Saturday, January 19, 2002
[ UH BASKETBALL ]
The road turns The Hawaii basketball team spent the day in the city, playing tourist yesterday in San Francisco. It was a short trip, with lunch on Pier 39.
lonely when UH
visits San Jose
The Warriors will try to keep
winning in front of the
WAC's smallest crowdBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe Rainbows wanted to avoid the afternoon rush-hour traffic on Interstate 280 as they returned for an evening practice at San Jose State.
Traffic shouldn't be a problem tonight. The host Spartans (5-13, 0-6) are not only at the bottom of the Western Athletic Conference standings, they are last in attendance, averaging 1,348 diehard fans.
Just 812 showed up at the Event Center last Saturday to see San Jose State fall to Louisiana Tech 78-61. It was the sixth straight defeat for the Spartans, who have yet to win this month.
It's a season that ranks somewhere between bad and dismal. Junior guard Brandon Hawkins, the one bright spot for the Spartans, was blunt when telling the San Jose Mercury News last Saturday, "We just played horrible. Bottom line, it's time for the players to step up."
The Spartans likely will need their best performance of the year to avoid being stepped on by WAC leader Hawaii. The Rainbows (15-2, 6-0), with two road wins under their belts, want to keep momentum going on this 10-day, 3-game trip.
Hawaii won at the Event Center last season, its only road victory in eight regular-season WAC contests. That snapped a two-game losing skid to the Spartans in San Jose.
"They always seem to get up for us," senior guard Mike McIntyre said. "Now that we're on top, we're the big game for everybody. Hawaii coming to town is the big game."
Spartans coach Steve Barnes sums up the season in one word: Frustrating.
"I'm disappointed but not discouraged," he said. "It's frustrating, especially when we're working really hard and trying to hit the problem areas we struggle with. It's not that we can't shoot, or don't have an inside scorer or a point guard. We don't defend and we play in spurts."
One concern for Barnes is Hawaii's 3-point shooting. The Rainbows are coming off an 83-74 win over SMU in which they hit a school-record 14 shots from behind the arc.
Hawaii is second in the WAC in 3-point shooting (.361 in all games, .434 in WAC games) and has hit 56 treys in conference play. San Jose State is rated last in 3-point defense (.411) and has given up 122 3-pointers this season, including seven last Saturday to Louisiana Tech.
The game could turn into a shootout, with six of the 13 top 3-point gunners in the WAC on the court. Hawaii senior guard Predrag Savovic, eligible for conference stats but not overall rankings, leads the WAC in 3-point average with 3.5 a game. The Rainbows also have No. 10 McIntyre (1.83 pg) and Mindaugas Burneika and Carl English tied for 11th (1.57).
The Spartans have No. 4 Phil Calvert (2.33) and Moises Alvarez, tied for fifth (2.17).
Hawaii's stingy defense continues to be the best in the WAC. The Rainbows are yielding 59.9 points a game, ninth-best in the country coming into this week.
Scoring could be a problem for San Jose State, which has not hit the 70-point mark in any of its last five games. The Spartans scored 85 points in a 91-85 overtime loss to Nevada to open the WAC season.
Two other conference games have been heartbreakers. They fell at UTEP by a point then lost on two last-second free throws to SMU.
San Jose State made an improvement in the game with Louisiana Tech. The Spartans had been struggling from the free-throw line (.581) but were 24 of 33 from the line, led by Hawkins' 10-for-12 effort.
Hawkins leads the conference in free-throw attempts, averaging 10.1 a game. The transfer from Iowa State also has scored in double figures in all nine games he has played, debuting against Notre Dame de Namur on Dec. 18.
Free-throw shooting has been a bane for Hawaii, which is shooting just 64 percent from the line. That's one thing Rainbow coach Riley Wallace hopes changes on this road trip.
Otherwise Wallace -- known to be slightly superstitious -- is sticking to the same routine used last year, including staying at the same hotel. Due to a computer convention in San Jose, Hawaii stayed in a hotel some 10 miles north in Milpitas.
"We've not been a good road team in the past, but this team has already shown it is different, winning in two tough places," said Wallace.
When: 5:30 p.m. today, Hawaii time GAMEDAY
Where: The Event Center, San Jose, Calif.
TV: Live, KFVE-TV (Channel 5). Replay, 10:30 p.m.
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
Internet: kccn1420am.com
WAC standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Hawaii 6 0 1.000 -- 15 2 SMU 5 1 .833 1 10 6 Tulsa 4 1 .800 112 13 3 Fresno St. 4 2 .667 2 12 6 Nevada 3 3 .500 3 10 6 La.Tech 3 3 .500 3 9 6 Boise St. 2 5 .286 412 8 9 UTEP 2 5 .286 412 7 11 Rice 1 4 .200 412 6 9 San Jose St. 0 6 .000 6 5 13 Thursday
Tulsa 71, Louisiana Tech 68
SMU 76, Rice 49
UTEP 93, Nevada 64
Fresno St. 72, Boise St. 56Today
Hawaii at San Jose State
Fresno State at UTEP
Rice at Louisiana Tech
Tulsa at SMU
Nevada at Boise StateNotes
Hawaii leads the series 9-5 and has won the last two meetings. The Rainbows swept the WAC series last year, winning 71-61 in San Jose and 65-64 in overtime in Honolulu. In WAC contests, Hawaii leads 8-2. The Spartans' last win was in 2000, 67-50 at home. ... Hawaii coach Riley Wallace is in his 15th season (231-200). The 15-2 start is Hawaii's best under Wallace and is the second-best in school history. The 1971-72 team opened 17-1. This is the first time in 23 WAC seasons that the Rainbows are 6-0.
Hawaii came into the week ranked 9th nationally in scoring defense (59.9 ppg). The Rainbows have won nine straight, the third-best streak in school history. The 1973-74 team won 11 in a row and the 1989-90 squad won 10 consecutive.
Senior guard Mike McIntyre needs two 3-pointers to pass Trevor Ruffin (122) for third on the UH career list. Senior guard Predrag Savovic is No. 2 with 133; the all-time leader is Alika Smith (161). Savovic (353) and McIntyre (338) rank 2-3 in career 3-pointers attempted. Smith holds the mark of 422.
Sophomore center Haim Shimonovich leads the WAC in blocks (1.76 bpg). Junior guard Mark Campbell is second in the WAC in assists (4.71), steals (1.76) and assist-turnover ratio (2.11)
San Jose State coach Steve Barnes is in his third season (34-42) ... The Spartans are 0-4 in January and have not won since defeating Mount St. Mary's on Dec. 22. San Jose State has scored fewer than 70 points in each of the last five games ... Junior guard Brandon Hawkins made his debut against Notre Dame de Namur on Dec. 18 and has scored in double figures in all nine games he has played. Against Notre Dame, he became the first Spartan ever to record a triple-double with 18 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
