WARRIOR BASKETBALL
49ers bring a whole new group
Long Beach State's style of play is 1 Warriors have seen this season
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Coaches often speak of learning from your losses.
That figures to be a particularly pertinent concept for Hawaii when the Rainbow Warriors face Long Beach State today at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Long Beach State (2-5) at Hawaii (2-4)
When: Today, 5:05 p.m.
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
TV: Oceanic PPV Ch. 255
Radio: KKEA 1420-AM
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The Rainbows (2-4) are coming off a loss at San Diego last week, and expect to see some of the same sets today against Long Beach State (2-5), under first-year coach Dan Monson.
While he was head coach at Gonzaga, Monson mentored current San Diego coach Bill Grier, accounting for the similarities in their systems.
"(Monson) is running a lot of the Gonzaga offense. We have some knowledge of that having played against San Diego," UH coach Bob Nash said. He has guys who can cause you problems if you don't get out and guard and that's been our key this year, we haven't really guarded for the full 40 (minutes). We need to learn to guard for the full 40."
Today's matchup opens a six-game homestand for the Rainbows leading up to the start of Western Athletic Conference play. Tip-off is set for 5:05 p.m. The game will be televised on a pay-per-view basis.
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The video of Hawaii's game at Long Beach State last February might help the Rainbow Warriors who played a part in the win, to relive a pleasant memory.
That footage, however, wouldn't help them much at all in preparing for today's rematch with the 49ers.
"Throw that out the window," Hawaii coach Bob Nash said. "It's a whole different team."
Aside from the uniform, this year's Long Beach State team bears little resemblance to the one UH defeated last season. The 49ers lost their top nine scorers and replaced their coaching staff in the offseason.
The 49ers visit the Stan Sheriff Center today in a return game for UH's trip to Long Beach last season. Tip-off between Long Beach State (2-5) and Hawaii (2-4) is set for 5:05 p.m.
Both teams have endured some growing pains early this season under their first-year head coaches -- Nash at UH and Dan Monson at Long Beach State -- and enter the nonconference game with similar outlooks, illustrated by the sound bites coming out of both camps.
"I think we're a work in progress. We can get better and better each time we play, we just have to bring it together," Hawaii tri-captain Bobby Nash said after the Rainbows' practice on Friday.
When the 49ers entered the Sheriff Center for their workout a little more than an hour later, Monson described his team as, "very young and ... still a work in progress. We're getting better a little bit every day."
Although Long Beach State has a lot of new faces, the 49ers' offensive sets won't be foreign to the Rainbows.
Half of Hawaii's losses were to San Diego, the last a week ago on the road. But having to prepare for two games against the Toreros already this season might prove useful against Long Beach State. San Diego coach Bill Grier was an assistant under Monson at Gonzaga.
"A lot of the stuff will be similar, so that's good for us. We know what to guard. A different result would be better," said UH guard Riley Luettgerodt, who scored a career-high 23 points in Hawaii's 93-78 victory at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach last season.
A rough first half in which San Diego shot 61 percent set the tone for last week's loss, and has the Rainbows looking for a more complete performance as they begin a six-game homestand.
"We've got to pick it up from the get-go, we have to play a full 40-minute game all out," Bobby Nash said. "Trust everybody that they're going to do their job, make plays, make stops, and the rest will take care of itself. We have to compete for 40 minutes."
Long Beach State replaced all five starters off last season's 24-8 team that won the Big West Conference championship. The school fired coach Larry Reynolds shortly after the 49ers lost to Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Enter Monson, who had been at Minnesota for seven-plus seasons before resigning seven games into last season.
"I've never seen anything like it, where we have 15 guys coming from 15 different directions and trying to get them to come together," Monson said.
With a new regime and a revamped roster, the 49ers struggled to a 1-5 start, opening the season with a 40-point home loss to Brigham Young.
The momentum may be shifting, though. Long Beach State turned in its best performance of the young season in a 77-52 win over Loyola Marymount on Wednesday.
"That was really big for us," said guard Donovan Morris, the 49ers' leading scorer at 14.1 points per game. "We needed it because we would have been 1-6 and it would have really put a shot in our confidence."
Health report
Hawaii forward Alex Veit participated in practice yesterday for the first time since injuring an ankle. The senior has missed the last two games. Monson said 49ers guard Artis Gant (8.3 points per game) probably won't play today due to a knee injury suffered in the Loyola Marymount game.
UH freshman Ji Xiang continues to make progress in his recovery from surgery to repair a torn ACL. The forward from China is walking around without a brace and rode a stationary bike before yesterday's practice. Ji will redshirt and is not expected to participate in practice this season.
WAC Standings
|
WAC |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L
|
Boise State |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
-- |
6 |
3
|
Fresno State |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
-- |
5 |
4
|
San Jose State |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
-- |
3 |
3
|
Utah State |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
-- |
6 |
5
|
New Mexico State |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
-- |
4 |
6 |
|
Nevada |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
-- |
3 |
4
|
Hawaii |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
-- |
2 |
4
|
Louisiana Tech |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
-- |
1 |
5
|
Idaho |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
-- |
1 |
6 |
Yesterday
UNLV 84, Fresno State 71
Loyola Marymount 76, Boise State 74
Utah State 88, Cal State Bakersfield 66
Santa Clara 73, San Jose State 63
Nevada 82, Montana State 76
UTEP 79, New Mexico State 78
Today
Eastern Washington at Idaho
Long Beach State at Hawaii