Robinson moves
into guard rotation

Coming off a most valuable player-performance in the United Airlines Tip-off Tournament, Geremy Robinson has been moved from third-string small forward, where he got limited playing time, to the shooting guard rotation.

The Rainbows take on Prairie View A&M (1-2) at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the first round of the Hawaii Invitational. Pacific (1-3) meets Tennessee State (0-1) at 5 p.m.

"Before, he wasn't in the thought pattern," said UH coach Riley Wallace. "But now he is in the thought pattern because I feel he can come in and do some things. I will probably still bring (Mike) McIntyre in for Savo (Predrag Savovic). Then it will be White out and Geremy in, with McIntyre moving to the point. That relaxes McIntyre a little bit in the game, and he gets handles before he has to take over the offense."

Wallace is pleased that all of his regulars are averaging double digit time, and that White is averaging 27 minutes. Last season, he played a withering 36 minutes a game.

Injury update

Wallace said Hawaii has no significant injuries going into the weekend. He said he's certain that Savovic, who played only five minutes in Sunday's 78-61 victory over Virginia Military Institute, will be ready tomorrow night.

"Savo looked better and he was able to work better," he said.

Savovic, who suffered an arch sprain Sunday, has been bothered by sore feet for a few weeks. Wallace said the pain has affected Savovic's shooting, which is at 32 percent.

"He works so hard that he wastes a lot of energy and his feet are moving and he's got blisters on top of blisters," Wallace said.

Wallace said that power forward Bernard McIntosh, one of the first players off the bench, has been working on the exercise bike the past two days due to a swollen big toe. Wallace said he doesn't expect it will keep McIntosh out of action.

Reserve forward Lane O'Connor has been slowed by a hip flexor, but should play this weekend.

About Prairie View

Prairie View A&M won the SWAC two years ago but plummeted with nine freshmen last season (6-21).

Starting point guard Gregory Burks is back after being voted the league's freshman of the year. He averaged 13.4 points (ninth-best in the league).

"It's a quick-shooting ballclub, athletic and can get up and down the court," said Wallace. "They have decent size, but we'll match up. They go man-to-man, but they'll zone after timeouts and after a dead ball situation."

The Panthers return their whole front line: 6-4 sophomore forward Xavier Lee, 6-8 forward-center Aron Thompson, and 6-7 sophomore center-forward Ivan Coulter.

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By Pat Bigold