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Monday, February 14, 2000
Hawaii bench offers hope
By Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinPerhaps it is darkest before the dawn.
The University of Hawaii men's basketball team can only hope the adage is true..
Rainbow coach Riley Wallace, whose team is on a three-game skid in the Western Athletic Conference, has found two productive reserves at the end of the bench.
Lane O'Connor, a 6-foot-7 junior , and Todd Fields, a 7-0 junior, had been languishing on the sideline for what seemed to be forever. That changed Saturday.
The 89-73 loss at Southern Methodist (19-5, 7-3 WAC) marked the first time since an 87-60 home win over Florida Atlantic on Dec. 21 that the Rainbows (15-8, 4-6) used nine men in double-digit minutes.
It was the first time all nine were used under duress. Two of them were O'Connor and Fields.
In Thursday's 106-96 loss at Texas Christian (15-11, 6-4), O'Connor played 26 minutes, about two and a half times as many minutes as he'd been averaging. He scored 27 points, nearly 10 times his average, and a season-high for any Rainbow.
On Saturday, Wallace almost thought he'd discovered the Fields of his dreams.
The center from Mesquite, Texas, played 20 minutes and scored six points, grabbed five rebounds, blocked two shots and made a steal.
"His legs are stronger, he works harder in practice, he jumps better, and he's doing things he didn't do earlier in the year," Wallace said.
One of Fields' best defensive plays came when SMU was ahead, 59-53, with just under 10 minutes left.
Mustangs' guard Jeryl Sasser (career-high 32 points) grabbed rebounded his own missed free throw and headed back up to the basket. Just as he was passing Fields, the big man blocked Sasser and stripped him of the ball.
Fields then hit a long baseline jumper to make it 65-58 with eight minutes left. He out-muscled Davis to bank a hook off the glass to bring the Rainbows to within six (78-72) with under four minutes left.
Also on the plus side for Hawaii was Marquette Alexander's fifth double-double of the season and fourth in his last five games (16 points and 12 rebounds).
The Rainbows are hoping to earn a berth in the National Invitation Tournament.. The schedule is not kind:.
Hawaii's final home games are this week against nationally ranked Tulsa (22-2, 7-1) on Thursday and Rice (14-6, 0-8) on Saturday, and a two-game road trip that will take them to San Jose State (12-12, 3-6) on Feb. 26 and Fresno State (16-8, 6-2) on March 4,
Wallace said his team might possibly get in with only 17 wins but 18 or 19 would be better.
The games Hawaii plays at the WAC tournament March 9-11 will also count toward their chances of getting into the NIT.
One key will be sophomore starting shooting guard Predrag Savovic, who has had two straight subpar offensive game. Savovic, who took two elbows in the face on the road trip,had five points and three turnovers against TCU and fouled out after scoring seven points against SMU.
Wallace is at a loss to explain Savovic's slum.
"If I knew, I'd correct it," said Wallace. "It's something he has to work himself out of."
Wallace said Hawaii's biggest problem remains its lack of team defense.
Hawaii also had 43 turnovers in the two road games to their opponents' 34.
WAC men
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. Tulsa 7 1 .875 22 2 .917 Fresno State 6 2 .750 16 8 .667 SMU 7 3 .700 19 5 .792 TCU 6 4 .600 15 11 .577 Hawaii 4 6 .400 15 8 .652 UTEP 3 6 .333 12 10 .545 San Jose State 3 6 .333 12 12 .500 Rice 0 8 .000 4 16 .200 Saturday's results
SMU 89, Hawaii 73
TCU 78, San Jose St. 73
UTEP 92, Fresno St. 78Today's game
Rice at Tulsa, 7:05 (FSN)
Thursday's games
Tulsa at Hawaii, 7:05 p.m.
Rice at San Jose State
SMU at Fresno State
TCU at UTEPSaturday's games
Rice at Hawaii, 7:05 p.m.
Tulsa at San Jose State
SMU at UTEPSunday's game
TCU at Fresno State
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
