Bulldogs brace If Hawaii junior guard Carl English leaves college early for the NBA, the biggest cheer will probably come out of Central California's San Joaquin Valley.
for English
UH could use another big
game from the junior guard,
who has been a thorn in
the side of Fresno StateBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comEnglish has emerged as Fresno State's personal tormentor over the past two seasons. He leads the Rainbows into today's Western Athletic Conference basketball showdown with the Bulldogs at Selland Arena in Fresno.
"It's always fun to play here," English said after yesterday's practice in Fresno. "They've got a good feisty crowd and it's always good to play against a crowd like that because it gets you motivated."
The Rainbows have beaten Fresno State the last four times the teams have met and are looking for a regular-season sweep against the Bulldogs for the second year in a row.
English has played a big part in Hawaii's recent success over its conference rivals. He averages 17.2 points per game against Fresno State and put up 63 over the teams' last two meetings.
He scored 22 points in a home win over the Bulldogs last year and 33 in the rematch in Fresno. English continued to hound the Bulldogs this season with a 30-point outing in Hawaii's 88-77 win Jan. 13 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
English made all seven of his field-goal attempts in the second half in scoring 23 points after halftime in last week's game. Michael Kuebler provided the fireworks in the first half with 21 points and finished with 29.
"I know they can't forget about Kuebler since he played a great game against them last time, so hopefully that'll free me up a little bit more," English said. "They'll make some adjustments, but I think whatever they throw at us we'll be ready."
As a freshman in 2001, English provided a hint of what lay ahead by coming off the bench to spark the Rainbows to a victory over the Bulldogs in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament with 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds on his way to tourney MVP honors.
But it was last year's game at Selland Arena that solidified English's place as one of the Rainbows' clutch performers.
After suffering a disappointing loss at Nevada two nights earlier and with leading scorer Predrag Savovic relegated to cheerleading duties due to an aching back, Hawaii went to Fresno needing a win to clinch the WAC regular-season title.
English picked up the slack by bombarding the Bulldogs for 27 first-half points. He finished with a career-high 33 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. He and Mike McIntyre combined to drain 12 3-pointers.
"Playing without Savo was tough, but I knew I had to step it up if we wanted to win," English said. "But we have to forget about the past. Just because we won here before doesn't matter -- we have a game to play."
As in the game last March, the Rainbows head into today's game in Fresno with a stunning loss hanging over them.
English was saddled with foul trouble in the first half in Saturday's 79-67 loss to San Jose State and finished with six points, his lowest output since being held to five points against Boise State on Jan. 31, 2002.
"That's over," English said. "We've got to come out and take care of business now. You can't win every game you play, so we've got to focus in on the next two games and first of all take care of Fresno."
As for the NBA question, English is set to graduate this semester but hasn't given the issue much thought.
"That's a goal in the back of my mind," he said. "But we have to take care of business first and worry about that when the season's over."
Short shots: English is second in the WAC in scoring at 19.4 points per game. SMU's Quinton Ross is first at 19.5. ... Hawaii is looking to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time since road losses at Nevada and Fresno State in February 2001. ... Fresno State has played seven games decided by three points or fewer, and won six of those contests.
Hawaii at Fresno State
When: Today, 5 p.m. HST
Where: Selland Arena
TV: Live, KFVE-TV
Radio: Live, KKEA 1420-AM
Internet: uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Hawaii def. Stanford
30-28, 30-27, 27-30, 30-28Cardinal (2-5, 0-3 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Bocage 4 11 2 20 .450 0 7 2 Ahlfeldt 4 9 3 13 .462 1 3 1 Curtis 4 9 3 22 .273 0 1 2 Strickland 4 8 5 26 .115 0 3 4 Toppel 4 25 8 48 .354 1 1 5 Hansen 4 3 1 8 .250 0 5 10 Vogel 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Strache 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Jacobs 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Buell 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 65 22 137 .314 2 20 32 Warriors (5-0, 1-0 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Tuyay 4 1 1 5 .000 0 3 3 Zimet 2 3 3 10 .000 0 1 5 Theocharidis 4 26 6 44 .455 1 2 8 Ching 4 20 5 31 .484 0 3 12 Thomas 4 7 3 20 .200 0 6 3 Stanhiser 4 10 2 14 .571 0 4 0 Motter 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Muise 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Azenha 3 7 3 14 .286 0 1 1 Bender 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Rasay 1 0 1 1 -1.000 0 1 1 Totals 4 74 24 139 .360 1 21 39 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Stanford (5): Curtis 2, Hansen, Strickland, Toppel. Hawaii (8): Ching 3, Thomas 3, Azenha, Bender.
Assists--Stanford (57): Hansen 53, Ahlfeldt, Strickland, Toppel, Vogel. Hawaii (67): Tuyay 50, Rasay 14, Zimet 2, Ching.
T--2:17. Officials--Wayne Lee, Burt Fuller.
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