UH defeats SMU, 72-55
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
The only zone the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team relied on last night was its comfort zone.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The Rainbow Warriors won their Western Athletic Conference home opener last night, increasing their winning streak in the Stan Sheriff Center to 20 with a resounding 72-55 victory over Southern Methodist.
Hawai'i's Michael Kuebler slices between SMU's Patrick Simpson (1) and Quinton Ross and scores two points in the first half.
A crowd of 4,164 watched the 'Bows improve to 9-2 overall and 2-1 in the WAC. SMU dropped to 5-7 overall and 0-2 in the WAC with its eighth consecutive road loss.
"They love the fans, they love the arena and they're just comfortable here," UH head coach Riley Wallace said of his team's home success.
Indeed, the 'Bows were coming off a disappointing loss at Boise State last Saturday, and a return home proved to be the perfect remedy.
In what has become a home tradition, the 'Bows shared the spotlight.
• Junior guard Carl English scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
• Junior guard Michael Kuebler scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, and was primarily responsible for limiting SMU shooting star Quinton Ross to 16 points.
• Junior forward Phil Martin, benched for most of the Boise State game because of a lackluster performance, bounced back with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting and five rebounds.
• Junior center Haim Shimonovich had six points, six assists and a game-high eight rebounds to lead UH to a 36-27 advantage on the boards.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Especially important, the 'Bows had 15 offensive rebounds, which led to 19 "second-chance" points.
UH’s Mark Campbell handed out eight assists and “orchestrated another good ball game for us,” said Rainbow coach Riley Wallace.
• Senior point guard Mark Campbell had eight assists and "orchestrated another good ball game for us," according to Wallace.
"I don't think anybody can beat us on our home court," said Campbell, the team captain.
English added: "No matter who they are, No. 1 or 200, they're not going to get a win here."
SMU was probably closer to 200 than one, but the Mustangs were still an athletic team that was supposed to create match-up problems for the 'Bows. In preparation for SMU this week, Hawai'i practiced several zone-defense schemes for the first time this season.
Ultimately, Wallace's trademark man-to-man defense was enough.
"I thought our defense worked well," said Wallace, who chastised that same man-to-man defense after the Boise State loss. "We picked it up."
It was especially effective in the second half, limiting the Mustangs to 26.9 percent shooting (7-of-26).
"Our team takes pride in defense," Campbell said. "Nobody wants to get beat, so in the second half, we came out a little more intense."
As English put it: "We didn't need (the zone). It's just a weapon we want to have in our repertoire."
English scored nine points during an early 20-8 surge that put UH ahead for good at 24-12. The Mustangs got as close as 30-26, but the 'Bows closed the half with a 10-5 run to take a 40-31 advantage into halftime. Kuebler made two 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds of the half to highlight the surge.
"Kuebler had that hot streak there that opened it up for us," Wallace said.
English (15) and Kuebler (13) combined to score 28 of UH's 40 first-half points on 10-of-16 shooting. The 'Bows shot 46.6 percent (27-of-58) for the game, including 50 percent (16-of-32) in the first half.
The Mustangs never got closer than seven in the second half. The 'Bows pulled away for good after a 12-2 surge increased an eight-point lead to an insurmountable 65-47 with 5:32 remaining.
Martin scored seven in the second half, and Vaidotas Peciukas came off the bench to contribute eight points in the final 10 minutes.
SMU head coach Mike Dement attributed his team's loss to failure in two of three important categories. Prior to last night's game, he said he told his team they needed to contain UH's 3-point shooting, keep the rebounding margin close, and shoot for a high percentage.
The Mustangs limited UH to 4-of-17 shooting from 3-point range, but lost the rebounding battle and shot just 40 percent (20-of-50) for the game.
"Every game we've lost on the road, we got pounded on the boards and haven't shot the ball well," said Dement, who has openly complained about his team starting the WAC season with five of its first seven games on the road.
Ross led the Mustangs with 16 points, although it was below his WAC-leading average of 19.6. In UH's man-to-man scheme, Kuebler defended Ross.
"He got 16, but he worked for it," Wallace said. "He didn't have any flat, wide-open looks."
Patrick Simpson and Bryan Hopkins added 15 each for SMU, but no other SMU player scored more than five.
"I thought the second half (SMU) was tired," Wallace said. "That happens on the road. It happened to us last week."
Last night's game started a stretch of three home games in five days for Hawai'i.
The 'Bows will host Louisiana Tech tomorrow and Fresno State on Monday. Louisiana Tech (2-0) and Fresno State (3-0) both won last night and are the only remaining undefeated teams in the WAC.
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