FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Matthew Gipson looked to pass around San Jose State's Marquin Chandler.

’Bows rotation grows

You might be among the many who are curious about the Hawaii basketball team's next starting lineup.

UH coach Riley Wallace plans on keeping you -- as well as his players -- in suspense.

"It's who's doing what at the time," Wallace said after the Rainbow Warriors' 71-45 victory over San Jose State last night. "It's whoever's working hard in practice."

By this point of the season, Wallace usually knows exactly what his starting lineup is, barring injury. He's happy to have the problem now of more than five guys capable of playing important minutes, including those to start the game.

"That doesn't bother me," he said, after starting his third different lineup in a row. "I'll let them (the players) worry about it."

Last night, junior forward Matthew Gipson made his first start for UH a memorable one -- one that might stick in Wallace's mind until he picks his opening five for Thursday's game against SMU.

Gipson keyed UH's decisive 14-point first-half run with a 3-pointer, one of four consecutive Hawaii dunks, and then a tip off a miss to make it 14-2 a little more than 8 minutes into the game. He scored all seven of his points during that run, and San Jose State never recovered.

He also drew the toughest defensive assignment, Spartans forward Marquin Chandler. Gipson and Jeff Blackett limited him to seven points in the first half. Chandler, who averaged 20 points per game going in, finished with 15 on six-of-16 shooting from the floor.

"We were dogging him with Big Matt at 6-9 and Blackett," Wallace said.

"I think we did a pretty good job, Jeff's a great defensive player," Gipson said. "The important thing is to play him off the ball, do the work before he gets the ball. Once he gets it, it's too late. They told me two or three days ago I'd be guarding him, so I was able to prepare."

Gipson, a junior college transfer from North Idaho College and a former Oklahoma player, started his first game since last March.

"I'm not used to (coming off the bench), but I just want to play my role, whatever it is," he said. "I do prefer to start. I like to be loose, coming in right after warmups rather than sitting down. I'm a rhythm player, so if I get off to a good start, there's no telling what could happen."

Gipson had six rebounds in 23 minutes, helping UH to a 44-25 dominance off the boards.

He started instead of Blackett, who is dealing with a minor stress fracture in his left foot.

"I told (Blackett) I might have to cut into his minutes," Wallace said.

Blackett came off the bench to score eight points in 16 minutes.

"Jeff was hurt for this one," forward Julian Sensley said. "When Jeff's healthy, who knows? That's the good thing about this team."