Monday, February 2, 1998
Short-handed Bulldogs
will be a handful
Suspensions don't make Fresno State
By Cindy Luis
any less daunting for UH in tonight's
crucial WAC game
Star-BulletinIt was a kinder, gentler Riley Wallace on the sidelines during yesterday morning's practice at the Stan Sheriff Center. Just as he had done during Saturday's game against San Jose State, the University of Hawaii basketball coach sat quietly as his coaching staff ran the show. Passivity is not in Wallace's vocabulary, and it's the hardest part of his doctor's orders to fulfill. Thursday's surgery to clear a blocked artery was successful, but it did not remove the permanent occupational hazard called stress.
Adding to the pressure is having to play catch-up in the Pacific Division of the Western Athletic Conference. At
3-3 in the WAC following Saturday's 68-62 win over the Spartans, the Rainbows aren't out of the race for a top-two seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament a month from now.
Clogging Hawaii's path is tonight's nationally televised contest with Jerry Tarkanian's Fresno State team. If Wallace thought the 15-pound weight used during Thursday's surgical procedure left a bruise, it's nothing less than what the Bulldogs could do to the Rainbows' postseason hopes.
"Every game is big now," Wallace said. "It doesn't matter if you're playing Tark and Fresno State or it's San Diego State (Wednesday's opponent).
"We're 3-3 now and we want to get over the hump."
Humps have been a way of life for Fresno State, which has seen eight of its 10 scholarship players suspended for various violations this season. The latest suspensions came Saturday, before the San Diego State game, when Tarkanian announced that starters Avondre Jones and Tremaine Fowlkes had violated unspecified team rules.
Jones, a 6-foot-11 senior, was suspended indefinitely and Fowlkes, a 6-8 junior, was suspended at least through tonight's game with the Rainbows. Jones is averaging 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds a game and Fowlkes 10.4 points and 10.2 rebounds.
It was the first suspension for Fowlkes this season and the second for Jones. Still gone is Daymond Forney, a 6-8 senior, who was averaging 11.5 points before being suspended indefinitely Jan. 20.
Using just seven players, the short-handed Bulldogs escaped with a 97-94 win at San Diego State on Saturday night. Picking up the scoring was 6-9 sophomore forward Winfred Walton, who had career highs of 27 points and 10 rebounds in his first start for the Bulldogs.
Adding 26 points was junior guard Chris Herren, a thorn in the side for the Rainbows last season. Herren had a combined 63 points, including 11 3-pointers, in Fresno State's two wins (80-74 and 98-80) over Hawaii.
Also of concern is junior point guard Rafer Alston, last week's WAC Player of the Week. Alston had 23 points and 12 assists in the Jan. 24 win over Texas. He added 14 points with six assists at San Diego State.
"Fresno has got a lot of weapons," said Wallace, who is 3-7 against the Bulldogs. "All the suspension means is they have five guys out there that everyone wants playing for them instead of eight or nine.
"We know they play hard. It's on national TV and they'll be playing hard for mama and all the folks back home."
The Rainbows want to atone for their last outing on ESPN, a deflating 83-76 loss to Texas Christian on Big Monday two weeks ago. They'll need a better performance than they had against San Jose State on Saturday, when Hawaii needed a 14-4 run during the final three minutes to pull out the win.
"Obviously, we have to play better (tonight)," Rainbow forward Micah Kroeger said. "If we come out with the effort we did against San Jose, it's not going to get it done.
"Maybe we got all the bad basketball out of us. It was a flat game and everything felt like it was in slow motion. But we knew we couldn't let it slip away like it did at Tulsa. The game was dedicated to all of us, not just Coach. We wanted to win for us, for him, for everyone."
Kroeger scored just nine points, but was involved in two game-turning plays during the final 2:47. First he drew a charge call after being run over by Fresno's Michael Quinney, and 18 seconds later, he scored a 3-pointer that gave Hawaii the lead for good, 59-56.
"Kroeger was the hero of the game," said senior guard Anthony Carter, who finished with 23 points, seven assists and five rebounds. "He did it on the defensive end and then made the '3.' But it was a good team effort at the end.
"There was plenty of time to come back. As long as you play good defense and hit the key shots, you'll win games. It was a good way to welcome (Wallace) back. We tried to keep it less stressful, but sometimes things happen."
A bright spot for the Rainbows was the play of senior forward Mike Robinson, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. It was only the third time this season that the starter-turned-reserve has scored in double figures, and the first time since he scored a career-high 21 in the Dec. 14 loss to Arkansas State.
"We've got a chance to get ourselves back up there in the standings," Wallace said. "But it is hard for me just sitting there. I felt like I should have been able to fire them up somehow and I couldn't. Not the way I'm used to.
"You use a style for some 30 years and then you've got to use another . . . It isn't easy for me."
But it's better than the alternative. Wallace was near tears in his postgame interview, finishing the brief session by saying, "I'm just happy to be here."
WAC men's basketball
Tonight: Fresno State (11-7, 4-1) at Hawaii (14-4, 3-3), 7:07 p.m.
1997-98 Rainbow Men's Basketball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
