HONOLULU — Stay ready. AJ Economou held to that mantra game after game, whether he saw no action or perhaps a token minute of garbage time.
So Hawaii basketball’s reserve wing was prepared when his name was called for some extended run in a blowout against Hawaii Hilo at the Stan Sheriff Center on Wednesday night.
Economou supplied seven points, including the first two 3-point hits of his career, with three rebounds, three steals and a block in 10 minutes of the 98-46 runaway — the third-most lopsided victory in program history.
[Note: See below for more photos of Hawaii-Hawaii Hilo basketball.]
“I think every good player has the mindset that they’re the best on the court, even if it’s not true,” said Economou, a third-year sophomore who has been with the program since January of 2024. “I think I have that in my head. I tell myself I’m the best shooter. I just stay ready. Mindset is a big part of that. Especially if you’re not in the game, it’s hard. It’s discouraging at times, but keeping your head in it is the most important thing for me.”
A season-low gathering of 1,432 (3,851 tickets issued) turned out for the crossover divisional matchup with UH’s winless sibling school. UH had its sibling school doubled up by halftime, 48-24, and pushed that margin to 40-point territory with about eight minutes to play.
He contributed to a 42-point night by the UH bench as the reserves pushed the rout into 50-point territory against Hilo’s overmatched squad.
That bench provided some of the loudest cheers when Economou pulled up from the top of the arc for his first career 3-point bucket, then followed it up with a splash from the deep corner right in front of his usual seat.
The enthusiasm was in large part because the 6-foot-5 Economou is known within the team as one of its hardest-working practice players. The former prep player at Southern California Academy came in with a reputation for sheer athleticism, but earned the nickname “Driller” after winning the team’s preseason 3-point marksmanship contest over multiple practices.
“I’m so proud of him, the way that he’s carried himself,” said captain Harry Rouhliadeff, who led UH with 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists. “His work ethic is second to none. Just him to come out and play his brand of basketball is awesome. He works on his shooting every day. He’s coming in and getting shots up before we’re having a walkthrough. He sticks with the process and he’s just going to come out and have nights like this too. He just needs to build that confidence in himself.”
In an age of instant gratification and the ever-present allure of the transfer portal, Economou has been the exception for a player who hasn’t seen much playing time. He stuck it out with UH in the 2024 offseason when he arrived at midyear purely as a practice player, then, in 2025, when the majority of the roster turned over, he was a surprise holdover after playing a total of 18 minutes in 11 games.
“I just think my development was the biggest thing,” Economou said of deciding to stick it out in Manoa. This is high-level basketball and I feel like the guys they bring are also very high level, so just sticking to it was just one thing I had to do. I don’t like to give up, so I think my chance and my time will come.”
AJ, or Alexander James, was a talented youth lacrosse player from Santa Monica, Calif., before switching to hoops full-time around age 15.
His father, Greg, played at UConn and his mother, Betsy Given, was a three-sport athlete at Loyola-Maryland. His older brother Rip played hoops at Seattle University.
Economou said his career high in playing time — he hadn’t been in an official game for more than seven mintutes coming into the night — helped put him at ease. He was 0-for-5 from the field last season and 2-for-8 in 2025-26 prior to Wednesday.
“Sometimes you need rhythm to kind of get going, and I think with the time I had, I definitely could feel it,” he said. “When I hit one shot, it just felt like the next one was going to go down, and that was my mindset.”
UH coach Eran Ganot was effusive about Economou as a piece of the team’s burgeoning chemistry. The ‘Bows shot 50.7%, assisted on 25 of their 35 made field goals and had a season-low six turnovers.
“Off the charts attitude. Incredible young man,” Ganot said. “He’s a late bloomer, remember, because he started playing so late in his career. … You can see now he’s gotten bigger and stronger and improved. When we’re healthy, you might have some good players playing behind some good players. … You don’t wait for your turn, you stay ready. And that’s all you can control. It’s a great testament to him, to our team.
“Guess what? Those guys who play for us, they were probably in that situation before,” he added. “And the reason they’re (playing) now is probably because they had a great attitude back then.”
Economou shouted out his family, UH strength coach Tanner Hull and his girlfriend Caroline Carter of the UH soccer team during a postgame spot with the Spectrum corner crew.
The 52-point margin of victory was the most by UH since it beat Redlands by 57 on Jan. 28, 1972, in the Fabulous Five era.
Coming off a 69-59 win over Cal State Fullerton to sweep the Big West’s “Bold Week” in early December, the non-competitive end result Wednesday was something UH (9-2) could work with, Ganot said.
The 11th-year coach noted that there have been close games with UH’s D-II neighbors, especially in last year’s preseason when both Hilo and Chaminade threatened to knock off the ‘Bows in exhibitions.
“Today it definitely was a positive, because you have to handle leads, and you have to be able to get some of those other guys in,” he said. “So that was something that was accomplished today. Other games we’ve had some good battles that will help us as well.”
Another player who knows what it is to wait their turn, Hilo seventh-year senior guard Jessiya Villa led the Vulcans (0-6) with 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Villa, a 2017 state champion and Gatorade Player of the Year at Kahuku who signed with UH Manoa, took a church mission to Ghana, spent a redshirt year with the Rainbow Warriors, then put in four years with Chaminade before coming to the Vulcans in 2024.
“He’s an important player for us,” Vulcans coach Kaniela Aiona said. “We started the year with three point guards that we planned to play together. (Isaiah) Hinds went down with the knee, it’s a tough loss for us, but Siya, Julio (Montes II), can carry a load for us. (Villa) can get to spots on the floor and make some shots. Usually he can draw a crowd and he’s able to make that little dump-off pass. He’s been good, and we’ll need him to be really good this year.”
UH hosts past WAC and future Mountain West foe UTEP (3-5) on Saturday. It caps an 11-game homestand and is the final game for the ‘Bows ahead of a lengthy (18-day) December gap between games.
The Hawaii bench cheered for AJ Economou’s second 3-pointer against Hawaii Hilo. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Hawaii Hilo seventh-year senior Jessiya Villa, a former UH Manoa recruit, drove against UH’s Aaron Hunkin-Claytor in the second half. (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.
