Tuesday, February 5, 2002
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UH watches Fear Factor.
its back
The Rainbows meet top-notch
WAC foes SMU and Louisiana
Tech on the mainlandBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comIt's not just a television show. It's the reality-based show being put on by the Hawaii basketball team. And the biggest fear is the fear of losing.
Thursday's game at Southern Methodist is the next challenge for the Western Athletic Conference leader. The Rainbows (19-3, 10-1) don't want to blink on this one, not when their lead is just one game over Tulsa (18-4, 9-2).
"Tulsa is there," said Hawaii senior guard Predrag Savovic, yesterday named WAC Player of the Week for the second time this season. "Louisiana Tech is there. SMU is there. You could lose every game down the stretch. And that's what we have to keep focused on."
SMU (11-9, 6-4) played Hawaii very tough when the teams met Jan. 12 at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbows prevailed 83-74 in a game Mustang coach Mike Dement called his team's best effort of the season.
Since that loss, SMU has gone 2-3, including last Saturday's 70-66 defeat to visiting Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs (13-7, 7-3), hosting the Rainbows on Saturday, have won five of their last six WAC games since falling to Hawaii in Honolulu on Jan. 10.
"We are feeling pretty good about ourselves right now," said Hawaii sophomore guard Carl English. "But we can't take any game for granted.
"On the road, we need to be positive. We need to go into SMU and play like we did at Tulsa. We need to play like we're at home."
The welcome mat is no longer out for Hawaii on the road this season. The Rainbows are 4-1 in WAC regular-season road games, with two more wins than they achieved in the past three years combined.
"Everyone in the league wants to play you hard," Savovic said. "You have to be a man and stand up to them."
Savovic was the man last Saturday against the Miners, scoring a career-high 32 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the floor and 9-of-11 shooting from the line. He hit on 3 of 4 3-point attempts, giving him 42 for the season and 145 for his career; he needs 17 to pass Alika Smith (161) as UH's all-time leader.
Savovic and English combined for 49 of Hawaii's 75 points against UTEP, while Mike McIntyre, who had been on fire as of late, was held to a single basket late in the game. That's just how it goes on some nights, Savovic said.
"It's a team game," he said. "One game, it's one guy. Another game, it's another.
"It was a team effort and Mike played his game defensively."
Added English: "We get scoring from all over. We're an unselfish team and everyone plays a part. We played a great game, a great overall team game, and we won."
Hawaii is one win away from giving its coach his fourth 20-win season in 15 years. The Alika Smith-Anthony Carter teams of 1996-97 and '97-98 each won 21 games. The most games a Rainbow team has won under Wallace was 25, in 1989-90.
Weekly honor: Savovic earned his second weekly honor in six weeks based on his performances against Boise State and UTEP.
Last Thursday, he had a team-high 20 points against the Broncos, then scored a career-high 32 vs. the Miners. Savovic was 16 of 32 from the field, 6 of 12 from 3-point range, and 14 of 17 from the free-throw line.
It was the first time this season that one school had two players win the weekly honor on consecutive weeks. Last week, senior guard Mike McIntyre was cited.
Poll watching: Despite having one of the top-five winning percentages in the country, Hawaii remained unranked in both major polls.
The Rainbows received 38 points in yesterday's Associated Press Top 25, placing them at No. 32. Last week, they had 12 votes, placing them at 38th.
In Sunday's ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25, Hawaii moved up to 29th.
UH Athletics