After losing at the Air Force Academy for the third season in a row on Thursday, it didn't look good for the Rainbows, who were heading in to meet a red-hot UNLV team on its home court in front of 17,131 fans.
But Hawaii stunned the Rebels, as - who else? - Anthony Carter knocked down two free throws with one second remaining to give Hawaii a 66-65 victory, which stopped UNLV's winning streak at seven.
The Rainbows improved to 10-3 overall and 2-1 in the WAC with the wacky split. UNLV fell to 11-3 and 3-1.
"It was a good show of character to bounce back," head coach Riley Wallace said yesterday after the team returned home. "They practiced hard on Friday (in Las Vegas) and really wanted to win."
Just like the final score, most of the game statistics were close between the two teams.
UNLV had 44 rebounds, Hawaii 40. UNLV had 15 turnovers, Hawaii 14. The Rainbows shot 44 percent (29-66) from the floor, while the Rebels were at 42 percent (25-59). UH was 3 for 12 from 3-point land and UNLV was 3 for 14. Hawaii led at halftime 31-28.
Carter was UH's top scorer with 19 points, hitting 7 of 17 from the floor. He also had 30 points against Air Force to keep Hawaii in the game in the second half.
Micah Kroeger had a strong game against UNLV with 13 points, five rebounds and no turnovers in 32 minutes.
Alika Smith had a second-straight poor shooting game, hitting only 2 of 12 from the floor and 1 of 6 from 3-point range against UNLV - and no free-throw attempts - for five points.
"Alika has never played well on the road - even Saturday it looked like he didn't have his legs," Wallace said. "But he played real hard defensively and did a good job on Sunshine Smith."
Smith finished with just six points. Keon Clark was UNLV's leading scorer with 14 points, along with six blocked shots and 13 rebounds - 12 off the offensive glass.
As in seasons past, Hawaii played much better in the second game of the road trip - even though the opponent was better on paper.
"It's a body adjustment," Wallace said. "Even when Duke and Michigan and any other teams go home from playing here, they're usually heavy-legged for their first game back and then they play better in the second game.
"But we have to do it five times a year."
OK, how much did the altitude matter, with Air Force above 7,000 feet and Las Vegas near sea level?
"It made a huge difference," Wallace said. "This team had the best attitude going into Air Force than any team since the one I had that won 25 games.
"We had a real good practice (at Air Force) Wednesday, then we were flat on Thursday. Maybe we should go back to getting in the day before the game. I know it's frustrating because we showed what a good team we have at Las Vegas in front of their biggest crowd in four years."
This week, the Rainbows will be back in the usually friendly confines of the Special Events Arena.
UH takes on Colorado State (11-3, 1-1) Thursday night and Wyoming (5-8, 1-1) Saturday night. The Rams beat the Cowboys, 78-71, in Colorado Springs on Saturday.
"We'll be tired at practice tomorrow after traveling, but we'll go over the Colorado State stuff and then get after it real hard on Tuesday," Wallace said. "The first game (of a two-game home series) is always the toughest - but both of those teams are playing well right now."
Pacific Division
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Fresno St. 2 0 1.000 -- 10 6 .625 UNLV 3 1 .750 -- 11 3 .786 Hawaii 2 1 .667 12 10 3 .769 San Diego St. 2 1 .667 12 10 3 .769 Colorado St. 1 1 .500 1 11 3 .786 Wyoming 1 1 .500 1 5 8 .385 Air Force 1 2 .333 112 5 7 .417 San Jose St. 0 3 .000 212 8 5 .615
Mountain Division
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Utah 2 0 1.000 -- 10 2 .833 Tulsa 1 0 1.000 12 11 4 .733 New Mexico 2 1 .667 12 13 2 .867 SMU 2 1 .667 12 10 3 .769 UTEP 1 2 .333 112 7 5 .583 Rice 0 1 .000 112 6 5 .545 BYU 0 2 .000 2 1 11 .083 TCU 0 3 .000 212 11 5 .688
Pacific Division
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Hawaii 4 0 1.000 -- 11 3 .786 San Diego State 4 0 1.000 -- 9 5 .643 Colorado State 3 0 1.000 1/2 12 2 .857 Wyoming 2 1 .667 1-1/2 10 4 .714 Fresno State 1 2 .333 2-1/2 8 5 .615 San Jose State 0 3 .000 3-1/2 5 9 .357 Air Force 0 4 .000 4 3 11 .214 Nev-Las Vegas 0 4 .000 4 2 13 .133
Mountain Division
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Utah 3 0 1.000 -- 10 3 .769 Rice 3 0 1.000 -- 8 5 .615 Southern Methodist 3 1 .750 12 9 5 .643 Texas Christian 3 1 .750 12 9 5 .643 New Mexico 1 3 .250 212 10 4 .714 Texas-El Paso 1 3 .250 212 9 4 .692 Tulsa 0 3 .000 3 4 9 .308 Brigham Young 0 3 .000 3 3 11 .214
Thursday's gamesHawaii at Colorado StateSan Jose St. at Air Force
FresnoState at UNLV
San Diego St. at Wyoming
SMUat BYU
TCUat Utah
Rice atUTEP
Tulsa at New Mexico
Saturday's games
Hawaii at Wyoming
FresnoState at Air Force
Tulsa at UTEP
SMUat Utah
Rice at New Mexico
TCUat BYU
San Jose State at UNLV
Sunday's game
San DiegoState at ColoradoState
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Hawaii Pacific 1 0 1.000 -- 14 2 .875 BYU-Hawaii 0 0 .000 1/2 11 3 .785 Chaminade 0 0 .000 1/2 2 9 .181 Hawaii-Hilo 0 1 .000 1 3 10 .230
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Montana State-Billings 2 0 1.000 -- 11 2 .847 Western New Mexico 2 0 1.000 -- 8 8 .500 Seattle Pacific 2 0 1.000 -- 11 3 .785 Alaska Fairbanks 0 0 .000 1 8 7 .533 Alaska Anchorage 0 2 .000 2 10 7 .588 Hawaii-Hilo 0 2 .000 2 3 10 .230 Chaminade 0 2 .000 2 2 9 .181