HONOLULU — For Isaiah Kerr’s basketball career to hit the next gear, the guard had to do something counterintuitive.

Slow down.

When Hawaii needed him more than any other point, Kerr found the right speed in Thursday night’s 98-71 rout of Cal State Bakersfield at the Stan Sheriff Center.

[Note: See below for more photos of Hawaii-Cal State Bakersfield basketball.]

In the Eran Ganot era, UH hasn’t counted on one person to make up for the loss of another, but when point guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor went down in practice Wednesday with a left foot injury, it fell on a short list of Rainbow Warriors to make up for their assist leader’s absence.

Kerr, a transfer from Division II Chico State, was among them.

“I knew that the ball would be in my hands a lot more, just with AC out, he usually is dribbling a lot, generating a lot of the offense for us,” Kerr said. “Just knew that it would be a game where I probably would have more scoring opportunities. So I wanted to take advantage of that for sure.”

With some well-timed drives to the rim in 25 minutes off the bench, the ‘Bow known as “Zay” finished with five field goals in nine attempts for a career-high 16 points with five rebounds and two blocked shots.

In conjunction with a 17-point, 12-rebound effort from wing Dre Bullock, and four other teammates who scored in double figures, UH (14-4, 6-2 Big West) had plenty of firepower to keep pace with UC Irvine atop the league standings.

Cal State Northridge (11-9, 4-4) should provide a stiffer test of UH’s adaptability when the Rainbow Warriors face the Matadors at 7 p.m. Saturday. CSUN took advantage of a bye Thursday to arrive a couple days early.

Hunkin-Claytor’s injury timetable was described by UH as “indefinite,” but Ganot and UH teammates sounded hopeful that they’d get the sophomore back for the second half of Big West play.

Hawaii point guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor was able to smile on the court despite missing the game with his left foot in a boot. UH described him as out indefinitely. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

UH’s available roster was reduced to 10; all 10 scored a field goal against the Roadrunners as wing AJ Economou played a season-high 17 minutes and guard Hunter Carter got in for the last five-plus.

“The show must go on,” Ganot said. “That’s the balance you have to have. I’m very appreciative of this group in that regard. Hopefully, we can stay healthy the rest of the way and get some guys back.”

Hunter Erickson shifted to the primary ball-handler role, and wing Isaac Finlinson moved into the starting lineup.

Erickson was hampered by foul trouble and was a nonfactor on the night, adding to the pressure on Kerr to step up at a spot he’d had only marginal reps.

“This was good for us. We needed it,” Ganot said of Kerr’s performance. “These guys got a lot of reps, not just in practice, but in game-like situations.”

Bullock said the group decided to do its best collective Hunkin-Claytor impression. He had three assists; a couple of times he dumped off a ball to a teammate mid-drive instead of taking it all the way.

“AC is one of our leaders. He’s our point guard. He directs us on offense. He talks a lot,” Bullock said. “So yeah, definitely, I just up my voice, get some guys involved, rebound, play more defense. He’s one of our best defenders as well. So yeah, (it) definitely sucks. Injuries happen, but yeah, Coach emphasized, next man up, everybody contributed. Shout-out Isaiah Kerr, shout-out Isaac (Finlinson).”

UH overwhelmed shorthanded CSUB on the glass, 53-26, including 17 offensive boards that led to a 26-6 advantage in second-chance points.

Bullock launched Thursday’s game with an end-to-end tomahawk dunk off the opening tip and had a double-double by halftime. Afterward, he was touched for being recognized for scoring 1,000 points across his four-year Division I career that included stops at Louisiana Tech, Niagara and South Dakota.

Hawaii wing Dre Bullock, second from left, had his 1,000 career points milestone announced on the Stan Sheriff Center big screen after the game. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Bullock noted that he and Kerr, “one of the closest guys I’m with on the team,” share similar physical attributes.

“He’s super fast, quick, athletic, so yeah, definitely, it’s good to see Zay out there having fun, playing his game, and it helps us as well.”

Kerr was one of the few ‘Bows to score efficiently in UH’s double-digit loss at UC Santa Barbara last weekend, with 13 points.

“I like to quote, ‘fortune favors the bold,’ so just going in there and being bold, playing with confidence,” Kerr said of his breakout at the Thunderdome.

Over time, the 6-foot-3 guard has learned that the old Latin proverb, as applied to basketball, doesn’t necessarily mean barreling headlong at the rim — even with his quick first step.

“I think the biggest thing is probably just playing slower,” Kerr said of a recent epiphany. “I think out of high school and definitely in the first couple games here, I sometimes I feel like I get a little bit too sped up. That’s something I’ve been working on offensively: is to just kind of slow down, read the game. If you watch the great players in the league, the NBA, (it’s) kind of almost like they’re moving in slow motion a little bit. They’re reading the floor like that. And I have a gift of athleticism and burst to the rim, but kind of knowing when to use that, and when to play slow, when to play fast.”

Kerr was an All-Bay Area selection at Saint Francis High in Mountain View, Calif., and earned a spot at Montana in the 2022-23 season.

But he wound up redshirting with the Big Sky team and elected to go the D-II route. He would spend two seasons with the Chico State Wildcats, advancing to the NCAA II Tournament last season as an All-California Collegiate Athletic Association selection.

The whole while, he had it in the back of his head that he could return to the D-I ranks. That belief was rewarded when he was noticed by the UH staff.

“When Hawaii called me, I felt like that was an opportunity that I definitely couldn’t pass up, and opportunity that I felt like I was definitely ready for,” Kerr said.

He was hampered by a back issue in nonconference play and scored in double figures only twice in 10 games before the calendar flipped to 2026.

“Mini breakthroughs lead to big breakthroughs,” Ganot said. “We’ve all known this has been coming, and it’s a credit to his character, his work ethic, and his confidence, his comfort level.”

CSUB interim coach Mike Scott, who took over for veteran Rod Barnes heading into this season in the aftermath charges of “pimping and pandering” for ex-assistant coach Kevin Mays, said preparation for UH was mostly unchanged when Hunkin-Claytor was out.

“Kerr’s similar to Claytor, in terms of his aggressiveness and what he does off ball screens and things of that nature,” Scott said. “So we didn’t really change much of what we had done, a lot of it just kind of dealt with our numbers. Traditionally, we’ll be a team that kind of up-tempo and press them guys a little more, and I just felt like we couldn’t do it tonight with our guys cramping everywhere.”

By dispatching the shorthanded Roadrunners (8-13, 2-7), whose Nos. 2 through 4 scorers sat out with various issues, UH improved to 4-0 coming off a loss. That was despite CSUB guard Dailin Smith setting UH opponent records for free throws made (20) and attempted (25), breaking marks that had stood since 1979 by UNLV’s Earl Evans. Evans scored 28 points, but shot 4-for-16 from the field.

Hawaii wing Isaac Finlinson drove and had his shot blocked by Cal State Bakersfield’s Tom Mark, but Mark was called for a foul on the play, plus a technical foul for his reaction to the call. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Hawaii wing Isaac Finlinson drove for a layup as part of his nine-point night in his first start for UH. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Hawaii center Isaac Johnson dunked the ball as Cal State Bakersfield guard Kadar Waller sighed. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Hawaii wing Dre Bullock drove against Cal State Bakersfield’s Dailin Smith. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Hawaii backup center Yacine Toumi drove to the basket. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.