UH offense pointing in right direction
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Tuesday night turned out to be a decent starting point for Deonte Tatum.
In his first game with the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team, Tatum had three points, three rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers as the starting point guard.
"I felt like I did what I had to do," said Tatum, a 6-foot-3 junior. "But I can't be satisfied. We won the game, but we can do better."
The 'Bows defeated Mississippi Valley State, 71-58.
Tatum and 5-10 sophomore Kris Groce spent the entire preseason battling for the starting point guard spot. Groce did not score, but had three assists and two rebounds on Tuesday.
Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said the two will continue to share the position, although "Tatum is probably a little bit ahead."
"I thought Tatum didn't play well in the exhibition game (against Hawai'i-Hilo), so I had some doubts about him," Wallace said. "But I thought he really played steady defense out there and got the team into the offense."
Tatum could have had more assists, but the 'Bows shot just 37.3 percent from the field (28 of 75).
"They played zone (defense) the whole game, so it was hard for us to get into our full offense," Tatum said. "But we have a lot of shooters on this team."
Coastal Carolina next for Hawai'i
The 'Bows host Coastal Carolina tomorrow at the Stan Sheriff Center. Because of a UH women's game earlier in the day, the start for the men's game has been pushed to 8:05 p.m.
The Chanticleers, who are in the Big South Conference, are 0-3: losing 70-46 at Indiana State, 87-80 at Evansville, and 79-73 at UNC Greensboro.
Pele Paelay, a 6-4 junior guard, leads the team in scoring (19.3), rebounding (8.7), assists (3.3) and steals (4.7).
Coastal Carolina, 14-15 last season, plays Chaminade on Sunday.
Tomorrow's game is being promoted as "Family Night" — get two free youth tickets (for ages 4 to 18) with the purchase of one adult ticket.
Big men already settling into roles
Wallace said he liked the rotation of his big men in Tuesday's victory. Chris Botez started at center, and Jeff Blackett and Julian Sensley were the forwards. Matthew Gipson played a key reserve role.
They combined to grab 35 rebounds, led by Botez's 16. The last Hawai'i player to grab more rebounds was Mike Robinson with 18 in 1996.
"You have to keep Botez and Sensley in there," Wallace said. "And then (Gipson) is still behind with his conditioning, so Blackett will probably stay ahead of him."
Center Milos Zivanovic played one minute on Tuesday. Forward Vaidotas Peciukas did not play because of a knee injury.
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.
