RAINBOW WARRIOR BASKETBALL
Lojeski shrugs off foot sprain
After leaving practice, the UH guard vows to play
Hawaii guard Matt Lojeski limped out of the gym with a sprained foot during the team's practice yesterday, but said he'll be ready when the Rainbow Warriors return to Western Athletic Conference action on Saturday.
"I'm going to play, I'll be back," Lojeski said.
The Rainbows (13-10, 4-6) last played at Nevada on Saturday and will have had a week to prepare for their next-to-last homestand of the season. They will play Louisiana Tech on Saturday, then face New Mexico State on Monday. Both games tip off at 7:05 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Lojeski, a 6-foot-6 senior, is shooting a team-high 53 percent and leads the Rainbows in scoring at 16.2 points per game and assists with 109. He also ranks second in rebounding with 5.6 per game and steals with 34.
Junior Riley Luettgerodt stepped into Lojeski's spot at shooting guard for the rest of practice.
Lojeski said his right foot had been bothering him for a while and felt a pop yesterday.
"We'll see how he feels (today)," UH coach Riley Wallace said.
Junior center Todd Follmer also missed practice due to the flu bug that has worked its way through the roster over the last few weeks.
After returning home on Sunday, the Rainbows took two days off to recuperate
and catch up in school before getting back in the gym yesterday.
"They worked pretty hard today coming off of that, I thought," Wallace said.
WAC responds:
The Western Athletic Conference issued a statement yesterday stating there was not a lapse between the game clock and the backboard light at the conclusion of Saturday's controversial end to UH's 69-68 loss at Nevada.
On footage from the game televised on ESPN2, it appeared there were still fractions of a second remaining when the red backboard light lit up according to the clock on the screen, just before P.J. Owsley's basket for UH.
The conference's statement reads: "The WAC has obtained undisputable video evidence from ESPN that the game clock attached to the backboard did read 0.00 at the same time the light surrounding the backboard was illuminated, thus signaling the end of the game. Further review of the video also confirmed that the shot attempted and subsequently made by the Hawaii player came after the game had ended.
The statement added that "the discrepancy is caused by a slight delay of the video feed as it is transmitted through the technical equipment that produces the graphics that are shown on the television screen along with the clock."
The clock issue was among those Wallace raised in the aftermath of the disputed sequence. But the coach was more perturbed with a changed call that took a basket by Ahmet Gueye off the scoreboard with 5.8 seconds left.
Around the league:
Fresno State senior guard Ja'Vance Coleman was dismissed from the team for a violation of athletic department rules, according to the Bulldogs' weekly press release. Coleman was a second-team All-WAC pick last season when he averaged 17.2 points. He was averaging 10.2 points this season. He scored 13 points in two Fresno State losses to UH this season. ... Utah State guard Jaycee Carroll's 44 points against New Mexico State on Monday was the fourth-highest total in Division I this season.