Tuesday, January 22, 2002
It's pure coincidence, but the Hawaii basketball team is staying at the Crowne Plaza-Houston Medical Center hotel. Rainbows far from
a flat line in WAC raceBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comStill, the Rainbows (15-3, 6-1), who saw their perfect conference season ended Saturday by lowly San Jose State, are looking to resuscitate their season Thursday against Rice (6-10, 1-5).
There's no need to break out the defibrillator just yet, according to Hawaii coach Riley Wallace. The former mortician's assistant knows what dead looks like, and his Rainbows are very much alive in the Western Athletic Conference title hunt.
"But we need to get it going again," Wallace said. "We went back to work today and tried to correct some of the mistakes made Saturday. The foul trouble is what screwed us up.
"This is a smart team, but they didn't adjust to what San Jose was doing and the way the officials were calling it. Rice is a very capable team, and we need to bounce back (and) do the unexpected by winning on the road again."
Yesterday's practice was held at a nearby high school because Autry Court, site of Thursday's contest, was only available at 7 a.m. Hawaii is 3-1 against the Owls in Houston, the only loss coming last year, 70-64.
Autry Court, built in 1950, is a tough place to play and was dubbed the "Jungle Gym" before it was air-conditioned in 1991. Hawaii sophomore forward Phil Martin said he thought it was the hardest place to play in the WAC because of the raucous fans.
"They're close behind you, and they do get personal," Wallace said. "It's an old place, the floor is hard. But that's what the road is about. You have to adjust."
The Rainbows had trouble adjusting to the Spartans' defense, which jammed their offense and created timing problems last Saturday. The Owls also do a lot of defensive rubbing, particularly in the low post, which could also create problems for Hawaii.
The Owls have lost two in a row and four of their last five. Their only WAC win came against visiting UTEP on Jan. 12.
Rice was without leading scorer Jason McKrieth (14.8 ppg) in last week's road losses at SMU (76-49) and Louisiana Tech (57-43). The freshman guard, who sprained his ankle two weeks ago, was in a walking cast at yesterday's practice; he has yet to be cleared to play Thursday.
The only injury to report for Hawaii was a lost tooth. Freshman forward Tony Akpan had his tooth knocked out during yesterday's practice.
"Rice is very capable of beating any team in the league on any given night," Wallace said. "Saturday's loss hurt us. We probably would have been ranked (in the Top 25) this week.
"With all the national attention we were getting, people were noticing us and it was a perfect time to keep it going. Now we go back to building it up again."
Poll watching: Hawaii has disappeared completely from the Associated Press poll. The Rainbows had 23 points last week, good for 35th place.
However, in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25, the Rainbows gained four points for a total of 22 points, placing them at No. 32. They were 34th last week.
Hawaii's RPI dropped yesterday, from 40 to 55. The Rainbows went from No. 63 to No. 72 in the Sagarin rating.
Player of the week: San Jose State forward David Granucci, who had a career night against Hawaii on Saturday, received the WAC's weekly player honor.
Granucci, averaging 4.7 points and 4.2 rebounds prior to Saturday, had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Spartans.
Burneika's father hospitalized: Edverdas Burneika, father of Hawaii senior forward Mindaugas, remains hospitalized in a Lithuanian hospital after suffering a heart attack last week. He is listed in stable condition.
UH Athletics
