{"id":147256,"date":"2026-01-24T02:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/147256\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T02:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T02:29:17","slug":"isaiah-kerr-helps-hawaii-basketball-beat-csu-bakersfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/147256\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaiah Kerr helps Hawaii basketball beat CSU Bakersfield"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU \u2014 For Isaiah Kerr\u2019s basketball career to hit the next gear, the guard had to do something counterintuitive.<\/p>\n

Slow down.<\/p>\n

When Hawaii needed him more than any other point, Kerr found the right speed in Thursday night\u2019s 98-71 rout of Cal State Bakersfield at the Stan Sheriff Center.<\/p>\n

[Note: See below for more photos of Hawaii-Cal State Bakersfield basketball.]<\/p>\n

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\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

Kerr, a transfer from Division II Chico State, was among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cJust 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

With some well-timed drives to the rim in 25 minutes off the bench, the \u2018Bow known as \u201cZay\u201d finished with five field goals in nine attempts for a career-high 16 points with five rebounds and two blocked shots.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Cal State Northridge (11-9, 4-4) should provide a stiffer test of UH\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Hunkin-Claytor\u2019s injury timetable was described by UH as \u201cindefinite,\u201d but Ganot and UH teammates sounded hopeful that they\u2019d get the sophomore back for the second half of Big West play.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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)<\/p>\n

UH\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe show must go on,\u201d Ganot said. \u201cThat\u2019s the balance you have to have. I\u2019m very appreciative of this group in that regard. Hopefully, we can stay healthy the rest of the way and get some guys back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter Erickson shifted to the primary ball-handler role, and wing Isaac Finlinson moved into the starting lineup.<\/p>\n

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\u2019d had only marginal reps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was good for us. We needed it,\u201d Ganot said of Kerr\u2019s performance. \u201cThese guys got a lot of reps, not just in practice, but in game-like situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAC is one of our leaders. He\u2019s our point guard. He directs us on offense. He talks a lot,\u201d Bullock said. \u201cSo yeah, definitely, I just up my voice, get some guys involved, rebound, play more defense. He\u2019s 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).\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Bullock launched Thursday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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)<\/p>\n

Bullock noted that he and Kerr, \u201cone of the closest guys I\u2019m with on the team,\u201d share similar physical attributes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s super fast, quick, athletic, so yeah, definitely, it\u2019s good to see Zay out there having fun, playing his game, and it helps us as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerr was one of the few \u2018Bows to score efficiently in UH\u2019s double-digit loss at UC Santa Barbara last weekend, with 13 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to quote, \u2018fortune favors the bold,\u2019 so just going in there and being bold, playing with confidence,\u201d Kerr said of his breakout at the Thunderdome.<\/p>\n

Over time, the 6-foot-3 guard has learned that the old Latin proverb, as applied to basketball, doesn\u2019t necessarily mean barreling headlong at the rim \u2014\u00a0even with his quick first step.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing is probably just playing slower,\u201d Kerr said of a recent epiphany. \u201cI 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\u2019s something I\u2019ve 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\u2019s) kind of almost like they\u2019re moving in slow motion a little bit. They\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Hawaii called me, I felt like that was an opportunity that I definitely couldn\u2019t pass up, and opportunity that I felt like I was definitely ready for,\u201d Kerr said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMini breakthroughs lead to big breakthroughs,\u201d Ganot said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all known this has been coming, and it\u2019s a credit to his character, his work ethic, and his confidence, his comfort level.\u201d<\/p>\n

CSUB interim coach Mike Scott, who took over for veteran Rod Barnes heading into this season in the aftermath charges of \u201cpimping and pandering\u201d for ex-assistant coach Kevin Mays<\/a>, said preparation for UH was mostly unchanged when Hunkin-Claytor was out.<\/p>\n

\u201cKerr\u2019s similar to Claytor, in terms of his aggressiveness and what he does off ball screens and things of that nature,\u201d Scott said. \u201cSo we didn\u2019t really change much of what we had done, a lot of it just kind of dealt with our numbers. Traditionally, we\u2019ll be a team that kind of up-tempo and press them guys a little more, and I just felt like we couldn\u2019t do it tonight with our guys cramping everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Earl Evans. Evans scored 28 points, but shot 4-for-16 from the field.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hawaii backup center Yacine Toumi drove to the basket. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

Brian McInnis<\/a>\u00a0covers the state\u2019s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.\u00a0He can be reached at\u00a0brian.mcinnis@<\/a>charter.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONOLULU \u2014 For Isaiah Kerr\u2019s basketball career to hit the next gear, the guard had to do something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[19375,6632,6631,151,153,152,19376,1815,2289,127,136],"class_list":["post-147256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-app-college-sports","tag-app-sports","tag-app-top-stories","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-brian-mcinnis","tag-college","tag-hawaii","tag-sports","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}