will crack the top 150 tomorrow.
Good game last night. Shows that they can scrap it out in conference play, however they must prove this on the road after splitting against lbsu and csun. Brian, whats your opinion on Raimo vs Ido coming off the bench?
I really like how they’re using Raimo lately. The “Rhino” has been largely effective in his spot minutes (except for that one play last night when he had to post up and Chima Moneke basically just took the ball out of his hands). I thought in the preseason Ido was going to be a rotation guy based on his conditioning at that time, but it just hasn’t borne out. Right now, to me, Ziggy is the choice between the two, despite the height gap.
Hawaii is ranked #37 in the College Insider Mid-Major Poll.
what Drammeh did was uncool. Coach should discipline him.
When Ido gets the ball, he gets obsessed with trying to make a play. He holds on to the ball too long. Instead of making all these ungainly moves, that does nothing to shake the defender, he should kick the ball out to an open man.
#8….I whole-heartedly agree. I always wonder why he goes thru all that. He gets the ball…pump fake, pivot, the pump fake again and then get the ball stolen. He also play small. He like to put the ball low and allow opponents to steal the ball.
Get the ball….hold it high….survey the floor then make a decisive decision either to attack the rim or pass. No need all that pump faking and putting the ball low.
People believe what they want to believe.
This is the basic thesis behind Kurt Andersen’s “Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire, A 500-Year History”.
I believe that Riley Wallace’s back-to-back NCAA teams were good enough to win two games in any of the last couple of tournaments.
Think about all the unwatchable first-and-second round games due to one-and-done players and the influence of AAU basketball.
Savo, English, Puida, Shimonovich, Burenekia, and Martin could ball.
I also believe that Devo is better than Led Zeppelin.