HONOLULU – Each senior class in any University of Hawaii sport usually leaves an impact on the program, one way or another.
And for this year’s UH seniors in men’s and women’s basketball, they certainly made a big positive impact on their respective program, but under different circumstances.
For Garrett Nevels, the lone senior on the men’s team, he provided invaluable player leadership at a particularly vulnerable time, when the program needed it most. Back in late October/early November, head coach Gib Arnold and longtime assistant Brandyn Akana were abruptly and unexpectedly relieved of their duties, under the ominous cloud of allegations of NCAA violations.
Soon after, top returnee Isaac Fotu was declared ineligible and proceeded to immediately turn pro. There were serious questions about whether other players would also transfer and leave for greener, supposedly safer programs.
As a senior who graduated from high school in 2010, Nevels was not left with many options, if any. Not that he would have exercised them if available.
Instead, along with newly appointed interim coach Benjy Taylor and co-captain Quincy Smith, Nevels helped keep the group together and focused on the upcoming season. The result was a surprising 12-4 start – the most victories before New Year’s Day by any team in program history.
Along the way, Nevels suffered an injured right (shooting) hand against Colorado but finished with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks in that game anyway to help the Rainbow Warriors win, 69-66, for their highest finish to date in the Diamond Head Classic.
Nevels then produced four points, four assists, two rebounds and two steals in a 71-57 victory over Southern with the hand heavily taped just two days before undergoing surgery. Nevels missed the next three games after the surgery and not surprisingly, Hawaii went 1-2 in those games.
But he returned with the hand in a brace and scored nine points to help UH upset first-place UC Davis, 84-76, on Jan. 22, and scored 14 points with nine rebounds, two blocks and one assist in last Thursday’s 78-59 victory over Long Beach State.
The Rainbow Warriors are now 19-11 overall, 7-7 in the Big West heading into Wednesday’s Senior Night “White-Out” home finale vs. UC Santa Barbara (16-12, 9-5).
That is a lot better than most people had predicted back in late October/early November – and they have Nevels’ tough leadership-by-example to largely thank for that.
As for the Rainbow Wahine’s ascent from 11-19 three years ago to Big West co-champions (at least) with two games still to spare, a lot of the credit should go to seniors Shawna-Lei Kuehu, Ashleigh Karaitiana and Morgan Mason.
Kuehu, in particular, has made an impressive personal progression since enrolling at UH way back in 2009 and going through the program’s highlights and lowlights the past five years.
She overcame a season-ending knee surgery early in her first year to earn Western Athletic Conference All-Freshman honors the next year, then was named Big West Sixth Woman of the Year as a sophomore and to the All-Big West second team as a junior.
This season, she leads the team in scoring (12.3 points per game), rebounding (6.6 per game), steals (36) and blocks (31), and is third in assists with 62.
Kuehu will finish her career with over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
Karaitiana followed Kuehu as Big West Sixth Player of the Year last season and this season ranks second on the team in scoring (10.5 ppg), assists (63) and steals (32), and leads the team in 3-point goals with 37.
Mason came to UH as a JC transfer last season and made an immediate impact, starting 20 games. This season, she has started all 24 games and averages 9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists to go along with 23 steals.
A fourth senior, Shawlina Segovia, joined the team this past season and has started 17 games, averaging 6.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game and adding 25 assists and nine steals.
The Rainbow Wahine (20-7, 12-2) will travel to UC Santa Barbara (2-25, 2-12) on Thursday before coming home for Saturday’s “Senior Night” home finale against Cal State Fullerton (10-17, 4-10).
Hopefully, both men’s and women’s Senior Nights will be ones where the “guests of honor” receive the appreciation they deserve from a packed house they have helped to fill.
