Tuesday, December 7, 1999
Rainbows take
early road test
at USC
The Hawaii men are coming
off their best game of the season
and take on a thin USC squadNOTEBOOK
By Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinThe Hawaii men's basketball team couldn't have picked a better occasion than the eve of its first road trip to find itself.
Sunday's 72-42 romp over Pacific in the championship final of the Hawaii Invitational at the Stan Sheriff Center was as close as Riley Wallace's Rainbows have come to perfection in winning five of their first six games.
Finally learning how to put together a solid 40 minutes of basketball with minimal turnovers (nine) and relentless pressure defense might come in handy against the more sophisticated USC Trojans (3-4) tomorrow afternoon at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
Despite the fact that their starting five have played a withering 1,164 minutes of a possible 1,400 this season (83 percent), the Trojans are shooting 44 percent from the floor, outrebounding opponents, 261-247, and have two players who rank among the nation's top three in assists and steals.
HAWAII VS. USC
What: College men's basketball
The Rainbows' starting five has had to play only 746 of a possible 1,200 minutes (62 percent) as Wallace has substituted often enough to allow nine players to average double-digit minutes.
Hawaii is outrebounding opponents, 244-194, and shooting 49 percent from the field.
Nerijus Puida, a 6-foot-5 junior small forward, is 11th in the NCAA in shooting percentage (71 percent on 20-for-28).
Wallace said he has plenty of respect for USC, which played tough in losses over a five-day period to two nationally ranked teams (then-No. 2 North Carolina on Nov. 22 and then-No. 16 Duke on Nov. 27).
The Trojans also lost to Utah State and St. Bonaventure and have beaten Cal State Northridge (which then beat Fresno State), Memphis and UC Santa Barbara.
"They've had a tough schedule," said Wallace. "The question about them is they go with about six guys and that's about it. Foul trouble is a concern for them, so we just have to make sure we make things happen to get them into foul trouble."
The Trojans' problems with depth got even worse yesterday with the announcement by head coach Henry Bibby that versatile sixth man Jarvis Turner, the team's only senior, will miss four to six weeks with a stress fracture in his foot.
But USC thrives on its main five.
Key factors in the Trojans' ability to compete at such a high level without a bench are sophomore point guard Brandon Granville and junior shooting guard Jeff Trepagnier.
The 5-8 Granville, who set a Maui Invitational single-game assist record (15) against Memphis, is third in the NCAA in assists with an average of 9.9 (69 total).
Trepagnier, who had a Maui Invitational single-game steal record (10) against Utah State, leads the nation in swipes with 31 and is third in the NCAA with a 5.2 average.
Trepagnier, who is also a high jump specialist for the USC track and field team, has outstanding jumping ability at 6-4.
He was attending his grandmother's funeral when USC traveled and lost to St. Bonaventure, 80-67, over the weekend.
Sam Clancy, a 6-7 sophomore forward who is the son of former NFL defensive end Sam Clancy Sr., leads the Trojans in scoring with 17.9 points per game. Brian Scalabrine, a 6-9 junior forward-center, averages 16.4 points, Trepagnier 16.3 and and 6-7 sophomore forward David Bluthenthal 11.0.
If the Rainbows have really found their game and continue to play it against the Trojans tomorrow, they might be ready to ratchet up for the tougher end of the December schedule.
Ahead will be games against unbeaten Creighton (5-0) in the Nike Festival (Dec. 22), and possible encounters in the Rainbow Classic (Dec. 27-30) with No. 18 Wake Forest (5-0), No. 24 Gonzaga (4-1), or Oregon (3-0), which received votes in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today coaches polls.
Hawaii will open the Western Athletic Conference season on the road (Jan. 8) against UTEP (4-2). This will be the third year in a row that Hawaii has opened the WAC season away. Both previous openers resulted in losses - to San Diego State in 1998 and UTEP on Jan. 7 1999.
So, for the first time since the 1995-96 season, Wallace decided it would be a good idea to take the Rainbows on an early road trip.
He thinks this 10-man traveling squad, which includes six new faces, needs the exposure to a hostile crowd.
"There won't be a big crowd (at USC) - maybe 1,500 to 2,000," said Wallace. "But it's probably one of the good things about taking the trip because they'll have a lot of people screaming at them in the conference season on the road."
Carl English's limited time as a freshman guard with the Hawaii men's basketball team has been very well documented by the media in Newfoundland and other parts of Canada. RAINBOW BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
English ready for
ankle surgeryNot a week has gone by without reporters or broadcast journalists calling to check on his progress.
The angle is that English, who came from a fishing village in Newfoundland called Patrick's Cove (pop. 50), is only the second resident of Canada's easternmost province to make it to American Division I basketball.
But this is his last week as an active member of the team before he goes for ankle surgery and takes a rehabilitative redshirt season.
English, who has been practicing and playing in pain with an oft-injured left ankle, will go under the knife of Dr. Darryl Kan Saturday. He is not looking forward to it.
"That's what I'm scared of right now," said English after practice on Sunday.
"I'll be a month in a cast and hopefully it will heal. Two to three weeks in a walking cast and then we have another three months rehab, and anything can happen. I'm just hoping it's going to be successful, and then I can get back to my usual ways and help the team."
English explained that his ankle is a mess right now.
"It's loose in the joint," said English. "You can pull it in and out of the socket and there are some bone chips he's (Kan) going to remove. The ligaments are gone, wasted from being injured so often."
English is with the team in Los Angeles, even though head coach Riley Wallace said it's unlikely he'll get any playing time against USC tomorrow.
Last night, English and his Rainbow teammates were at the Staples Center to watch former Hawaii star Anthony Carter score a career-high 20 points and dish out five assists as the Miami Heat's starting point guard in a 99-91 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Despite the fact that English has played only four minutes in two games, scored one field goal, converted two free throws, grabbed two rebounds and made one assist, he is still a hot topic in Canada.
"I consider myself a representative of Newfoundland, not all of Canada," said English.
"But I've been getting some publicity throughout Canada and, well, I guess that's all right."
A Canadian show called Y TV will be filming a piece on him while he's in Los Angeles and another production company wants some of his time.
English will still have four years of eligibility after he redshirts.
"I will be lifting when I come out of the cast, and hopefully I'll gain 15 pounds, up to 205," said English. "I learned so much this year, I'm going to come in next year and be ready to go. I know what I have to work on now and I know my strengths and weaknesses."
English said he doesn't mind the pain.
"What's frustrating is I can't do what I used to do," he said.
"My dribbling is not as good because I don't have that step I used to beat people with. My jumping is not the same. I'm not high-flying anymore. The shot's there. The set shot doesn't change. But I find that when I go off the drive, I can't penetrate. And I can't take a jump shot like I used to."
But the young cod fisherman named Carl English who became a phenom in Newfoundland might just re-emerge next summer as a result of Kan's operation.
"He said he's never had a failure," said English. "I hope I'm not the first. But, nah, I think it will be OK."
Phil Martin, a 6-7 freshman forward from Ontario, remains ineligible and is also redshirting this season.
Hawaii's turnover average is down to 18 after Sunday's nine-turnover performance against Pacific.
"It's a big concern, no doubt about it," said Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace, who won his 201st game. "But when you try to uptempo and get the ball down the floor, you're going to have a chance of a few more turnovers. What we need to do is cut them down and still be able to uptempo."
By Pat Bigold, Star-Bulletin
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
