UH faces If Louisiana Tech coach Keith Richard has his way, tonight's game with Hawaii will be a bruising battle with both teams slugging it out in the paint.
physical battle
with LaTech
The Rainbows put their 20-game
Probable starters
home win streak on the line
against the Bulldogs
Lewis takes Warriors to 4 games
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comBut the Rainbows know beating the Bulldogs will come down to playing smarter rather than harder.
"They're going to be more physical, but you can't answer everything with another shove or you'll get cheap fouls and we'll get guys out of there early," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said. "We want to be a little more aggressive without fouling."
Louisiana Tech (5-4, 2-0 Western Athletic Conference) enters the Stan Sheriff Center tonight as one of just two teams still undefeated in WAC play, and the Bulldogs hope to snap Hawaii's 20-game home winning streak by engaging the Rainbows in a halfcourt battle.
"Last year they really ran us out of the gym," Richard said, referring to the Bulldogs' 81-61 loss in Honolulu. "It never got a chance to be a good physical matchup. It would be nice for us to stay in the game so both teams can go at it physically."
After stumbling on the road last week and rebounding with a 72-55 win over Southern Methodist on Thursday, the Rainbows (9-2, 2-1) can improve their position in the conference race over the next three days as they face Louisiana Tech and Fresno State, the conference's other unbeaten team.
Fresno State (10-2, 3-0) hosts UTEP today and comes to town Monday.
"We're treating it like a tournament, a Rainbow Classic-type thing, because you don't have a lot of time to work on their stuff," UH guard Carl English said.
When: Today, 7 p.m. Hawaii vs. LaTech
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
TV: Live, KFVE-TV
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
Internet: uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Tickets: Lower Level, $15/$16; Upper Level (adult) $11/$12; Upper Level (student, UH) $7; Super Rooter $8Richard said his team "got the monkey off our back" with a road win at San Jose State on Thursday after dropping its first four games away from its Ruston, La., home. Three of those losses came against teams ranked in this week's Associated Press Top 25.
Tech has already played in some of the nation's most hostile environments, losing to No. 11 Florida in the Preseason NIT and falling to No. 7 Mississippi State. The Bulldogs gave No. 8 Texas a tough run before losing 58-50 on Dec. 30 and will face a Hawaii squad that hasn't lost a WAC game at home since the 2000-01 season.
"This is one of the toughest places to play in the country," Richard said. "Are those (early road) games going to help us? I don't believe so, because I really believe we're a different team than we were then."
The Bulldogs will present a distinctly different challenge than the one the Rainbows faced in their win over SMU.
While SMU preferred to do its scoring with pull-up jumpers or drives to the basket, Tech's primary option will be to get the ball to its talented post players and let them bang their way to the hoop.
"They're very good athletes," Wallace said. "If we stay out of foul trouble and play aggressively we'll be all right. But they'll want to get us down a little bit by pounding the boards and pushing the ball down and beating us up with their athleticism."
But the Rainbows have proven they aren't exactly weaklings in the paint. Hawaii leads the WAC in rebounding margin, snagging more than eight more rebounds per game than its opponents.
"We take pride in rebounding," UH center Haim Shimonovich said. "If we can get second chances, we win the game."
A key for Hawaii will be for its post players to stay out of foul trouble against Tech's front line led by forward Antonio Meeking, a preseason All-WAC pick.
Meeking (6-foot-8, 245 pounds) has three double-double performances this season and averages 16.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
Nearly one-third of Meeking's points this season have come at the free-throw line. In a win over SMU last week, Meeking made just 4 of 11 field goal attempts, but was 11 of 16 from the line and finished with 19 points.
"We're known for playing real smart ball games, so that's going to be the key for us," UH forward Phil Martin said. "There's an adjustment mentally getting ready for a physical game. We have to prepare for a more physical game and be strong."
Meeking was held to six points and five rebounds before fouling out against San Jose State on Thursday, but guards Darrian Brown and Lavelle Felton picked up the slack with 19 points each.
"A month ago we couldn't have won any game with (Meeking) scoring six," Richard said. "On the one hand we need him to play better; on the other hand I'm encouraged that some of our other players are playing better."
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Probable starters
LATECH (5-4, 2-0 WAC)
Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G E.Woods (Fr.) 6-4 6.6 1.9 1.1 G M.Wilder (Sr.) 6-2 6.6 2.1 1.9 G L.Felton (Sr.) 6-5 11.4 5.0 3.3 F A.Meeking (Sr.) 6-8 16.1 8.1 1.1 F D.Brown (Sr.) 6-6 10.6 4.9 0.7
HAWAII (9-2, 2-1 WAC)
Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G M.Campbell (Sr.) 6-4 4.7 3.0 6.0 G M.Kuebler (Jr.) 6-5 12.3 3.3 2.3 F C.English (Jr.) 6-5 19.2 5.5 2.8 F P.Martin (Jr.) 6-8 9.2 4.5 0.3 C H.Shimonovich (Jr.) 6-11 10.7 7.7 2.9
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Fresno St. 3 0 1.000 -- 10 2 La. Tech 2 0 1.000 1/2 5 4 Hawaii 2 1 .667 1 9 2 Boise St. 2 1 .667 1 8 5 Rice 1 1 .500 1 1/2 9 3 Tulsa 1 1 .500 1 1/2 8 3 Nevada 1 2 .333 2 6 7 UTEP 1 2 .333 2 3 9 SMU 0 2 .000 2 1/2 5 7 San Jose St. 0 3 .000 3 3 9
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