Kiai Apele, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, and Darren Williams all know the score.
They understand the mission the No. 24 UH-Hilo basketball team faces when the first NCAA regional rankings were released on Wednesday.
The Vulcans were No. 7. Cause for celebration?
Not quite.
Eight teams are ranked, and six head to the Division II West Regional, set for March 12-15 in Colorado.
“We have to control the style of play,” Williams said. “If we’re 11-1 it’ll be tough to leave us out. If we split, I assume we’re not going to be in. If we go 11-1, we’ll be fine.”
The Vulcans (9-1) play Chaminade (3-6) on Friday and Saturday at McCabe Gym on Oahu.
UHH is 3-1 against the Silverswords. The only loss was the first game of a road trip when the Vulcans made just 5 of 23 from long distance and had 16 turnovers in a 97-67 loss.
“The biggest challenge we face is their press, their style of play,” Tait-Jones said. “We have to slow it down and play our style of play.”
The three other games were pretty close. But that means nothing to the Silverswords, who are in the role of spoiler.
No matter the sport, the first item on a team’s game plan list should be not to beat yourself.
“We have to limit turnovers and play our style, slow the pace down,” Apele said.
No surprise Apele said that. He’s the son of a coach, and if his dad Randy Apele put anything in his head it’s to have a positive assist to turnover ratio.
Apele averages just 12.7 minutes per game, but when he’s on the floor he’s almost a 2-to-1 ratio ball-handler.
Tait-Jones and Sasa Vuksanovic are in the negative, but that’s to be expected because they get the most touches.
However, they’re the most efficient scorers. Tait-Jones is averaging 17 points per game on 50% shooting from the field. Vuksanovic is at 16.5 ppg on 54% from the floor.
In the last game against Chaminade, a 71-67 home win, UHH played ugly but won. The Vuls shot just 3 of 14 from beyond the arc and had 16 turnovers.
Steven Hubbell scored 10 points off the bench in 24 minutes while Vuksanovic and Tait-Jones were effective with 18 and 17 points, respectively.
The Vulcans can’t look ahead to Sunday’s selection show. The first order of business is to make their possessions count and get their press-break offense going.