Rush the Court will be providing wall-to-wall coverage of each of the NCAA Tournament from each of the 13 sites this year. Follow our NCAA Tourney specific Twitter accounts at @RTCEastregion, @RTCMWregion,@RTCSouthregion and @RTCWestregion. Kenny Ocker is covering the Spokane pods of the South and West regionals this week.

Three Key Takeaways:

The Magic of March Goes to Hawaii (USA Today Images)

1. Cal really, really missed its starting backcourt: The Golden Bears came to Spokane knowing it would be without its lone senior and leading scorer, point guard Tyrone Wallace, who broke his hand in practice earlier this week. They didn’t account for shooting guard Jabari Bird also being unexpectedly sidelined by back spasms just before the opening tip. And then backup-point-guard-cum-starter Sam Singer and superfreshman Jaylen Brown picked up three fouls apiece in the first half and magnified that problem. Brown ended up fouling out with about eight minutes left in the second half and the Bears still in the game, but they were never able to close it out without him on the court. He finished with a mere four points. Singer had 12 points before fouling out. Cal only had six assists in the game.
2. REF SHOW! Speaking of all those fouls… there were 25 in the first half, which didn’t let the game generate any sort of flow. Singer and Brown had three apiece in the first half. Four of Hawaii’s starters had two fouls by that point. And then the Rainbows’ star center, Stefan Jankovic, picked up his fourth foul less than four minutes into the second half. All told, the game ended with 49 fouls, including disqualifications of Brown and Singer for Cal, and four Hawaii players finishing with four fouls. The tight officiating made it difficult to watch what should have otherwise been an entertaining #13 over #4 upset.
3. Hawaii ignored Cal’s vaunted interior defense: The Bears came into Friday’s game with the nation’s best two-point field goal defense, according to KenPom, giving up a mere 40.9 percent shooting inside the three-point arc. Hawaii did not care. The Warriors made 24-of-38 shots inside the arc (63%), including 6-of-8 inside shooting from guards Quincy Smith and Roderick Bobbitt and 5-of-7 inside shooting from center Stefan Jankovic.

Star of the Game: Hawaii guard Quincy Smith: The slashing senior wing got to the basket at will all game against Cal, hanging up 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a perfect 4-of-4 in the second half.

Quotable: “What a moment. And it’s a year of moments. These guys find a way with provide us with more.” Hawaii coach Eran Ganot.

Sights and Sounds:

• Hawaii’s players run onto the court to “Hawaii 5-0.” Could there be a more fitting way to enter?
• Hawaii’s fans travel quite well.
• I’ve seen 2-liters of soda left open for a week that are less flat than Cal’s fans in Spokane. Speaking of flat, Cal’s trumpets.
• The ref’s whistle counts as a sound, right? Because we heard that a ton.

What’s Next? Hawaii gets the winner of #12 South Dakota State and #5 Maryland sometime Sunday in Spokane. Cal’s Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb are headed to the NBA Draft, likely as lottery picks. Cal coach Cuonzo Martin gets to deal with the fallout of assistant coach Yann Hufnagel’s alleged sexual harassment of a local reporter, all the while coaching without a contract.

Kenny Ocker (29 Posts)

Kenny Ocker is a graduate of the University of Oregon and a copy editor for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. He has been a contributor for Rush the Court since December 2010. He can be reached via email and you can follow him on Twitter.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 18th, 2016 at 3:53 pm by Kenny Ocker and is filed under 2016 ncaa tournament, feature, rushed reactions. Tagged: california, hawaii, Jabari Bird, Jaylen Brown, ncaa tournament, quincy smith, roderick bobbitt, sam singer, spokane, stefan jankovic, tyrone wallace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.