[ WARRIOR BASKETBALL ]
Hawaii’s big man
returns to teamHaim Shimonovich is set to play
in tonight's game against UTEP
Of all the viewers tuned in to Saturday's nationally televised basketball game between Hawaii and Southern Illinois, few watched with the degree of interest of Haim Shimonovich.
The Hawaii center was among those in Honolulu who spent Saturday evening glued to the television set, all the while wishing he was in the Midwest.
"I wanted to be there to help my teammates," Shimonovich said. "With my experience maybe I could have helped them in different ways. I was sorry I couldn't be there."
Shimonovich missed the first two games of Hawaii's three-game road trip, including Saturday's 66-62 loss to the Salukis, with a sprained right knee.
He suffered the injury in the second half of the Rainbows' 62-59 home win over Southern Methodist on Feb. 14. An MRI performed last week did not reveal a tear in his knee, and it was decided that Shimonovich would rejoin the team for today's Western Athletic Conference game with conference leader Texas-El Paso (19-5, 10-4 WAC).
Shimonovich connected with the team in Dallas yesterday and flew to El Paso with the squad after missing UH's losses to Boise State and Southern Illinois.
Hawaii enters today's game with UTEP at 17-7 overall and 9-4 in WAC play.
"I think everybody knows it's a key game and we have to win this game to stay No. 1," Shimonovich said. "I don't know how much I can help ... but I'll try to maybe help them just being there and trying to lead. I hope it's going to make a difference."
He said the knee was still stiff during yesterday's practice, but hopes it will allow him to contribute today.
"I hope it's going to loosen up a little more and I hope I can be effective," Shimonovich said. "It's better, that's for sure."
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said a decision on whether Shimonovich will return to the starting lineup will be based on today's pregame shootaround.
"He's not 100 (percent) but he was all right," Wallace said. "We're going to try him."
UH forward Jeff Blackett started in Shimonovich's place and contributed 26 points and 15 rebounds in the two games.
But it was on the defensive end that the 6-foot-10 senior's presence was missed as Boise State scored 40 points in the paint and outrebounded UH 40-29 in a 74-57 win last Wednesday.
The UH post players nearly powered the 'Bows to a win against Southern Illinois as forward Phil Martin led all scorers with 20 points and UH nearly matched SIU's rebounding total.
But it wasn't enough to overcome a season-high 24 turnovers as a team. SIU swiped a UH opponent record 21 steals in the win.
"(The Rainbows) played hard, we just had too many turnovers," Wallace said. "(The Salukis) had good pressure defense and we didn't take care of the ball the way we should have."
Today's game ends a grueling run for the Rainbows. The players went to bed at about 2:30 a.m. Central time yesterday following the Southern Illinois game, which tipped off at 11 p.m. They got about four hours sleep before boarding a bus back to St. Louis and a few more on the flights to El Paso.
Wallace said the wear was evident in last night's practice.
"They were tired tonight," he said. "We just went over the scout-team stuff, went over our offense, worked on our defense and got them out of there."
After playing in a high-decibel environment at Southern Illinois, the Rainbows will be greeted by another sellout crowd at the 12,000-seat Don Haskins Center today.
"It was a great atmosphere (at SIU Arena) and it'll be a big-time atmosphere here, too," Wallace said.
