Pepperdine fallout // Fotu gets a surprise

Everyone had a chance to cleanse their palate from that Hawaii loss to Pepperdine on Saturday? I can’t hold it against you if you haven’t yet … things got downright sour at the Stan Sheriff.

Thirty-three percent shooting from the field and 50 percent at the foul line will do that do you. Especially when you clank 11 in the second half (in 20 FT attempts) to hamstring your comeback effort.

UH had Monday completely off from weights, films, and practice, as it’s now finals week. The Rainbow Warriors got back at it in a closed practice session Tuesday afternoon. More on that in Wednesday’s edition of the paper.

Scout work on Saturday’s opponent, Chaminade, begins in earnest starting tomorrow. If the Silverswords get De’Andre Haskins and Kevin Hu — two of the key Texas slayers at the Maui Invitational — back from recent injuries in time, it could be quite a battle at The Barn.

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There were a few extra visitors at Tuesday’s practice. Manu Fotu, the father of freshman forward Isaac Fotu, attended along with two of Isaac’s younger siblings.

The Fotus worked with UH assistant coach Brandyn Akana to arrive in Hawaii from New Zealand in secret and surprise Isaac on campus before practice.

“We decided to come over and surprise Isaac. We didn’t tell him that we were going to come,” Manu Fotu said. “Isaac thought he was going down to have a talk with a counselor.”

“Coach Akana sent me a message about a meeting, I didn’t know what it was about,” Isaac said. “(My family) just came out of a door. I was shocked, in shock.  … I’ve been telling everyone I’ve been missing my family, and then they just turned up. That was really good. … I thought it was a dream.”

Said Manu with a laugh, “It was nice to see the look on his face. … It was pretty cool.”

The Fotus have been watching UH games on the internet to this point, but will get to see the Molokai game in person, along with the first two days of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

“My wife couldn’t come, because she got a new job. But we’re hoping next year we can come as a family,” Manu said.