Wednesday UH hoops practice roundup

Hey all,

Plenty of new material for the Hawaii men’s basketball team in Wednesday’s practice.

Gib Arnold introduced press breaks and press traps, and there was plenty more work in the halfcourt.

In halfcourt sessions, veteran point guard Hiram Thompson impressed Arnold with his willingness to give up his body by taking charges and setting effective screens.

“I’ve always tried to play my hardest no matter what, and that’s just about playing hard,” Thompson said. “We have a lot of young guys coming up, just trying to set an example to them. Those little things are important to winning.”

The team closed practice in the Stan Sheriff Center with a fullcourt scrimmage with a twist — Arnold refrained, for the most part, from stopping play to give feedback. The Black team, led by assistant Benjy Taylor, won 17-15 over the Brandyn Akana-led White team.

Freshman shooting guard Bo Barnes hit the game-winning 3-pointer on a pull-up shot from the left angle as time expired, earning high-fives all around.

“Today I felt pretty good,” Barnes said. “Today was the first time they let us go if we made mistakes, keep on playing through it. … I saw 5 seconds at halfcourt, so I knew I had to put it up.”

The Black team: point guard Anthony Salter, guards Barnes, Jordan Coleman and Pi‘i Minns, forward Trevor Wiseman and centers Douglas Kurtz and Vander Joaquim.

The White team: point guards Thompson and Bobby Miles, shooting guard Zane Johnson, small forward Joston Thomas, power forward Bill Amis and center Davis Rozitis.

———

Just a heads up, Thomas, one of the bigger personalities on the team, appears on Leahey and Leahey tonight at 7:30 p.m. on PBS.