With all the fresh faces floating around, it can be easy for the familiar ones to get lost in the shuffle, even if they’re 6 feet, 7 inches and taller.
The UH-Hilo men’s basketball team’s PacWest opener Thursday at Hawaii Pacific would be as good a time as any for big men Devin Johnson and Denyhm Brooke to start to assert themselves.
Not that they played poorly during the Vulcans’ 2-1 start earlier this month, but coach GE Coleman admitted, “I don’t think that is what we should expect from them the rest of the season.”
“A lot of new pieces, and Devin is getting used to playing with a lot of new guys,” Coleman said.
The sixth-year coach pointed out that Brooke is still trying to get back in the flow after he played only 12 games last season before his campaign ended at the semester break.
The 6-8 senior forward already has nine blocks on the year, matching his rebounding total, and it will be all hands on deck on the boards against the Sharks (2-1), who have outrebounded their opponents 115-85 so far.
“They shoot the ball extremely well,” Coleman said.
Hawaii Pacific is led preseason PacWest player of the year Jonathan Janssen, a 6-9 forward who averaged 13.6 points and seven rebounds last year. The senior has been the model of consistency to date, scoring 21 points in the Sharks’ opener, a loss to Alaska-Anchorage, and following that up with a pair of 22-point efforts. Tipoff is at 6:30 p.m.
On Saturday, the Vulcans visit Chaminade (3-0) for a 3 p.m. matinee and the theme, according to Coleman, will be smart energy.
“Best offensive team in our league and when they play at (McCabe Gymnasium) they are always so much better,” he said. “We can’t let them go on runs. It can’t be a gym rate race.”
With a three-guard lineup of James Griffin, Larry Bush and Jordan Graves, the Vuls want to play uptempo and harass opponents defensively, but UHH has to be smart, Coleman said.
The Silverswords didn’t take their usual place in the Maui Invitational this season, but they kept exhibitions against Division I teams respectable earlier in the month on the road at San Diego State, losing 68-63, and Arizona (75-54). Chaminade has four players averaging in double figures.
“We have to control the pace,” Coleman said. “We can pressure, but we have to be smart.”
Women
The UHH women used a pair of strong fourth quarters to breeze past Multnomah of the NAIA before Thanksgiving, but they’ll likely want to start fast against the Sharks (3-1), the defending PacWest champions.
All-PacWest selection Breanna Mackenzie has yet to play a game for the Sharks because of an injury, but HPU will get little sympathy from the Vuls, who played eight players in both of their games.
HPU owns a 26-3 series lead heading into the 4:30 p.m. start.
