Wednesday, January 16, 2002
[ UH BASKETBALL ]
’Bows prepare for There was some rest for the weary.
10-day road trip
The Rainbows put their unbeaten
WAC record on the line at San
Jose State Rice and TulsaBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comAnd now they're back at it.
The Hawaii basketball team, leading the Western Athletic Conference at 6-0, was back in Gym II yesterday after having two days off. The Rainbows (15-2) started preparing for their longest road trip of the regular season, a 10-day sojourn where they will play at San Jose State, Rice and Tulsa.
"We looked like we had two days off," said Hawaii coach Riley Wallace. "But they needed the time off to get their legs back. Now we're back in it and pushing them hard.
"I know how tough it's going to be at San Jose. Every year, they're one of the teams that plays us the toughest. We need to make sure we're ready."
The Spartans (5-13, 0-6) haven't won a game since topping Mount St. Mary's 91-72 on Dec. 22. But Hawaii has always found The Event Center a tough place to play, losing two in a row there before earning a 71-61 win last season.
The Spartans also took the Rainbows to the limit at the Stan Sheriff Center the past two years. Both times, Hawaii escaped with overtime victories, 84-75 in 2000 and 65-64 in 2001.
Hawaii worked on the Spartans' offensive and defensive schemes yesterday in preparation for Saturday's game. The Rainbows also began putting in what Wallace called "new wrinkles" into their offense for use later in the season.
"The biggest job is to keep them concentrating and focused and under control," said the 15th-year coach. "You have to keep pushing them because we're 'supposed to' win the next two games. The knock on Hawaii is we can't win on the road, and too many times it's been the same old story of the one (win) that got away.
"It's a long road trip, but this team has shown already that it can win on the road. We need to keep it going."
Out of sight: At the moment, he's the invisible man in WAC statistics.
And he will be until the Feb. 28 game at Nevada. That's when Hawaii senior guard Predrag Savovic will have played in the necessary 75 percent of his team's games to be listed in the WAC stats.
Savovic sat out the first seven games of this season due to an NCAA-mandated penalty. He has quickly caught up in scoring, so that his 193 points are second only to Carl English's 244.
If he were statistically eligible, Savovic would rank No. 2 in WAC scoring with a 19.3-point average. SMU's Damon Hancock leads the conference at 20.7 ppg.
Savovic would also be listed as the WAC leader in 3-point goals, averaging three a game. Boise State's Abe Jackson is averaging 2.94 a game.
While Savovic may be invisible on the national scene, he's "The Man" in the heart of one young Rainbow fan. Lee Michael Limatoc Jr. came to yesterday's practice in Gym II and the 3-year-old was in awe.
Limatoc's mother said her son goes around the house, saying he's "Savo." He has so taken on the persona that he's been known to flop on the floor as if taking a charge a la Savovic, and then he asks the nearest towel boy -- often his grandmother -- to wipe the floor.
Limatoc may have had a hard time recognizing two of the players yesterday. Sophomore guard Carl English has bleached his hair blond and junior guard Lance Takaki's hair now has a reddish tint.
Short shots: Junior guard Keron Wilkerson, a 6-foot-1 transfer from Oxnard (Calif.) College, has been cleared by the NCAA to play for Hawaii. Wilkerson, a North Hollywood (Calif.) High School graduate, is a walk-on who will redshirt this season. ... The inaugural International Night, the Jan. 29 fund-raiser for the men's basketball program, has been canceled. For information, call the basketball office at 956-6501. ... Hawaii leaves tomorrow morning for San Jose State. The team won't return to Honolulu until the afternoon of Jan. 27.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
