Box Score
Updated Tournament Bracket

HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team (7-3) dropped its opening round game of Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic to Florida State, 70-62, Wednesday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. It was the team's first home loss this season.

 

A depleted Rainbow Warrior squad—without senior captains Bill Amis and Hiram Thompson—battled hard but eventually succumbed to a Seminole squad (10-2) that won its fifth straight game. UH is now in the consolation bracket of the tournament and will face Utah at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night.

 

“This team is not going to quit, we're not going to quit in a game and we've not quit in a practice or a workout so I don't expect for them to quit in a game,” head coach Gib Arnold said. “We're doing some things to hurt ourselves and good teams don't do that so we've got to figure that out and we can win again.”

 

Zane Johnson scored a career-high 24 points and practically carried the 'Bows offensively as the rest of the team struggled to put the ball in the basket. Bo Barnes scored all 17 of his points in the second half with  much of those points came late in the came as UH desperately played catchup

 

UH gave a strong defensive effort holding the Seminloes (10-2) to just 32 percent shooting. However, the 'Bows were ultimately stung by the turnover bug, committing 23. UH was also out-rebounded for the first time in 10 contests this year and gave up 23 offensive boards to the Noles.

 

“They (Florida State) did a good job of driving at us and obviously some of our guys got tired, but that's not an excuse,” Arnold said. “That's the No. 1 defensive percentage team in the country and they force a lot of turnovers. Bobby (Miles) turned the ball over and they did a good job on him but he hung in there and kept battling and that's a pretty good experience for Bobby to play against that pressure.”

 

The only offense early on came from the long ball as eight of first nine field goals made in the game were three-pointers. After UH got off to a fast start the Seminoles surged ahead with a 13-0 run to go up by 27-13. UH went without a field goal for nearly nine minutes.

 

Johnson, who scored 14 of UH's first 18 points buried 4-of-7 shots while the rest of the team went 0-of-14 from the floor.  Still UH hung tough, limiting the Seminoles to just 31 percent shooting, and trailed just 33-25 at the break.

 

UH closed the gap to 39-35 on a Johnson three-pointer five minutes into the half. But Florida State went on a decisive, 16-3 run to go up by 17 points and never looked back.

 

 

Washington State 83, Mississippi State 57

Baylor 83, San Diego 50

Butler 74, Utah 62

Florida State 70, Hawai'i 62

 

Mississippi State vs. San Diego, 11:30 a.m.

Washington State vs. Baylor, 1:30 p.m.

Butler vs. Florida State, 5:30 p.m.

Utah vs. Hawai'i, 7:30 p.m.