This Week in Vulcan Men's Basketball
Record: 2-1 (1-0 PWC)

Talented Trio Await Vulcans on Southland Trip                                                                     
Saturday, Dec. 7 @Concordia (6-3 / 0-0 PWC), Irvine, CA, 7:30 p.m. PT
Tuesday, Dec. 10 @Biola (5-2 / 1-0 PWC), La Mirada, CA, 7:30 p.m. PT
Thursday, Dec. 12 @Point Loma (5-2 / 1-0 PWC), San Diego, CA, 5:30 p.m. PT

Upset in Rear View Mirror, Eagles and Sea Lions are Next: Coming off one of their best victories in the last few years, beating Azusa Pacific (82-79) on Monday, the Vulcans didn't have much time to celebrate. UH Hilo opens one of their toughest road trips of the year on Saturday at conference favorite Concordia, followed by tough match-ups at Biola (Tuesday) and defending champ Point Loma (Thursday).

Let's Review: UH Hilo's home and PacWest opener was a memorable one. The Vulcans upset the nation's No. 19 team on a trey at the buzzer by senior Jordan Graves. That capped a wild game that had numerous late lead changes and ties, and ultimately, Graves game-winner. UH Hilo overcame an 11-point first half deficit and PacWest Preseason Player of the Year Selom Mawugbe (23 points, 10 rebounds). Graves finished with a career-high 26 points, but the Vulcans also had Kupaa Harrison and Sasa Vuksanovic with 22 points each.

More Numbers: Senior guard Jordan Graves also had six steals to go with his 26 points. He nailed 3-of-4 of his three-point attempts, including the game winner…Post Sasa Vuksanovic had five assists…Harrison had five boards and three assists…The Vulcans shot 62 percent from the field in the second half…UHH held APU to just five three-pointers (they came into the game averaging 10).

Balanced Attack: UH Hilo's two returning starters and senior leaders Harrison (21.3 ppg) and Graves (19.7) are the team's scoring leaders after three games, with Vuksanovic (14.7) also in double figures. Harrison leads with 6.0 rebounds a game, Graves leads with eight steals and Damini Whitlock has eight assists. The Vulcans are shooting 52 percent from the field.

Eagles, More Eagles and Sea Lions: Preseason favorite Concordia is UH Hilo's first opponent in their trio of games in southern California. The Eagles are 6-3 heading into their PacWest opener against the Vulcans. As usual, their calling card is defense and they have forced opponents into nearly 17 turnovers a game. Rob McCoy, a 6-7 senior transfer who started at Portland State, leads a balanced attack with 13 points and six rebounds a game. McCoy was named to the PacWest All-Preseason team and the Eagles garnered eight of the 12 first-place votes. Concordia won both games last year between the two schools and CUI leads the all-time series, 6-2…Biola was picked fifth in the preseason poll, led by Preseason All-PacWest pick Michael Bagatourian. The Eagles are 5-2 overall and won their league opener on Thursday night at Notre Dame de Namur (88-79), and will play Dominican on Saturday before the Vulcans visit on Tuesday. Biola has four players in double figures scoring, paced by Marquise Mosley's 17.6 points a game. Mosley played his previous three seasons at California Baptist. Biola won both games versus the Vulcans last year, and the Eagles lead the all-time series, 3-1. Defending conference and regional champion Point Loma reached the NCAA title game a year ago. But they have a new coach (Matt Logie) and new starting five in 2019-20. Nonetheless, they are off to a 5-2 start and opened PacWest play with a 80-71 win over Dominican. Five players average double-figure scoring numbers for the Sea Lions, led by Kaden Anderson's 17.3 points and 7.4 rebounds a game. Anderson, a 6-8 sophomore, is flanked by Preseason All-PacWest pick Sterling Somers, who averages 15.3 points a contest. UH Hilo and Point Loma split contests a year ago, with UHH pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the year in San Diego (81-77), but Point Loma leads the all-time series, 9-6.

What's Next: After the southern California road games, UH Hilo will come back home for final exams and then head to Oahu for the Hoops in Hawaii D2 Power Invitational. They will play Saint Martin's on Dec. 20 and Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 21. Both game will be played at 3:30 pm at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu.

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. PacWest play begins this week (first week of December).

Rating the West: In the D2SIDA West Region poll released earlier this week, the PacWest had three of the top ten teams (records are through last weekend). (1) UC San Diego (8-0), (2) Azusa Pacific (5-1), (3) Cal Poly Pomona (5-2), (4) Concordia-Irvine (6-3), (5) Western Oregon (5-0), (6) Point Loma (4-2), (7) Cal State San Bernardino (5-2), (8) Cal State Dominguez Hills (6-2), (9) Alaska Anchorage (6-2), (10) Western Washington (4-3). Nationally, UCSD is No. 5 and Azusa Pacific is No. 19.

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.