Wednesday, January 2, 2002
[ UH BASKETBALL ]
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Vebobe misses bus Texas-El Paso will be without one big guy for the men's basketball game with Hawaii tomorrow.
Hawaii meets UTEP tomorrow minus
the services of the junior forwardBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comSo, too, will the Rainbows.
Hawaii junior forward Luc-Arthur Vebobe was an unexpected no-show for the bus ride to the airport Monday. The 6-foot-9 French national missed Monday morning's practice with strep throat; he was supposed to see a doctor and return to catch the team bus.
"We were surprised when he wasn't there," Hawaii coach Riley Wallace said in a telephone call from El Paso yesterday. "I haven't heard from him. The rest of the players said he was fine. I don't know what's the matter."
Vebobe sat out the first six games of the season via an NCAA-mandated suspension for participating in a league with pros. He played just 10 minutes in Saturday's 58-40 win over Nevada, the team he turned down to play for Hawaii.
Vebobe could not be reached for comment yesterday. He turned down interview requests after the game Saturday.
Wallace said that he will use 6-8 junior reserve Paul Jesinskis in Vebobe's place.
"Paul may be a little better offensively than Luc," Wallace said of the transfer who has played in 10 games, averaging seven minutes.
As for UTEP, the bad news got worse yesterday. The Miners (5-8, 0-2), who limped home with two road losses last week, now have senior forward Leonard Owens limping with a bone bruise on his right knee.
The 6-6 Owens, who started eight games for UTEP, was injured in the first two minutes of the Miners' 77-63 loss at Louisiana Tech last Friday. Owens, averaging 4.5 points and 3.3 rebounds a game, is expected to be out for the next four games, including tomorrow's contest with the Rainbows (11-2, 2-0).
Third-year coach Jason Rabedeaux's team is struggling offensively and has lost its last three and four of its last five. The Miners face the possibility of becoming the first UTEP squad to begin WAC play 0-3 since 1977-78.
Hawaii has not fared well at what is now called the Don Haskins Center, in honor of UTEP's retired Hall of Fame coach. The Rainbows are 3-16 in El Paso, losing to the Miners 85-77 last season.
"We played well last year but we just got beat," said Wallace. "It's a tough place to play, mostly because they always had good teams."
One of the Miners' all-time greats was behind the bench during Sunday's 55-46 loss at SMU. After the game, Tim Hardaway, now playing for the Dallas Mavericks, talked to the team.
"I just told them to keep being aggressive out there and keep their heads up," Hardaway told the El-Paso Times. "I like what they're doing. A few less turnovers and missed shots and they would have been back in it, and maybe even won it."
UTEP committed a season-high 23 turnovers in the loss to the Mustangs. The 46 points was a season-low and third fewest by a Rabedeaux team in his three seasons in El Paso.
"Nobody can say we didn't play hard," Rabedeaux said after Sunday's game. "We're definitely getting a good effort."
Despite the effort, UTEP is 0-2 in the WAC for the first time in four years and only the eighth time in school history. The Miners have yet to fill the void left by the departed Brandon Wolfram, who led the conference in scoring with 22.3 points a game and was third in rebounds at 7.6 a game.
The Miners have not found a go-to person yet and have suffered long scoring droughts at crucial times. They had six shot-clock violations against the Mustangs Sunday, as freshman point guard Luke Martin struggled to run the offense.
UTEP's defense held SMU to 40 percent shooting, and keyed on containing the Mustangs' 3-point shooters. The Miners will have the same problem with Hawaii, which has hit 19 3-pointers in its last two games.
Rebounding has been another problem for UTEP, which was outrebounded by SMU 37-30. It was the sixth time in the past seven games the Miners have failed to control the boards and the 10th time they've allowed an opponent 10 or more offensive rebounds (SMU had 15).
Hawaii has been outrebounded 78-63 in its last two games but did manage to grab the key ones in wins over Fresno State and Nevada.
"UTEP is playing hard, it's just not happening for them," said Wallace. "For us to win there, we have to continue to play hard as well. We have to shoot the ball well and better from the free-throw line (currently 63.9 percent).
When: 4 p.m. tomorrow GAMEDAY
Where: Don Haskins Center (12,222)
TV: None
Radio: Live, 1420-AM (3:45 p.m. pregame)
Internet: uhathletics.hawaii.edu
"And our defense has to be there. We have to keep up the intensity."
Hawaii's defense is holding teams to 57.9 points a game. The Rainbows have forced 35 turnovers in the past two games, while committing 26.
Wallace said he was concerned with UTEP's guards, particularly senior Eugene Costello. Costello had 14 points, 6 assists and 5 steals against the Rainbows in their last meeting. He had just 4 points in addition to 5 steals and 2 assists against SMU.
"Costello ate us up last year," Wallace said. "He caused a lot of problems with his penetration stuff. We have to contain him."
Hawaii will also have to slow down junior forward Roy Smallwood, the team's leading scorer (12.8 ppg). He was the only Miner in double figures (14 points) against SMU as UTEP lost its fifth straight road game this year and eighth consecutive dating back to last season.
WAC STANDINGS
Conference All games W L PCT W L PCT Hawaii 2 0 1.000 11 2 .846 La. Tech 2 0 1.000 8 3 .727 SMU 2 0 1.000 7 5 .583 Nevada 1 1 .500 8 4 .667 Fresno St. 1 1 .500 9 5 .643 Tulsa 0 0 .000 9 2 .818 Rice 0 0 .000 5 5 .500 Boise St. 0 2 .000 6 6 .500 UTEP 0 2 .000 5 8 .385 San Jose St. 0 2 .000 5 9 .357 Today (All times HST)
Hawaii at UTEP, 3 p.m.
Rice at Fresno State, 5 p.m.
San Jose State at Boise State, 4:30 p.m.
Tulsa at Nevada, 5 p.m.
Saturday
Hawaii at Boise State, 4:30 p.m.
Tulsa at Fresno State, 7 p.m.
SMU at Louisiana Tech, Noon
Rice at Nevada, 4:05 p.m.
San Jose State at UTEP, 3 p.m.
HAWAII (11-2, 2-0) STARTING LINEUPS
Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G Carl English (So.) 6-5 14.8 5.3 3.5 G Mark Campbell (Jr.) 6-4 3.6 3.2 4.9 G Predrag Savovic (Sr.) 6-6 18.0 3.3 1.2 F Phil Martin (So.) 6-8 9.8 5.8 1.1 C H.Shimonovich(So.) 6-10 9.7 7-3 2.2 TEXAS-EL PASO (5-8, 0-2)
Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G Eugene Costello (Sr.) 5-10 11.3 3.6 2.7 G Luke Martin (Fr.) 5-11 4.0 1.4 1.2 F Nick Enzweiler (So.) 6-6 7.0 3.3 1.5 F Roy Smallwood (Jr.) 6-6 12.8 5.8 1.8 C Brian Stewart (Sr.) 6-10 12.7 5.2 1.0 Notes: Hawaii is coming off a 58-40 win over Nevada, where the team hit a season-high 10 3-pointers to go 2-0 in the WAC for the first time since 1993-94. ... UTEP leads the all-time series 31-12, 16-3 in El Paso. Hawaii has not won in El Paso since the 1999-2000 season. UTEP was the only team to defeat Hawaii twice last season. ... The Rainbows were 1-8 on the road during the regular season last year, the only win coming at San Jose State. They are 2-20 on the road the past three years and 4-18 in WAC road openers. UH hasn't won a WAC road opener since 1993-94. ... Hawaii coach Riley Wallace is in his 15th year with a 227-200 record. UTEP's Jason Rabedeaux is in his third season with a 41-32 record. ... UTEP has sophomore forward Nick Enzweiler back after a one-game suspension for curfew violation. ... Rainbow senior guard Predrag Savovic became the ninth player in school history to score 1,000 career points, reaching the milestone during last Saturday's win over Nevada. He is No. 8 on the all-time scoring list with 1,015 points and needs 56 points to pass Anthony Carter for No. 7. ... Savovic is also third in career 3-pointers (119) and needs four to pass Trevor Ruffin for second. Alika Smith is the career leader at 161. Savovic is moving up on three other UH career lists: He is third in 3-pointers attempted (322), tied for fifth in free throws made (240) and eighth in free throws attempted (300). ... Senior guard Mike McIntyre is No. 4 in career 3-pointers (111) and fifth in 3-pointers attempted (315).
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