GAME NOTES: The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors will try to make it two in a row as they play host to the Clemson Tigers in the fifth-place game of the Diamond Head Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
This bout marks just the second meeting between the Warriors and Tigers, with the latter winning the first back in 1980.
The Tigers improved to 7-5 on the year after surviving an overtime contest with Southern Illinois on Friday. The 83-75 victory was the third win in four games for Clemson. Coach Brad Brownell's team overcame a first-half deficit for the first time this season against the Salukis. Clemson had been struggling in the Diamond Head Classic, as it made just 25 field goals in its first three halves of play, but broke out after the intermission against SIU with 18 combined in the second half and extra period. The Tigers are a lackluster offensive teams at best, averaging just 63.3 ppg.
Clemson is led by the duo of Andre Young and Tanner Smith. Young is averaging a team-best 12,8 ppg on 40.3 percent shooting from the field. The senior guard struggled against SIU as he went a mere 2-of-11 from the field to finish with 11 points. With Young experiencing shooting woes, Smith stepped up his game to score a career-high 26 points. Devin Booker is also a key player for the Tigers as he uses his 6-8 frame to score 10.0 ppg and pull down a team-high 6.9 rpg.
The Rainbow Warriors gave their fans an early Christmas present on Friday with an 84-82 overtime upset of nationally-ranked Xavier. The win was the fourth in five games for Hawaii, which looks like a completely different team after a 2-6 start to the year. Hawaii showed its resiliency against Xavier as it overcame a 15-point deficit in the second half to force overtime. Hawaii's bench came up big in the victory as it outscored its counterpart's reserves, 48-11.
Joston Thomas not only led the Rainbow Warriors with 24 points and nine rebounds in their upset win of Xavier, but he also sealed the deal with the game-winning basket with less than a second remaining. Vander Joaquim was tremendous in the contest as well, as he finished with 20 points and seven rebounds. Zane Johnson, the team's leading scorer with an average of 14.1 ppg this season, chipped in 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field.
Hawaii is a dangerous team as it has three legitimate scoring options to give the opposing defense trouble. Clemson has an athletic enough team to slow down the Warriors, but it will have to produce offensively to come out of this one victorious.
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