Game day: UH vs. UC Irvine

The Anteaters were sort of a party pooper for the ‘Bows last year. They ruined the ‘Bows’ senior night, then eliminated them from the Big West tournament.

But even before that, the Anteaters were considered one of the league’s circle-the-calendar opponents. That should make for a feisty night in the Stan Sheriff Center.

“They’re a contender to win the championship, and we want to be a contender, as well,” UH point guard Brocke Stepteau said. “It’s a great opportunity for us.”

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So here’s the skinny on the Anteaters:

> They’re very good defensively. A UCI player has been named the league’s top defender the past five years, with post player Jonathan Galloway as the two-time defending champ. The Anteaters are relinquishing 64.7 points per game, and seven times they have held opponents to under 60 points.

> They’re tall. They rotate four in the post — 6-10 Galloway, 6-9 Tommy Rutherford, 6-9 Collin Welp, and 6-9 Elston Jones. “Size can be a presence,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “It can be scoring in the post. Maybe it’s a presence around the rim.” The Anteaters have per-game averages of 29.8 paint points, 15.3 offensive rebounds and 12.7 second-chance points. Against CSUN on Saturday, the Anteaters grabbed 26 offensive rebounds.

> They’re deep. Guard Max Hazzard is the leading scorer 11.8 points) but he is not the go-to guy. Nobody is. The Anteaters have started nine different players and used four different opening lineups in the past nine games. Robert Cartwright appears to have supplanted Eyassu Worku at the point — Cartwright has started the past four games — but UCI lists Worku as a probable starter tonight.

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Here’s a quick interview with Galloway, who is averaging 8.0 rebounds per game (and prorated 13.7 boards per 40 minutes):
> On his defense: “Our coach always gives us a good game plan. It’s a team defense. Me and my teammates are all playing together every single play. When we execute our game plan, we do it pretty well, and that gives us a good chance to win.”
> On his hobby: “I collect shoes. My collection hasn’t been growing as much as I want it to ever since I got to college. I’ve got 40, 45 (pairs). The majority are basketball (shoes), but I’m starting to branch out a little bit, and I’m starting to get different types of kicks in there. I’ve always had an interest in shoes growing up, just watching basketball, and all those crazy shoes everybody is wearing. The Kobe’s, the LeBron’s, the KD’s. Everybody’s got their own shoe, and I like to pick and choose what I like to wear.”
> On playing for Guam’s national team: “I’m half Chamorro … my mom is full and my dad is full African-American. I’ve had a handful of opportunities to represent the Guam national team. … I’m looking forward to representing them. I think we have the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa coming up. That’s in July. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be over there for that.”

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Part inspiration, part coincidence, but the Warriors’ growth spurt is mirroring UCI’s roster composition. The past year, the ‘Bows added three 7-foot freshmen.

“We wanted to be big,” Ganot said of UH’s 2018 recruiting strategy. “We wanted to be balanced. … I think we can do a good job developing young bigs, and so we wanted to do that.”

Ganot indicated there was a need to add size to match up against some of the programs nationally and, yes, against UCI.

But he cautioned that patience is needed.

“Everybody always wants the instant results,” Ganot said. “I think it takes time for everybody. I think it takes more time for young bigs.”

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UH post Zigmars Raimo has developed into an accurate scorer (Big West-leading 57.2-percent FG shooting) and rugged defender, but he admittedly knows he has to work on his inconsistent free-throw shooting. Raimo has converted 45.8 percent of his free throws on a team-high 72 attempts. “I’m still working on it, but it’s getting better,” Raimo said. “It’s more like confidence, I think. I’m shooting a lot of free throws lately. The first two years, I didn’t shoot a lot of free throws. It’s not like I can’t shoot the free throws. Its going to come back, and I’ll be fine with it.”

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Did we mention it’s Super Hero Night?

If he could be any super hero, Stepteau said he would like to be The Flash “because speed kills.”

Guard Drew Buggs said his choice would be the Black Panther. Forward Jack Purchase said he likes Superman, Batman and Spider-Man. But if he had to choose, he would pick Spider-Man.

And guard Eddie Stansberry said he would choose Superman. “Because Superman has it all,” Stansberry said. “Nobody can stop him. There’s kryptonite. But Superman is one-man machine. Growing up, I always wanted to be Superman.”

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Anteaters and aardvarks apparently are not the same animal.