UC Santa Barbara survives late Hawai’i comeback to open new year

HONOLULU – Short again. 

The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team dropped its sixth consecutive meeting with UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, 64-61, falling to 0-2 to begin the Big West Conference slate and 8-5 overall. UCSB guard Stephan Swenson paced all scorers, pouring in 21 points and seven assists in the win for the visiting Gauchos, who picked up the team’s first Division I win since Dec. 19 against Green Bay. 

Tanner Christensen led the effort for UH, scoring 15 points and grabbing five rebounds for his highest scoring output since mid-November against Weber State (25 points in an overtime win). Gytis Nemeikša added 13 points and eight rebounds, shooting a tidy 5-of-7 from the floor that included a putback through contact with under four seconds to play that brought the Rainbow Warriors (8-5, 0-2 Big West) within one and a last-second desperation half court heave to try and force overtime.

Duece Turner and Jason Fontenet II each scored 10 points apiece for UC Santa Barbara, who shot under 40% from the field but knocked down eight three-pointers while going 10-for-12 from the foul line to squeak out another win in the islands. The Gauchos (9-5, 1-2 Big West) have swept the Rainbow Warriors in each of the last two seasons and have won nine of the last 10 meetings between the programs. 

“Obviously, a tough game,” Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot said after the loss. “You would love to have a couple possessions back … We were lucky [in the first half], they made five threes, but they could’ve made more … It’s never what happens at the end [of a game] but what leads up to that so there’s still growth for us [to come].” 

The teams flowed early, getting stops and trading baskets without a whistle or stoppage in play for the first nine-plus minutes of action. Hawai’i attacked the paint aggressively to begin, feeding Christensen touches down low against rare single coverage while finding the 6-foot-10 center on a few pick-and-roll sets for some nice finishes. Back-to-back hits from three-point range gave the Gauchos an 18-14 lead, finally forcing a break in the action as Ganot called for a 30-second timeout with 10:47 left before halftime. 

Hawai’i came back with a dual-point guard lineup, pairing starter Kody Williams with Aaron Hunkin-Claytor to help the offense keep pace with UCSB’s attack before eventually pulling within a point with 5:23 left before the break as Akira Jacobs drilled his lone three-pointer of the night. 

After a Cole Anderson triple pushed the Gauchos’ lead back to six, the Rainbow Warriors again responded with a quick flurry of points to pull within one before a tough finish over a good contest by Swenson gave UC Santa Barbara a three-point lead at the intermission, 31-28.

Nemeikša scored four of the first six points for Hawai’i out of halftime before Ryan Rapp pushed the hosts ahead by two with 15:44 left in regulation with a pair of free throws, the first time since the opening minutes that UH held a lead. UC Santa Barbara would go on to score 15 straight points behind three straight makes from distance, taking a 13-point lead as the game clock ticked under 10 minutes left. 

The Rainbow Warriors finally saw a six-minute-long scoring drought end when Nemeikša got a short shot in the paint to drop with 9:42 to play, helping spark a small run that pulled UH within seven as the teams hit the under-8-minute media timeout. Six points in a row from Rapp made it a 55-52 deficit for Hawai’i with 5:17 to play, giving the sixth-year senior 10 points to become the third Rainbow Warrior on the night in double figures.

“I think the game changed when we compounded what could be a four-point swing into a 12-point swing,” Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot said of the Gauchos’ second half run. “I felt like the group we had, not just to end the game but with Aaron [Hunkin-Claytor] and Harry [Rouhliadeff] off the bench too, they were very connected and gave us a chance … we came up a possession short.” 

The Gauchos got to the line eight times down the stretch, knocking down seven of those attempts to grip on to the one-score lead. Ryan Rapp had an open look from straightaway that would have tied it, but it caromed off the rim towards Christensen, who was fouled and went to the line for two. 

The senior big man split the pair, bringing the UH deficit down to 61-59 before Swenson returned the favor on the other end to leave the door open for the Rainbow Warriors to tie. A jumbled possession led to an errant Kody Williams three-point try that somehow made its way into the arms of Nemeikša, who muscled up a putback through some contact with just under four seconds to play to keep Hawai’i alive. 

“I’d have to look at it again,” a non-committal Ganot said when asked if he thought Nemeikša was fouled on the late putback. “The end didn’t cost us the game, the officials… you know, that wasn’t part of it. I’m just going to look at the film and I’ll trust the crew and see what… you know, look at the film.” 

Two makes at the charity stripe by Swenson gave UCSB a 64-61 lead, giving one final chance for the Rainbow Warriors to make a miracle happen to start the new year. Without a timeout, UH went to Nemeikša on the inbound and saw his halfcourt heave glance off side iron as the buzzer sounded to drop Hawai’i to the first 0-2 start to conference play since the 2016-17 season.  

Marcus Greene played a season-low 19 minutes, scoring only two points as the senior guard mustered only one made field goal for the second straight game. Kody Williams showed signs of a bounce-back game after being benched down the stretch in favor of freshman Aaron Hunkin-Claytor during UH’s win against Oakland on Christmas Day, scoring seven points and grabbing four rebounds but shooting just 2-of-9 from the field and hitting 1-of-6 from long distance. 

Hawai’i will face a quick turnaround, hosting Cal Poly on Saturday as the Big West schedule is in full swing. The Mustangs enter the weekend off a home 98-89 overtime loss against preseason league favorite UC Irvine and will look to bounce back in the islands with KenPom’s top Adjusted Tempo rating in the country (Cal Poly is averaging 76.9 possessions per 40 minutes, Hawai’i is tied for 300th nationally with 66.0 possessions per 40 minutes via KenPom). 

“It’s probably one of the more gauntlet-type leagues that we’ve had [in the Big West],” Ganot said of talent in the conference this season. “You saw what [Cal Poly] did with Irvine tonight … it’s a very improved program, well-coached. It’ll be a great challenge and a quick turnaround for us.”