WAC title on FRESNO, Calif. >> Just like the tule fog that sneaks in at night and is gone by morning, the Hawaii basketball team is hoping to sneak into Selland Arena tonight and snare a rare win at Fresno State.
the line tonight
Hawaii can tie for the league
championship with a win at FresnoBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe Rainbows (23-5, 14-3) are also hoping that the Bulldogs (18-12, 9-8) will be so distracted by the talk of their coach retiring and the hoopla surrounding Melvin Ely's last home game that they would be able to head to Tulsa tomorrow as the conference co-champions.
Hawaii coach Riley Wallace likes to double down when he can in blackjack, but he's split on how this one will turn out. He doesn't want to bet against the house -- the 13th consecutive sellout of 10,220 -- but he also has seen his team rise to meet the challenge on most nights.
Hawaii has not lost two in a row this season. But the Rainbows also have never had this kind of pressure placed upon them.
Win and they will earn the top seed at next week's Western Athletic Conference tournament. Win and they earn a share of the WAC regular-season championship.
Lose and they drop to No. 2 in the seedings. Lose, and they could be overlooked by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
"We've just got to be ready," said Wallace. "Fresno is playing pretty good right now and it's an important game for them. They think they can win the WAC tournament and they want to use this game to carry their momentum into Tulsa.
"We need to win this. We want to have that top seed."
Wallace, quite a card player, is also the son of a preacher. He learned early the value of prayer.
Tonight, he's asking for a miracle.
Leading scorer Predrag Savovic went down in the second half at Nevada with back spasms. The senior guard saw a chiropractor yesterday and did not practice in the evening with the team.
"He saw a doctor (Thursday night) and there is no neurological damage," said Hawaii trainer Melody Toth. "It's a back spasm and there's not much you can do. It's the same thing that Haim (center Shimonovich) had in December. He's going to be day-to-day."
Savovic said he was feeling "50 percent better" than Thursday night.
"I will play if I can," he said. "I feel responsible for the loss (to Nevada)."
Savovic has had tightness in his back for several years, but it's never forced him out of a game, or to miss a game. If he's unable to compete tonight, it would be the first start he's missed in the 81 games for which he's been eligible.
(Savovic sat out seven games at the start of this season due to an NCAA-mandated suspension revolving around foreign pro league participation. The Rainbows were 6-1 without him.)
Wallace said he would likely start senior forward Mindaugas Burneika if Savovic is unable to play.
"Savo has tight muscles, he's never had that flexibility," said Wallace. "He has a tendency to tense up and there's a lot of tension surrounding this game."
Not all of the tension concerns Savovic or Hawaii. Fresno State has had plenty this season, from eligibility questions (Ely and Chris Sandy) to unexpected surgery (Chris Jefferies).
The past two days, the national spotlight has been on Bulldog coach Jerry Tarkanian. Will he retire this season, as ESPN.com relayed, or is he undecided, as the Associated Press reported?
"Nothing is definite," the 71-year-old Tarkanian told AP yesterday, adding that he would make a decision after the WAC tournament.
However, Tarkanian also told ESPN.com yesterday that he didn't think he could go another year.
When: 5 p.m. today, Hawaii time GAMEDAY
Where: Selland Arena (10,220), Fresno, Calif.
TV: Live, KFVE-TV (Ch. 5)
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
Internet: kccn1420am.com
"I've gotten lazy recruiting-wise," he said in the Internet story. "And there has been too much pain and agony. I have had such a difficult season. There has been so much promise. I'm just fed up with it."
In the game in Honolulu this year, the Bulldogs were without Ely, who was under investigation by the NCAA. Fresno State did have Jefferies, who scored a team-high 21 points, and it was Sandy's FSU debut.
Ely will be in the lineup tonight, but Jefferies and Sandy will be on the bench. Jefferies has missed the last nine games due to a cartilage tear that required surgery and Sandy was ruled ineligible by the school on Feb. 14 and has missed five games.
Tarkanian said he expected the two back for next week's WAC tournament.
Notes: The only time Hawaii has won in eight visits to Selland Arena was in 1998, when Alika Smith and Anthony Carter were seniors. A month later, Fresno State came into the Stan Sheriff Center and defeated the Rainbows 85-83 in the NIT quarterfinals ... Should Hawaii win tonight, the Rainbows would play Thursday at 8 a.m. Hawaii time against the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between Rice and either San Jose State or UTEP. If Hawaii loses, the Rainbows would play Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Hawaii time against the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between Boise State and either UTEP or San Jose State.
WAC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Tulsa 15 3 .833 -- 24 5 Hawaii 14 3 .824 12 23 5 La Tech 13 4 .765 112 19 8 SMU 10 7 .588 412 15 12 Fresno St. 9 8 .529 512 18 12 Nevada 9 8 .529 512 16 11 Boise St. 5 12 .294 912 11 16 Rice 5 13 .278 10 10 18 UTEP 3 14 .176 1112 10 20 San Jose 3 14 .176 1112 8 21 Today
Hawaii at Fresno State, 5 p.m., Hawaii time
SMU at Boise State
Louisiana Tech at UTEP
San Jose State at Nevada
End regular season
PROBABLE STARTERS
HAWAII (23-5, 14-2)
Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G Carl English (So.) 6-5 15.6 4.7 3.3 G Mark Campbell (Jr.) 6-4 3.3 2.6 4.6 F Phil Martin (So.) 6-8 9.1 4.8 0.8 C H.Shimonovich(So.) 6-10 7.8 6.9 2.9 G Predrag Savovic (Sr.) 6-6 19.3 4.4 2.4 F Mindaugas Burneika (Sr.) 6-7 9.2 3.2 1.5 FRESNO STATE (18-12, 9-8)
Ht. Pts. Reb. Ast. G Travis DeManby (Jr.) 6-4 5.6 3.0 3.6 G Damon Jackson (So.) 6-4 11.0 3.8 2.3 G Matt Mitchell (Fr.) 5-10 4.4 1.7 3.8 F Noel Felix (Jr.) 6-9 8.3 5.1 2.6 C Melvin Ely (Sr.) 6-10 23.4 9.3 1.4 Notes: Fresno State leads the series 16-7. In games in Fresno, the Bulldogs lead 7-1. The teams met in Honolulu to open the WAC season on Dec. 27, with the Rainbows winning 83-72. Predrag Savovic scored a game-high 23 points and Carl English, hitting 5 of 7 3-pointers, added 22 points. ... Hawaii coach Riley Wallace is in his 15th season (239-203). The Rainbows are coming off a 79-69 loss at Nevada on Thursday. Phil Martin led Hawaii with a season-high 19 points. ... Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian is in his 7th season (152-76) with the Bulldogs, 31st overall. He has the third-best winning percentage of active head coaches (777-199. .798). If this year's team wins 20 games, it would mark the 30th time in his 31 years, the all-time record. ... After losing four straight games, Fresno State has won four of its last six. The Bulldogs are coming off a 72-60 victory against San Jose State on Thursday. Senior all-America candidate Melvin Ely scored a game-high 21 points and Damon Jackson added a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. It was his second consecutive double-double; in the win at SMU, the junior guard had 32 points and 11 rebounds. ... The all-WAC teams as voted upon by the coaches, will be announced tomorrow. The top two candidates for Player of the Year will be in Selland Arena tonight in Ely and Savovic.
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