Explosive Hawaii offense erupts against North Dakota

HONOLULU – Health is wealth.

Playing with the full variety of 12 available players for the first time in two weeks, the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team posted the largest win of the year with a dominant 92-55 victory over North Dakota (3-6) inside Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on Friday night.

Five Rainbow Warriors finished in double figures as Dre Bullock and Gytis Nemeikša led the way with 15 points each for UH. Ike Finlinson and Isaiah Kerr each added season highs of 14 points off the bench while combining to knock down three of Hawai’i’s five total 3-point makes.

“I was just feeling good, man,” Kerr said after returning from a two-game absence. “Trainers did a great job helping me with my injury and then I just wanted to wait until I was 100%, don’t want to re-injure, so I felt good today.”

Isaac Johnson stuffed the stat sheet the day after Thanksgiving, pouring in 14 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block while extending his consecutive made free throws streak to a new program record at 38 in a row after a 4-for-4 night at the charity stripe.

Hawai’i (6-2) turned 16 turnovers by the Fighting Hawks into 24 points, turning up the tempo to record 22 points in transition as UH recorded 10+ steals as a team for just the second time this year. The Rainbow Warriors also kept the visitors to season-low four made 3-pointers on 20 attempts.

“Coach always emphasizes [defense] in practice, walk through,” Bullock said of the effort defensively by UH. “Always turn up the pressure, the crowd will get into it … That’s what leads us to easy offense.”

It was North Dakota making the early statement as the visitors from the Roughrider State showed off their own defensive grit, forcing four turnovers by the Rainbow Warriors to take an 8-4 advantage less than three minutes into the action.

Better ball security kept Hawai’i within three as the first-half clock ticked under nine minutes to play, and a 16-3 scoring avalanche followed as the Rainbow Warriors revved up the intensity on both ends to lead to multiple easy buckets.

UH ultimately outscored North Dakota by 17 points over the final 8:38 of the first half, opening up a 44-30 lead at the break on the back of 61% shooting from the floor as a team.

“After that start, and you could feel the energy from them too, it was a competitive battle,” head coach Eran Ganot said postgame. “We separated because of our discipline. We started not having as many defensive lapses, which led to tough twos and [defensive] rebounds for us, which led to transition and push for us.”

The second half included more of the same for Hawai’i, scoring nine of the first 10 points after play resumed to extend the advantage over 20 before the under-16-minute media timeout.

The onslaught continued behind a few highlight reel dunks from Bullock before Kerr pushed the lead to 30 with 7:38 to go, helping Hawai’i eventually cruise to a fourth win by 30+ points in eight games as North Dakota shot 28% from the floor after halftime.

“I said early, because of guys in and out, that I felt our defense would be ahead of our offense,” Ganot said when asked about the Rainbow Warrior offense putting up 80 or more for the fifth time this season. “The defense is performing at an elite level – that’s got to continue – and I think that helps our offense with transition while we’re figuring things out.”

Redshirt freshman guard Greyson Uelmen scored a game-high 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting (8-of-12 FT) in the loss for the Fighting Hawks. Fellow guard Anthony Smith III was the only other player in double figures for the visitors, racking up 12 points off the bench.

Hawai’i switches focus to conference preparation momentarily, returning to action next Thursday, December 4 as UC Davis comes to the islands for the second year of “Bold Week” action in the Big West.