Diamond Head Classic: Hawaii vs. UTEP
FINAL: Drew Buggs scored Hawaii’s final five points to spark a 67-63 comeback victory over UTEP in the opening round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
>> PHOTO GALLERY: HAWAII VS. UTEP
FINAL: #HawaiiMBB 67, UTEP 63
UH (8-3) advances to the @DiamondHeadClsc semifinals for the first time since 2015.
No. 22 Washington awaits at 6 pm Monday night on ESPN2. pic.twitter.com/VE1GM6aRRc
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) December 23, 2019
Here’s #HawaiiMBB’s shot of the night from point guard Drew Buggs.
Double clutch layup to beat the shot clock for a 64-60 lead with 37.8 seconds left. pic.twitter.com/N2IRtBqFbh
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) December 23, 2019
Buggs sneaked his way past two defenders for layup to extend UH’s lead to 64-60 with 37.8 seconds to play.
Bryson Williams swished a 3 to close the Miners to 64-63.
But Buggs hit the final three free throws to send the Rainbow Warriors into the second round against 22nd-ranked Washington.
* * * **
Samuta Avea led UH on a personal 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 51-50.
Avea hit a 3, then parlayed a feed from Drew Buggs into a thunderous dunk. He ended the run with a fadeaway jumper.
* * * * *
The Miners scored six points in a row — four on free throws — to take a 37-31 lead into the intermission.
The Warriors had gone on a 7-0 run to tie it at 31, a stretch that included Eddie Stansberry’s 3, the ‘Bows first successful trey of the half.
UTEP’s Bryson Williams led the way with 14 points.
UH freshman Bernardo da Silva came off the bench to score nine first-half points.
* * * * *
Daryl Edwards steals the ball at mid-court, then drives for a layup to widen UTEP’s lead to 29-24 WITH 3:21 left in the first half.
Reserve guard Kaden Archie exited after picking up his third foul.
* * * * *
UTEP’s Bryson Williams is heating up, scoring eight points on four baskets no farther than 3 feet from the hoop.
The ‘Bows, meanwhile, have missed both their 3-point shots.
UTEP leads, 23-21, with 704 left in the first half.
* * * * *
Zigmars Raimo is showing his multi-skilled talents. He fired a pass to freshman Bernardo da Silva to tie it at 14 with 11:55 left in the first half.
At the other end, Raimo made a two-handed rejection of Souley Boum’s driving shot
It’s 14-all at the second media timeout.
* * * * *
It’s 8-all at the first media timeout.
UTEP’s dynamic Bryson Williams has four points.
The fact that Hawaii forced UTEP to 10 fouls despite only committing 6 is glaring, despite only trailing by 6. But 5 missed free throws, all on Da Silva could practically be the big difference in Hawaii facing Ball State for a chance at 5th/6th or Washington to a potential 3rd/4th. Come on, guys! We gotta get more offense running!
Da Silva is the anomaly, in regard to our bigs. He had to slow down his game. His performance tonight reminded me so much of Tony Akpan when he figured out how to play. Same scenario, too; leaps and bounds made within the season as a freshman. The execution by everybody down the stretch gave me chills. The Buggs layup, like wow. They’re going to lose to Washington, but if they win the third game, it should be good enough for them to crash the top 100 in the RPI.
It was a great win in which so much was going wrong for Hawaii but they some how found a way by not quitting. The SSC needs to do better with the floor wipers. Players on both teams were slipping. Start with better mops.
I’m glad you brought up the floor wipers. I thought I was the only one.
At women’s volleyball games, the floor wipers seem happy to be there. At men’s basketball games, the floor wipers look embarrassed. It’s even worse when the Rainbow Dancers are situated in front of them. They affect nonchalance, trying their best to appear cool.
UTEP’s team manager looked mad. He was wiping the floor with his shoe.
this team is fun to watch. it is a shame that more people do not come out to support them. They beat a quality team with Da Silva and Avea leading the way – who ever knew that could happen?
UTEP team manager can blame their own coach and not the floor wipers.
The UTEP coach take their team to the free throw line area during timeouts and have their huddle there. What do you think going to happen when a bunch of sweaty athletes sitting on the playing area during a timeout dripping sweat.
Also their were a lot of diving and flopping going around by both teams.
There ball boys are too young. Need to get older ones or adults who are will to do the job but I don’t think there more slipping from any other game.
For UH to move to the “next level” , I believe that they will also need to be a consistent “threat” at the free throw line. The team has not excelled at the line and this will play into an opponent’s strategy to go harder on both end knowing that fouling may very well not hurt them as their opponent has a poor percentage there. last night they left a lot of points on the table at the free throw line forcing them to make those free point up elsewhere.
the biggest weakness of the bows are the two big guys ( 7 footers). only raimao nd DaSilva are any good. they must get a big center who is moble, quick, able to dunk and shoot and jump. the two big guys should be dunking when they are in close but they choose to layup or take a soft shot, which will likely be blocked they the other team’s big and quick center. how can it be a seven footer cannot dunk? the espn announcers made this observation last night.
NBA Mock Draft: Jaden McDaniels(#6) Isaiah Stewart(#14) Nahziah Carter(#46)
Earlier this season, I got as close as I could to the Pacific bench without looking weird and snapped a picture of Damon Stoudamire. I might do the same thing tonight. I haven’t taken a picture of our guys since the team banquet following the 2001-2002 season. My takeaway from that night was that Carl English was a quality person.
UH – BYU blog score predictions
15 – 13 … Akamai Okole
27 – 24 … [collegefootballnews.com]
27 – 24 … NorthShoreFan
28 – 27 … [mwcconnection.com]
41 – 38 … Whitey
45 – 41 … BigWave96744
51 – 24 … wafan
56 – 10 … Kekoa (in memorium)
72 – 45 … SteveM (2001 HI-BYU score)*
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
24 – 31 … [cbssports.com]
28 – 31 … [Athlon Sports]
* Rolovich passed for 543 yards and 8 touchdowns
Football transfer portal, from MWC news …
Hawaii
RB Fred Holly entered the transfer portal.
WR John Johnson entered the transfer portal.