The UH-Hilo basketball team lost all four PacWest road games and fell from first to sixth in the conference standings, where parity is coming into play every week.
The Vulcans first lost to Azusa Pacific (69-62), then Concordia (86-84), Point Loma (91-78), and Biola (88-78). Now, all of them are above UHH. The Cougars are No. 1, the Concordia Eagles No. 5, the Sea Lions No. 4, and the Biola Eagles No. 2.
UHH was missing 6-foot-7 forward Ethan Jetter in the APU and Concordia losses. Cougar forward Ken West scored 18 points on 6 of 10 shooting. Jetter doesn’t score a whole bunch (6.1 points per game), but he’s the most physical defender.
He’ll be back for the rematch against APU (10-6, 7-2) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Hilo Civic, and the Vulcans will welcome back his defensive toughness in the paint.
The obvious question is what’s wrong with the Vulcans?
UHH second-year coach Kaniela Aiona had a simple answer.
“For us, keep in mind that we’re still a work in progress,” he said. “Hopefully, there’s been a lot of growth from our first big mainland trip. We played tough teams as the hunted. We have to find a way to win on the road.”
First off, the Vulcans are very young. Two starters were in a Milwaukee high school a year ago. All the starters are practically brand new to each other.
UHH’s leading scorer, 6-7 forward Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (18.8 ppg, 8.4 rebounds per game), is just a sophomore. Jetter is also a sophomore. Guards Donald McHenry (15.7 ppg) and Max Kunnert (11.5 ppg) are only freshmen. Point guard Darren Williams (13.9 ppg) is the old-timer as a junior.
Only Tait-Jones, Jetter, and Williams have played with each other for one year, and the Vulcans often look smooth in transition but occasionally not so much in half-court execution. Obviously, the opposing teams do a better job in half-court execution on their home court.
The Vulcans are 9-1 at home where they beat PacWest foes Point Loma, Hawaii Pacific, Holy Name, Biola, Academy of Art, and Dominican. They’re 0-5 on the road.
After the APU game, UHH has a six-game road trip, starting Tuesday, Feb. 8 against HPU at the Shark Tank on Oahu.
“Everyone is separated by one or two games. We have to take care of home court and steal some games on the road,” Aiona said. “Everybody beats everybody, and it keeps going that way. There’s a lot of parity in the league. Obviously we missed Ethan, and Darren has been dealing with his hamstring. We need to get him healthy for the stretch run. It’s a tough deal not being at full strength.
“We have to play 40 minutes against APU. We led much of the game and were up 11 at half. But they’ve got great size and length. We have to move the ball and do a better job of finding the open man. The last couple of games our defense has been porous. We have to come together defensively and pick it up on the defensive end.”
After the six-game road trip, which also includes dates against Chaminade, Academy of Art, Holy Names, Fresno Pacific, and Dominican, the Vulcans have senior night against Chaminade on Friday, Feb. 25 at Hilo Civic.
By then, hopefully, UHH is among the top eight teams in the standings for the eight-team PacWest championships, slated March 2-5 at Fresno, Calif. The tournament champion earns an automatic qualifier to the West Regional.
UHH women
The Vulcans went 1-4 on their road trip and are now seventh in the PacWest standings.
UHH (8-6, 5-5) host APU (15-1, 11-0) at 4 p.m. Thursday at Hilo Civic.
Then the Vulcans have a seven-game road trip, starting against HPU on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at the Shark Tank on Oahu.
UHH’s senior night is against Chaminade on Friday, Feb. 25 at Hilo Civic.
The eight-team PacWest conference tourney is slated for March 3-5 at Fresno, Calif.