RAINBOW BASKETBALL PLAYBOOK
vs. San Jose State Spartans
Tipoff -- Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center.
Coaches -- San Jose State: Steve Barnes, 2nd season at SJS and overall (23-22); Hawaii: Riley Wallace, 14th season at UH, (206-192); 16th overall (214-212).
Season -- San Jose State: (8-7 overall, 0-4 WAC).Hawaii: (7-8 overall, 1-3 WAC).
Series -- Hawaii leads, 7-5. Last year: SJS won, 67-50, at San Jose; UH won, 84-75 (OT) at Honolulu.
Top Players -- San Jose State: F Darnell Williams (6-7 Sr., 11.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg); F Cory Powell (6-5 Sr., 12.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg); G Mike Garrett (6-1 Sr., 11.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.9 apg). Hawaii: C Troy Ostler (6-10 Sr., 15.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg); F Nerijus Puida (6-5 Sr., 9.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 4.6 apg); G Predrag Savovic (6-6 Jr., 16.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg).
Keys -- The Spartans milk the clock, depending on discipline to get good shots, and play in-your-face defense. It keeps them in games against more talented teams, but has not resulted in conference wins against Southern Methodist, Texas Christian, Tulsa and Texas-El Paso. Wallace said the Rainbows will need to be effective at breaking down the Spartans with little time left on the shot clock. San Jose State also rebounded well in the early season, ranking 20th in the nation in rebounding margin (+7.2) as of Jan. 9. Hawaii hopes to match SJS on the boards with a healthy Ostler, whose sprained left ankle appears to be close to fully healed. The Rainbows shot well from behind the 3-point line last week (14-for-33) in a loss to UTEP and victory over Tulsa. Good 3-point shooting will go a long way in what figures to be a low-scoring game.
On the air -- Radio: Rainbow Sports Radio (KCCN 1420-AM) live. Television: KFVE (Channel 5) live.
RealAudio: 'Net broadcast Click Here
Dave Reardon, Star-Bulletin
