How have ‘Bows fared at Pac-12 schools?
With the Hawaii men’s basketball team taking on UCLA at historic Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday, now might be a good time to examine how the Rainbow Warriors have fared historically in road games against the Pac-12 Conference.
The first thing one notices poring through the UH media guide is that there’ve been almost none of them in the 21st century. In fact, going into Wednesday, there’ve been all but three true UH road games against the westernmost Power Five league since 1991 — at USC in 1999, at UCLA in 2000, and at Utah last year.
Of course, UH just beat Utah 90-79 in a neutral-site game in the Wooden Legacy last week. And UH has actually fared pretty well against the Pac-12/10 since the mid-1990s, going 10-6 in such games with the majority at home.
But when UH did those road games regularly, it was a struggle, to say the least. Like, 1-47 (updated: 1-48) all-time kind of struggle. You can see why Manoa has avoided those trips like the plague in the years since. The one win? At Washington State on Dec. 9, 1953, 47-45.
Wednesday’s meeting with UCLA will be just the second all-time between the teams, both away. UCLA won the previous meeting 84-64 in UH’s eventual NCAA Tournament season of 2000-01. The late legend John Wooden, then 90, was watching in house as Jason Kapono torched the Rainbows.
Here’s every game UH played against a Pac-12 (or previous iterations of the league). This list does not count road games at these schools when they were not members of the Pac-12 (or previous iteration of the league). So, there’s UH losses at Arizona State (1971), Washington State (1959) and Utah (many) that aren’t listed here. If you’re wondering why the aforementioned win over WSU counted and the 1959 loss didn’t, it’s because the Cougars left what was then the Pacific Coast Conference earlier in ’59 and didn’t rejoin its conference brethren until 1962.
UH TRUE ROAD GAMES VS. PAC-12
Arizona: 0-0
Arizona State: 0-1
Dec. 5, 1986: 97-72 L
California: 0-6
Feb. 4, 1950: 84-60 L
Dec. 12, 1952: 77-40 L
Dec. 21, 1953: 77-56 L
Dec. 22, 1953: 73-70 OT L
Dec. 5, 1985: 87-71 L
March 16, 1989: 73-57 L
Colorado: 0-0
Oregon: 0-2
Jan. 31, 1966: 82-47 L
Feb. 1, 1975: 77-72 L
Oregon State: 0-7
Dec. 4, 1953: 73-54 L
Dec. 1, 1954: 69-47 L
Dec. 12, 1958: 59-40 L
Feb. 1, 1965: 92-61 L
Feb. 1, 1966: 72-36 L
Jan. 30, 1970: 76-56 L
Jan. 15, 1974: 86-62 L
Stanford: 0-5
Dec. 19, 1953: 82-71 L
?? 1954-55: 85-58 L
Jan. 19, 1977: 84-71 L
Dec 27, 1977: 72-68 L
Dec. 1, 1990: 84-55 L
UCLA: 0-2
Dec. 9, 2000: 84-64 L
Nov. 28, 2018: 80-61 L
USC: 0-17
Dec. 5, 1952: 59-54 OT L
Dec. 6, 1952: 62-56 L
Dec. 11, 1953: 60-46 L
Dec. 12, 1953: 71-49 L
Dec. 13, 1954: 74-54 L
Dec. 14, 1954: 90-63 L
Dec. 11, 1956: 85-56 L
Dec. 12, 1956: 93-74 L
Dec. 16, 1958: 76-56 L
Dec. 17, 1958: 72-42 L
Dec. 22, 1959: 91-43 L
Dec. 23, 1959: 73-49 L
Dec. 22, 1960: 89-56 L
Dec. 23, 1960: 91-69 L
Feb. 1, 1965: 85-51 L
Feb. 2, 1965: 101-75 L
Dec. 8, 1999: 85-56 L
Utah: 0-1
Dec. 2, 2017: 80-60 L
Washington: 0-7
Dec. 3, 1954: 89-60 L
Dec. 4, 1954: 69-58 L
Dec. 8, 1958: 67-62 L
Dec. 12, 1960: 73-46 L
Jan. 28, 1966: 111-52 L
Jan. 29, 1966: 87-58 L
Jan. 19, 1974: 80-70 L
Washington State: 1-0
Dec. 9, 1953: 47-45 W
Time to break the string!
Troy Ostler was a stud.
Sure is an ugly picture with our record versus the Pac10/12 at 1 of 49 with the single win in 1953 against Washington St. The picture is slightly slanted though. The vast majority of the games were played from the early 50s to the late 70s, Rainbow Basketball was a lot better in the 80s and 90s.
When Hawaii beat Cal in the first round of the NCAAs, I didn’t realize the Bows were avenging a 1989 first round loss in the NIT. It was their first post-season appearance since the pre-Larry Little era.
In defense of the late Larry Little, there were no conference tournaments and no chance at an at-large bid to the NIT because the NCAA Tournament was a field of either 48 or 32. I’m not sure how many teams played in the NIT.
He had a 17-10 team. With 64, now 68 teams in the “Big Dance”, Hawaii would have broken their post-season-less string sooner.
From Riley Wallace on, Hawaii had no second-best shot-blocker. It was just Troy Ostler.
I wish he blocked the shots in-bounds, though. He was always whacking it into the bench or stands.
Well…what were we expecting? We’re not that capable of handling situational road tests in the Pac-12 or anywhere in the Big 10/Big 12. It’s just that we’re getting outclassed in all facets. The Big West is always a step behind almost every other conference (From ACC, Big East, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and Pac-12). It seems that they always get the best recruits possible for NBA potential. Only one I believe in the BWC is part of the NBA, David Nwaba of Cal Poly. But nothing else after that. It’s hard for us to be a talented program in the BWC when Irvine takes the full glory.