Hawaii men’s basketball: Eddie Stansberry’s hot half not enough against South Dakota
Only four times last year did Eddie Stansberry convert more 2-point field goals than 3-point field goals in a game. Four out of 30 games played.
So far in 2019-20, the Hawaii senior shooting guard is 1-for-2 in that respect.
Stansberry showed off a more well-rounded game in busting out of a brief season-opening slump on Sunday night against South Dakota, scoring all of his 21 points in the second half. However, the Rainbow Warriors came up short, 81-75, when the Coyotes (2-0) of the Summit League managed to hold on to the remnant of an 11-point lead that got trimmed to two in the final minutes.
“Really the biggest different was just I knew in the first half, I wasn’t really going. I knew I needed a little more energy to help the guys,” Stansberry said. “They’re all supporting me going into the locker room at halftime, telling me to bring that energy that I usually have. Just to go out there with the same confidence that I normally do.”
Stansberry, who was 2-for-13 from the field in UH’s 65-52 win over Florida A&M in Friday’s opener, and just 0-1 in the first half Sunday, hit some tough ones on his 8-for-13 night (3-6 3PT), including a triple off the dribble to get UH within 75-73 with 18.3 seconds left. But that would be as close as UH got.
Samuta Avea and Eddie Stansberry discuss #HawaiiMBB’s 81-75 loss to South Dakota and the chance to bounce back tomorrow against Pacific. pic.twitter.com/rANqLp8hm1
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) November 11, 2019
He tied for team-high honors with Jack Purchase last year for 3-pointers made, 77. On Sunday he realized he’d need to look as much or more inside the arc to rally his team.
“Collectively as a group, yeah, everyone’s still trying to improve their game a little bit,” Stansberry said. “That’s just something we did as a team, a jump, just to make more plays off the bounce.”
UH wound up shooting 60 percent (18-for-30) in the second half compared to 35.7 percent in the first (10-for-28).
South Dakota coach Todd Lee credited Stansberry with changing the complexion of the game late. UH trailed by 11 with 7:14 left, until one of Stansberry’s 3s dropped.
Eddie Stansberry provided a lot of the excitement late for the ‘Bows, helping UH make it a close finish in the 81-75 loss to South Dakota. Stansberry ended up with 21 points and 5 rebounds, shooting 3-for-6 from 3-point range. #HawaiiMBB 🏀🏀🏀 pic.twitter.com/iVmBwZaNHS
— Spectrum Sports HI (@specsportshi) November 11, 2019
“We did a good job of handling their press, and then we got shots in the halfcourt. But we gave up too many points in the second half.,” USD coach Todd Lee said. Stansberry, we lost him a little bit, but he also made some unbelievable shots. Those shots he was making, he’s a talented player. We knew that if he gets going, he’s hard to guard. And they run some really good stuff to get him open. But we kept our composure. We didn’t turn it over and we pretty much got what we wanted, look-wise, offensively.
Note: At the end of his postgame press conference, acting head coach Chris Gerlufsen said he’s kept regular contact with Eran Ganot, but did not have an update on when the coach would be back in action. UH plays Pacific at 7 p.m. Monday.
Updated March 7
| Conference | Overall | |||
| W-L | Pct. | W-L | Pct. | |
| UC Irvine | 13-3 | .813 | 21-11 | .656 |
| UC Santa Barbara | 10-6 | .625 | 21-10 | .677 |
| Cal State Northridge | 10-6 | .625 | 15-17 | .469 |
| Hawaii | 8-8 | .500 | 17-13 | .567 |
| UC Davis | 8-8 | .500 | 14-18 | .438 |
| UC Riverside | 7-9 | .438 | 17-15 | .531 |
| Cal State Fullerton | 6-10 | .375 | 11-20 | .355 |
| Long Beach State | 6-10 | .375 | 11-21 | .344 |
| Cal Poly | 4-12 | .250 | 7-23 | .233 |
just as I predicted, the big men (7 footers) are the weakness of the team. they are too slow and cannot shoot. south Dakota had some very quick front people and they ran circles around carper and the foreign guy (name escapes me). And I don’t see why when they are close to the basket, they dunk instead of trying for a layup. many of those layups did not go. wonder if they cannot jump.
@ Aiea 7
I think most people realized that long before this game even took place. If this team pressed more they would have given UH way more trouble.
South Dakota shot lights-out from the three.
#3 – my point is why the coaching staff signed these 3 big slow players? they are only taking space on the bench and when they play they are not contributing but weakening the team. you need to be more selective in recruiting, to assure that they can contribute. the only “big guy” is the da silva, who shows some promise but as a freshman, he is not there yet and has to become strong and develop more. even raimo was made silly by the south Dakota players and they were not the big men on the team. quickness and jumping ability of 6’5 to 6’7 players are much better than 7 footers who can only tiptoe and not even dunk.
3. UH shots lights out from the 3. … 42 % to S Dakota’s 35.7. 8 for 19 for UH to 5 for 14 for SDakota. Avea was 4 for 6, Eddie 3 for 6 and Hemsley 1 for 3.
4. I think Colina is really the only disappointment so far of the 3 bigs. I like Carper, he’s gotten stronger and looks better out there, but he’s slow so he struggles against the small athletic 6’8 big men that he’s tasked with guarding at times. I think Owen Hulland will be good, but hopefully his career at UH isn’t cut short by injuries. I think he could be a Stefan Jankovic type of stretch-5 player this team.