"We still have two games to go," Riley Wallace said over the phone last night from San Jose, Calif. "Then we'll see where we stand."
The University of Hawaii men's basketball team sure got off to a strong start in its three-game road trip with an 85-63 victory at San Diego State Saturday night.
The Rainbows improved to 13-3 overall and 5-1 in the WAC, which puts them atop the Pacific Division standings.
"We knew we had to be ready and we worked real hard all week," Wallace said. "Then A.C. (Carter) played like he was possessed - and (Micah) Kroeger had a career night.
"(Aaron) Curry and (Michael) Robinson also played well off the bench."
Kroeger led the team with 20 points, while Robinson scored 13 in 19 minutes. Eric Ambrozich had a game-high 12 rebounds.
Alika Smith continued to struggle on his outside shooting, however, hitting just 5 of 11 from the floor and 1 of 5 from 3-point range, finishing with 14 points.
Carter was in foul trouble much of the game and was held to 11 points.
Wallace said he was especially pleased with the second half - when the Rainbows outscored the Aztecs, 43-30.
"That was the best we've executed our offense against a man-to-man all season," he said. "And our zone defense really helped us again."
San Diego State shot only 30 percent (8-27) from the floor in the second half and made only 3 of 11 from 3-point range.
The Rainbows dominated the boards, 43-31, and had seven blocks - center Seth Sundberg had four of them - compared to two for the Aztecs.
About the only weak statistic for UH was 27 turnovers, compared to 17 for San Diego State.
"We were trying to do too much, too fast on offense in the first half," Wallace said.
Next up is San Jose State on Thursday night - then it's a showdown at Fresno State on Saturday night.
But Wallace said that he cautioned his team to play them one at a time.
"I don't think there will be a letdown (against San Jose State) with this team," he said. "Or that we'll look ahead to the Fresno game."
Wallace said last night that he sent UH freshman guard Quentin Gallon back to Hawaii yesterday for violating team curfew rules on the current road trip.Gallon had no points in one minute of play against San Diego State.