Men's Basketball Weekly
Hawai`i Hilo Overall Record: 2-1       Hawai`i Hilo PacWest Record: 0-0
 
UH Hilo MBB to Open PacWest Play with Sharks, Silverswords and Sunbirds
Thursday, Nov. 29 @ Hawai`i Pacific (2-1), 6:30 p.m., Honolulu, Moanalua HS
Saturday, Dec. 1 @Chaminade (3-0), 3 p.m., Honolulu, McCabe Gym
Monday, Dec. 3, vs. Fresno Pacific (1-2), 7:30 p.m., Hilo, UHH Gymnasium
Live Stream/Live Stats at www.hiloathletics.com

Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans will jump into Pacific West Conference action this week with a challenging slate of games. They open on Oahu at Hawaii Pacific (Thursday) and Chaminade (Saturday), before returning home for a short turnaround and a Monday game versus Fresno Pacific.
 
Campus Fun: The Vulcans will play on campus at the UH Hilo Gymnasium on Monday for the only time all year. The rest of their home games will be at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
 
Free, Free, Free!!: From here on and forever more, all UH Hilo and Hawaii Community College students will receive free admission to all Vulcan home events. Just show your student ID, and you are in!!
 
Watch, Listen: All Vulcan home men's basketball games will be available via video stream (and Live Stats). The video stream offers improved coverage, which includes audio play-by-play, through Out of the Sea Media on the Vulcan website. Additionally, home games will be broadcast on AM 670 KPUA-Hilo.
 
Winning Homestand: The Vulcans opened the 2018-19 season by taking two of three games during a six-day stretch at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. UHH tipped off the season with a 86-80 win over Alaska Fairbanks of the GNAC, and then split a pair of games with an athletic Simpson University team. All three contests were decided by six points or less, giving head coach GE Coleman a good primer before heading into conference games this weekend.
 
Projected Starters: HC Coleman started the same line-up for all three games—although eight total players averaged 14 minutes a game or better. The starters called out to prior to the opening tip were…
*G—James Griffin, 6-5, 220, Sr., Brisbane, Australia (West Liberty)
*G—Larry Bush, 6-2, 175, Sr., Calabasas, Calif. (UNLV)
*G—Jordan Graves, 6-1, 180, Jr., Monterey, Calif. (Santa Rosa JC)
*F—Devin Johnson, 6-7, 260, Sr., Battle Ground, Wash. (Lower Columbia CC)
*F—Denhym Brooke, 6-8, 210, Sr., Auckland, New Zealand (BYU-Hawaii)
 
Good Going Griffin: James Griffin was impressive in his Vulcan debut. He had 23 points in the win over Alaska and 23 more in the victory over Simpson. He also had six rebounds and four assists versus the Nanooks, and his eight boards against the Red Hawks put him close to a double-double. The West Liberty transfer is averaging 19.3 points a game, third best in the PacWest Conference.
 
By the Numbers: Sophomore Cleo Cain came off the bench to score 17 points in the loss to Simpson…UNLV transfer Larry Bush had 23 points during his first game in a Vulcan uniform, nailing 8-of-11 shots…Jordan Graves had 11 points, four assists and three steals in the victory over the Red Hawks…Because of foul trouble, Devin Johnson averaged just 17 minutes in the three games…6-0 freshman guard Damani Whitlock came off the bench to score 13 points and pull down eight boards in the first Simpson game. He is 7-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range in three contests…Denhym Brooke, one of the top shot blockers in the PacWest in each of the past three seasons, has nine in three games this year…Kupaa Harrison has just two points in three games, but has pulled down 22 rebounds and has eight assists.
 
PacWest Prognosticators: Point Loma was picked by the PacWest coaches as the favorites to win the league title this year. They collected 10 of the 12 first place votes, with the other two going to projected second-place finisher Azusa Pacific. The Vulcans are tabbed to finish ninth.
 
Around the Loop: Chaminade is the only unbeaten team through non-conference play (3-0), with Dominican close at 4-1. All PacWest teams will open conference play this week.
 
Regional Rankings: The first unofficial regional rankings (D2SIDA) looked like this on Nov. 27. (1) UC San Diego 5-1, (2) Cal Poly Pomona 2-0, (3) Saint Martin's 5-1, (4) Western Washington 5-1, (5) Chaminade 3-0, (6) Northwest Nazarene 5-0, (7) Point Loma 4-2, (8) Dominican 4-1, (9) Chico State 0-1, (T-10) San Francisco State 4-1, (T-10) Western Oregon 3-1.
 
Sensational Sharks: Like UH Hilo, Hawaii Pacific is 2-1 to start the season. They lost to Alaska Anchorage (83-79), topped Alaska (92-77) and defeated Oakland City (Mich.), 74-53. Picked to finish fifth in the PacWest, the Sharks are led by Preseason PacWest Player of the Year  Jonathan Janssen, a 6-9 post who averaged 13.6 points and seven rebounds last year. Janssen is averaging 21.7 points through three games this year. Rookie Jacob Foy was this week's PacWest Freshman of the Week, scoring 13 points off the bench in the win over Oakland City. Hawaii Pacific won both games versus the Vulcans last year, but the Vulcans lead the all-time series, 59-52.
 
Silversword Sentences: Chaminade is 3-0 in non-conference games, defeating both Alaska teams and Oakland City. They also lost narrowly in a pair of exhibition games against two teams that are traditionally among the top Division I teams on the west coast—San Diego State (68-63) and Arizona (75-64). The Silverswords are picked to finish fourth in the PacWest, and feature four players averaging in double figures through four games—Grant Dressler (14.3), Erik Scheive (14.0), Jake Hutchings (14.0) and Tyler Cartaino (11.7). The Silverswords and Vulcans split a pair of games in 2017-18, and Chaminade leads the all-time series, 64-44.
 
Sunbird Shining Moments: Fresno Pacific is 1-2 prior to their Hawaii trip, having defeated Montana State-Billings (73-65) with losses to Saint Martin's (86-61) and Cal State East Bay (73-66). Four of FPU's five starters average double-figure scoring numbers, led by Aamondae Coleman (13.3), who also pulls down nine rebounds a game. The 6-6 Coleman had 12 points and 13 boards against CS East Bay. The Sunbirds and Vulcans split games in 2017-18, and UH Hilo leads the all-time series, 5-4.
 
The Coach: GE Coleman enters into his sixth season at UH Hilo in 2018-19. Prior to his arrival at UHH, he was the associate head coach for six seasons at Central Washington, and was an assistant for five seasons with CWU prior to that. He also was an assistant coach at Eastern Washington from 2005-07. GE's father Gil Coleman was the head coach at Central Washington from 1990-95.