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RAINBOW BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

Hawaii hopes losing streak
on the road ends at 10

Hawaii's road losing streak is at 10 and head coach Riley Wallace knows that has to stop.

That's if the team expects to play beyond the Western Athletic Conference tournament in March.

There are 11 games remaining on the conference schedule, and six are on the road.

The Rainbows left yesterday afternoon to play the worst and the best of the WAC. They will meet Rice (0-2 WAC, 4-9) on Thursday in Houston and take on nationally ranked Tulsa (2-0 WAC, 16-1) on Saturday.

Tulsa is ranked No. 15 in the latest AP poll and No. 17 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

Rice, which lost a 67-49 decision to Tulsa on Sunday, is on a five-game losing streak. But three of those games were on the road.

Wallace said he played at Rice's small, antiquated Autry Court.

"It's an old gym and not a good environment," said Wallace. "They don't draw crowds and you have to self-motivate."

Rice is led by 6-foot-6 junior forward Erik Cooper, who's averaging 21.5 points.

Point guard Mike Wilks, a 5-11 junior, is very quick and averaging 15.9 points and 3.8 assists.

At center, the Owls have Quebec native Alex Bougaieff, who stands 6-11 and is averaging 12 points and 7.2 rebounds.

"If we play like we did in the Rainbow Classic, we can win those games," said Hawaii sophomore shooting guard Predrag Savovic. "We have to play hard and smart."

Rainbows senior point guard Johnny White, who is coming off his season-high scoring game (20 points), has started in nine straight road losses.

"It would be nice to win one," said White, who refuses to take the Owls for granted. "People think Rice is not a very good team, but they've had a lot of injuries. They play everybody tough."

Savovic dehydrated

Savovic collapsed with muscle spasms at Friday's practice and experienced enough discomfort on Saturday to pull himself out of practice. Dehydration and body banging in practice on two consecutive days led to his problems.

"But I am fine now," he said, waving off the matter after yesterday's practice.

"They (trainers) gave me big bottles of water," added Savovic, who admitted he doesn't drink enough fluid.

He said it hurt him to breathe Saturday night when he was scoring 14 points in 27 minutes against TCU.

Hawaii 77th in RPI

Hawaii's RPI ranking is at a season-high of 77.

Rice is ranked 277 and Tulsa is at 38.

Hawaii's Sagarin rating is 89, Rice is 274 and Tulsa is 7.

Tough competition

The four teams that have beaten Hawaii have a combined record of 45-16.

USC, which handed the Rainbows their worst loss of the season (85-56) on Dec. 8, has won seven of its last eight games and is 3-0 in the Pac-10.

The Trojans defeated UCLA (No. 19 in ESPN/USA Today, No. 25 in AP) on Wednesday.

The teams that have defeated Hawaii also look pretty good in terms of RPI ranking. Bowling Green is 69, USC is 42, UTEP is 64 and SMU is 55.

3-point practice

Sophomore guard Mike McIntyre, who leads the team with 50 percent shooting from 3-point range (21 for 42), spent 15 extra minutes in the gym after practice yesterday, shooting alone from outside the arc.

"It's all repetition," said McIntyre, who was 3-for-3 from downtown against TCU.

Working on defense

Wallace worked halfcourt on man-to-man and zone defenses yesterday, but will concentrate on traps the next two days in Texas. Hawaii had difficulty against traps used by SMU and TCU last week.

"We have a man wide open on the weak side and we can't get the ball to him," said Wallace.

But he said he expects Rice to use a lot of zone and that favors his gunners.

"They're (Owls) big and strong and slow inside, so they've shown a lot of zone."

He said that might give McIntyre and junior forward Lane O'Connor some time to shoot the ball.

"Mike's on a roll now and you have to find minutes for him," said Wallace.

"So is Lane O'Connor. He's been shooting well in practice. Against zones, you want to get those guys in there."

O'Connor, who shot 51 percent from 3-point range in junior college, didn't play against SMU or TCU.

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By Pat Bigold, Star-Bulletin