Men's Basketball Weekly
Hawai`i Hilo Overall Record: 8-8       Hawai`i Hilo PacWest Record: 6-6
 
Longest Homestand of the Year Tips Off on Friday                                                             
Friday, Feb. 1 vs. Azusa Pacific (13-8/10-4 PWC), 7:30 p.m., Afook-Chinen Civic, Hilo
Monday, Feb. 4 vs. Biola (10-8/6-6 PWC), 7:30 p.m., Afook-Chinen Civic, Hilo
Friday, Feb. 8 vs. Academy of Art (6-12/6-7 PWC), 7:30 p.m., Afook-Chinen, Hilo
Sunday, Feb. 10 vs. Dominican (6-13/2-11 PWC), 7:30 p.m., Afook-Chinen, Hilo
Live Stream/Live Stats at www.hiloathletics.com

Watch, Listen: All Vulcan home men's basketball games are available via video stream (and Live Stats). Improved coverage, which includes audio play-by-play, through Out of the Sea Media on the Vulcan website. Additionally, home games are on radio at AM 670 KPUA-Hilo with UH Hilo's Russ Blunck on the call.
 
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!!
 
Hilo Headlines: UH Hilo split a pair of games on the road last week to remain even at 8-8 overall and 6-6 in the Pacific West Conference. Holy Names completed a season sweep over the Vulcans (85-61) while UHH topped Notre Dame de Namur in their first meeting of the year, 66-56.
 
Tourist Attraction: The Vulcans enjoyed their two trips to the bay area this season, finishing with a 4-1 record in those contests. It is UH Hilo's best record against those five schools since they began making that trip in PacWest play.  
 
Road Warriors: UH Hilo's road record is currently 4-3, the best in quite some time for a Vulcan team. The last time that UHH won four games ALL season on the road was in 2008-09 when they finished 4-5. The 2007-08 squad went 4-6 in road uniforms, as did the 2005-06 Vulcan club. The last UHH team that has a winning record away from home was the 2004-05 Jeff Law-coached team that was 25-4 overall and 6-3 on the road.
 
Tight as a Drum: The top six of the 12 teams in the Pacific West Conference qualify for the post-season conference tournament (March 7-9) in San Rafael, Calif. The Road to San Rafael, especially for the teams seeking spots 5-6, is about as tight as it can be. While Point Loma (14-0), Concordia (11-2), Azusa Pacific (10-4) and Chaminade (8-4) comfortably occupy the top four spots, the four other squads battling for the last two spots are literally only games apart. Holy Names is currently fifth at 8-7, followed by UH Hilo in sixth (6-6), Academy of Art (6-7) and Fresno Pacific (5-8). Additionally, Biola, who is not yet eligible for NCAA post-season play, is also 6-6—All of this heading into games on Wednesday (Jan. 30) night.
 
Making Things Uncomfortable: The Vulcans continue to use a template that they are getting better and better at—in fact they are now one of the best in the country in this category. The Vulcans rank eighth in the NCAA in turnovers forced at just under 20 a game (19.19). That also puts head coach GE Coleman's team at the top of the PacWest forced turnover ladder and they are second in the west. The Vulcans are 19^th in the nation in steals per game (9.4), which is also tops in the PacWest and third in the west region. UHH is 17^th in turnover margin, which translate to second in the PacWest and fourth in the west region (4.4).
 
By the Numbers: James Griffin leads the team at 17.4 points a game, with Larry Bush next at 13.8. Devin Johnson and Kupaa Harrison are each just a few points under 10 points a game at 9.8. with Jordan Graves next at 9.1points a contest. Johnson leads with 5.6 rebounds a game, Harrison has 5.4 and Griffin 4.7. Griffin is hitting 39 percent of his three-point attempts (28-for-74) and Bush is also deadly at 42 percent (28-for-67). Smaller sample size, but also in the very good range from beyond the arch are Cleo Cain at 42 percent (18-for-43) and Harrison—39 percent (7-for-18).
 
PacWest Lists: James Griffin is fourth in the PacWest in scoring, is sixth in field goal percentage (.500) and ranks fourth in three-pointers per game (2.2). Denhym Brooke is second in blocked shots per game (1.5), while Jordan Graves is eighth in assists (3.4).
 
Pickpockets: The Vulcans have the second, third and fourth best thieves in the Pacific West Conference. Larry Bush is second in steals (2.3), Kupaa Harrison is third (2.1) and Jordan Graves is fourth (2.1).
 
Coach C: "We seemed to be out of gas against Holy Names and they couldn't miss in the second half (they hit 15 of their first 20 shots). We bounced back nicely against Notre Dame, pulling away from them late which is always an accomplishment on the road. We now need to be ready for a critical swing of home games against some very good basketball teams."
 
Devin's Done: Senior post Devin Johnson is now officially done for the year after an MRI revealed numerous tears and a fractured knee cap. The 6-7 post was injured early in the second half of the Dominican game on Dec. 31 after dunking his 19^th point of the night. The Washington native hit 8-of-9 shots in just 14 minutes to collect a season-high 19 points in the win. Earlier in the year, the Vulcans lost standout freshman guard Damani Whitlock (shoulder). Having played in only four games, Whitlock will file for a medical redshirt season to get his freshman year back.
 
Projected Starters: Here are the projected starters for this week.
*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—Kupaa Harrison, 6-5, 185, Jr., Honolulu, Hawai`i (Orange Coast College)
*F—Denhym Brooke, 6-8, 210, Sr., Auckland, New Zealand (BYU-Hawaii)
 
Regional Rankings: Monday's regional rankings (D2SIDA) looked like this on Jan. 28. (1) Point Loma 18-2, (2) St. Martin's 16-2, (3) UC San Diego 16-4, (4) Cal State East Bay 16-3, (5) Northwest Nazarene 13-3, (6) Chaminade 14-3, (7) Western Oregon 14-5, (8) Concordia CA 15-7, (9) Humboldt State 15-7, (10) Cal Poly Pomona 10-5. Nationally, Bellarmine is No. 1, with west region teams Point Loma at No. 9, St. Martin's 13^th, and UC San Diego 19^th.
 
Azusa Accolades: Azusa Pacific slipped past Chaminade into third place on Monday night with an 80-64 win over the Silverswords. That gives the Cougars four straight wins coming into tonight's game at Hawaii Pacific. 6-3 guard Mandrell Worthy leads a balanced squad with 16.7 points a game and Will Ferris chips in from long range with 2.5 three-pointers per game (second in the PWC). The Cougars won last year's contest versus the Vulcans in Azusa, and APU leads the all-time series between the two teams, 7-3.

Biola Byline: Like the Vulcans, the Biola Eagles are 6-6 in conference play heading into a trio of games in Hawaii. Biola will play Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific first before arriving in Hilo. Biola has one of the best defensive teams in the league, allowing only 67.6 points a game (second in the PacWest). 6-8 senior forward Alex Talma leads the PacWest in rebounding at 8.9 per game, while 6-4 senior guard Trevor Treinen leads the team in scoring at 14.8. The Vulcans won the lone game played between the two schools last year in Hilo (80-55), evening the all-time series at 1-1.
 
Knight Moves: Academy of Art is the visitor on Feb. 8. Heading into this week, the Urban Knights are right in the thick of the race for a PacWest Tournament berth. At 6-7 in conference play, AAU is just one-half game back of UHH for the coveted sixth-place spot. The Urban Knights play Fresno Pacific and Dominican before beginning their Hawaii trip in Hilo. Andrija Blatancic lists second in the PacWest with 20.2 points a game, and has twice hit for 33 points this month. On January 4, the Vulcans topped AAU in San Francisco (83-72) and Blatancic had 31 points. The Vulcans now lead the all-time series, 8-6.
 
Penguin Power: The Vulcans wrap up the four-game homestand on Feb. 10 with the Dominican Penguins. Dominican has dropped 10 of their last 11 games, which includes a 75-54 setback to the Vulcans in San Rafael on Dec. 31. Cedric Thomas is dangerous, averaging 16.2 points a game, which is exactly what he scored against the Vulcans last month. Earlier this season, the Penguins won three games in a row against teams from the strong CCAA to begin the year at 4-1. With UH Hilo's win on New Year's Eve, the Vulcans now lead the all-time series, 10-9.
 
Turnovers in Droves: Back on Dec. 31, the Vulcans forced Dominican into an unfathomable 38 turnovers on Dec. 31, likely a school record if such stats had been kept over the years. They helped Fresno Pacific turn the ball over 27 times two nights later, and where they did have a school record to stand on was in the steals category. UH Hilo had 20 steals against the Penguins and 19 versus the Sunbirds, either equaling or breaking the previous mark of 19 against BYU-Hawaii set in 1993-94.
 
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.
 
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 season 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.