This Week in Vulcan Men's Basketball
Record: 3-5 (1-3 PWC)

Five-Game Homestand Tips Off This Week                                                      
Thursday, Jan. 2 vs. Fresno Pacific (3-8 / 1-4 PWC), 7:30 pm, Civic Auditorium
Saturday, Jan. 4 vs. Point Loma (8-3 / 4-1 PWC), 7:30 pm, Civic Auditorium
Monday, Jan. 6 vs. Biola (8-3 / 4-1 PWC), 7:30 pm, Civic Auditorium
 
Watch and Listen: All Vulcan home games are available via Live Stream and Live Stats. Live Stats are free, while the video is pay-per-view. Per game cost is $7.95, while a Season Pass can be purchased for $64.95. Additionally, Vulcan men's basketball games are "live" on KPUA AM-670 Hilo, with Russ Blunck on the play-by-play.

Crucial Homestand Begins on Thursday: The longest homestand of the season begins this Thursday when Hawai`i Hilo hosts Fresno Pacific at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. The Vulcans will host the Sunbirds for the first time this year, then play Point Loma and Biola in rematch games, followed by first meetings with Dominican (Jan. 9) and Notre Dame de Namur (Jan. 13).

Let's Review: The Vulcans had final tune-ups before Christmas against a pair of good teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). UH Hilo defeated Saint Martin's (77-70), a team that reached the NCAA West Region final a year ago, and then fell by just a basket to No. 4 regionally ranked Alaska Anchorage (66-64). UH Hilo takes a 3-5 overall record and a 1-3 PacWest mark into the homestand.

Defending the Week: The Vulcans claimed the two straight Pacific West Conference Defender of the Week awards. Jordan Graves earned the honor on Dec. 9 (APU win, CUI loss). He had six steals and the game winning three-pointer against the Cougars, and had three steals versus the Eagles. Kupaa Harrison was the winner on Dec. 16, recording eight total steals in losses to Biola and Point Loma. He also had 15 rebounds in the two games, most of them on the defensive end of the court.

No One is Comfortable: Playing the Vulcans takes you out of your comfort zone. UH Hilo's defense averages 8.9 steals a game, and forces their opponents into 17.1 turnovers per contest. Their turnover differential is +3.5 per game.

Balanced Attack: Senior forward Kupaa Harrison leads the Vulcans with 19.3 points per game, but three other Vulcans are also averaging in double figures—Sasa Vuksanovic (14.0), Jordan Graves (13.3) and Elisha Duplechan (11.0). Vuksanovic has 63 rebounds (7.9) to Harrison's 60 (7.5), while Graves leads in steals with 19 (Harrison has 16). Harrison had 19 assists, Vuksanovic has 17, Graves 16 and Damani Whitlock has 13.

PacWest Numbers: The Vulcans have a number of players in the top half of the PacWest stat columns.
Scoring: Kupaa Harrison (19.3—2^nd)
Rebounding: Sasa Vuksanovic (8.1—2^nd), Kupaa Harrison (7.9—3^rd)
Field Goal %: Sasa Vuksanovic (.496—10^th)
Free Throw %: Kupaa Harrison (.787—5^th)
Steals: Jordan Graves (2.4—1^st), Kupaa Harrison (1.8—4^th)

Sunbirds, Sea Lions and Eagles: It's been a topsy-turvy season so far for Fresno Pacific as they play the first of three games in Hawaii on Jan. 2. The Sunbirds began the year on a five-game losing streak, then won three straight contests against Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State East Bay and Academy of Art, only to most recently fall in their last four games. The Sunbirds have one of the top scorers in the conference in Aamondae Coleman, who averages 17.3 points a game. The 6-foot-6 junior put up 40 points against Academy of Art, missing only four shots all night. The Vulcans won both games last year between the two schools, and UH Hilo leads all-time, 7-4. Defending west region champion Point Loma visits on Saturday (Jan. 4). And although they lost four starters, their head coach and the national player of the year in Dalton Hommes, they have still proven to formable. Before the break, they had a four-game win streak snapped at Azusa Pacific, but are still 4-1 in PacWest play—which includes an 82-68 win over the Vulcans on Dec. 12. In that game, Jordan May led the Sea Lions with 25 points, and the Vulcans were ice cold from the field (40%) and the free throw line (13-of-22). Last year, the Vulcans pulled off the upset of year, defeating PLNU at home, but the Sea Lions still lead the all-time series, 10-6. Biola has been one of the surprises early in the PacWest, after being picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll. Sitting at 8-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play, the Eagles only conference loss is to Point Loma. They have won eight of their last nine games, including a 74-56 verdict over the Vulcans on December 10. Biola's Michael Bagatourian nearly had a triple-double in that game with 15 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists. Lightning quick guard Marquise Mosley leads the Eagles in points (16.9) and assists (4.1).Biola has won the last three games in the series versus the Vulcans, and the Eagles lead all-time ,4-1.

What's Next: After the first three contests of the homestand this week, the Vulcans will host Dominican on Jan. 9 and Notre Dame de Namur on Jan. 13. After that is a short two-game road trip to Azusa Pacific (Jan. 16) and Fresno Pacific (Jan. 18).

Around the PacWest: Through 4-5 games each, 11 of the 12 PacWest teams already have at least one loss. Only Concordia (3-0) is unblemished. There are three teams currently at 4-1---Biola, Point Loma and Chaminade. Biola and Point Loma will both travel to Chaminade this week.

Rating the West: In the last D2SIDA West Region poll released on Tuesday (Dec. 17), the PacWest had three of the top ten teams (records are through December). (1) UC San Diego (11-1), (2) Point Loma (8-3), (3) Cal Poly Pomona (8-3), (4) Alaska Anchorage (9-4), (5) Simon Fraser (9-2), (6) Concordia-Irvine (9-3), (7) Cal State East Bay (9-4), (8) Azusa Pacific (9-3), (9) Chico State (9-3), (10) Cal State Dominguez Hills (8-5). Nationally, UCSD is No. 4 and Point Loma is No. 24.
 
PacWest Poll: The Pacific West Conference Preseason poll looked like this: (1) Concordia, (2) Azusa Pacific, (3) Chaminade, (4) defending PWC champ and NCAA runner-up Point Loma, (5) Biola, (6) Fresno Pacific, (7) Academy of Art, (8) Hawai`i Hilo, (9) Holy Names, (10) Hawaii Pacific, (11) Dominican, (12) Notre Dame de Namur.

Last Year: The Vulcans finished 12-14 overall and 10-12 in the PacWest. They were in postseason contention (PacWest tournament) up until the final day of the season. They lost a buzzer-beater to Chaminade in their final game, and all the other domino pieces that needed to happen didn't. Nonetheless, it was UH Hilo's best record since 2014-15 (also 12-14) and their best PacWest mark since 2010-11 (8-8). Senior transfers James Griffin (15.8 ppg) and Larry Bush (15.5) were key cogs for a team that was one of the top ball-hawking teams in the country. The Vulcans had a turnover differential of 4.5, 14^th best in NCAA Division II.

The Coach: Vulcan head coach GE Coleman  is heading into his seventh season as the leader of the program. Prior to arriving on the Big Island, Coleman was the associate head coach at Central Washington for six seasons, and an assistant with the Wildcats for another five years prior to that. He was also an assistant for two seasons at Eastern Washington.