BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

Wallace stressing rebounds

Riley Wallace was exercising his vocal chords at yesterday's practice, emphasizing rebounding and picking up loose balls.

He doesn't think the Rainbows (0-1 WAC, 11-3) did a very good job of either in Saturday night's 95-83 loss in their conference opener at UTEP.

Wallace knows the Rainbows were outrebounded for only the third time in the last 10 games, and he wants to correct the problem before tomorrow night's game (7:05 p.m.) with SMU (1-0 WAC, 13-2) at the Stan Sheriff Center.

He said only one of his players has been hustling after the stray pass or the dropped rebound.

"We box out and we stand there - we don't go after the loose balls," said Wallace.

"The only one going after loose balls is (6-5 small forward) Nerijus Puida. He does it better than anyone on the team."

Even though Hawaii's 6-foot-9 power forward Troy Ostler had his third double-double of the season against UTEP (20 points, 15 rebounds), Wallace criticized the Utah native's game.

"Troy didn't have a good game rebounding," said Wallace. "He gets the ones he's supposed to get but he's not getting the tough ones. That's what we're working on with him."

Mustangs sweep glass

SMU is led by the outstanding scoring-rebounding duo of 6-6 juniors Willie Davis and Jeryl Sasser.

Davis averages 17.3 points and 9.6 rebounds, while Sasser averages 17.2 points and 9.1 rebounds.

"They're good rebounders and we have to keep them off the offensive boards and play better defense," said Wallace.

Last year, Sasser was only the second sophomore in the history of the WAC to be named player of the year.

SMU arrives

The Mustangs arrived yesterday and head coach Mike Dement said right away he was surprised at what the conference made Hawaii do to open the WAC season.

"That was really ridiculous scheduling by the WAC," said Dement.

The Rainbows left Oahu just after 5 p.m. on Wednesday and didn't arrive at their hotel in El Paso, Texas, until noon the next day.

Dement said his major concern is that Hawaii is bigger inside.

"We don't have productive big guys like Riley has with his two big guys - (6-8 center Marquette) Alexander and Ostler," said Dement. "I like Ostler based on what I've seen on tape. He's seemingly been a big impact."

In fact, Dement said Hawaii's performance as a team so far has not been as big a surprise to him as Ostler.

"How productive he is, is a surprise, whereas the UAB transfer (sophomore guard Predrag Savovic) was more heralded. We have problems matching up with that '4' man because Willie Davis is our power forward and he's only 6-6."

TCU follows SMU

Wallace has two home games to plan for this week. But he's not looking past SMU to TCU (9-8) on Saturday.,

"They (SMU) were the hottest team in the WAC the second half of last year, and they're off to one of the greatest starts they've ever had," he said.

"They're up there 1-2 with (No. 19) Tulsa right now. Athletically, they're up there with Fresno State."

Good read

Dement said he enjoyed part of his flight reading a Sports Illustrated article about former Hawaii guard Anthony Carter, now Tim Hardaway's backup with the Miami Heat.

Ratings

Hawaii's CollegeRPI.com ranking is now 79, and strength of schedule is 197.

SMU is 56 and 188 in the RPI.

The Rainbows' Sagarin ranking is 82 and schedule rank is 307.

SMU is 46 and 370 in the Sagarin.

Hawaii lost all but one point in the polls after losing to UTEP. That one point is in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll .

Quote of the day

Even though his team has not had success in two road games this season, sophomore guard Predrag Savovic said he thrives in road games. He doesn't even mind the verbal abuse he takes from the crowd.

"I love playing on the road," said Savovic. "Because when you beat them, you don't beat just 12 guys. You beat 12,000 people."

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By Pat Bigold, Star-Bulletin