Rainbows hope Gym II in the University of Hawaii athletic complex was at its steamy best for the Rainbow basketball team's practice session yesterday. The sweat flowed, the floor was slippery and the Rainbows were never so glad to be in there.
return to Sheriff
Center cures ills
Hawaii plays Rice tomorrow
after an 0-3 WAC road tripBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com"It's good to be back," UH forward Phil Martin said. "After a long road trip, to come back home, it's nice."
After 11 days and three losses on the road, the Rainbows went back to work in their familiar digs yesterday to begin preparation for a pivotal Western Athletic Conference homestand.
The Rainbows (11-5, 4-4 WAC) hope a return to the Stan Sheriff Center will cure their ills when they take on Rice (12-5, 4-3) tomorrow night. Hawaii then meets rival Tulsa on Saturday.
Hawaii slipped to the middle of the pack in the WAC race after going 0-3 on the road over the last two weeks. But the way the conference is bunched, the Rainbows can make up ground quickly with wins this week.
"There's a lot of parity, there's not one team standing out," UH captain Mark Campbell said. "I feel we're capable of running the table the rest of the way. We just have to get the wrinkles figured out."
The defending WAC champion Rainbows have put their road woes behind them, but after close losses to Fresno State and Nevada last week they better understand how fickle fortune can be away from home.
"It's the way the ball bounces," Campbell said. "Last year it bounced our way almost every time, and this year we're having to deal with being on the other side and the ball bouncing the other way."
The Rainbows can ill afford to look past Rice to Saturday's game against Tulsa as the Owls come to town with the WAC's top offense.
The Rainbows devoted a good chunk of yesterday's practice to transition defense in preparation for a Rice attack that averages a conference-best 78.2 points per game, led by guard Omar-Seli Mance's 17.6 points.
"They run up and down a lot this year, so we need to work on getting back and stopping their easy baskets and dunks and make them work for that they get," Campbell said.
The Owls also lead the WAC in field-goal percentage (.485), free-throw percentage (.734), 3-point shooting (.407) and assists (16.82 per game).
Mance, a senior who began his career at Louisiana State, has drained a league-high 54 treys this season while sophomore forward Michael Harris has made 66 percent of his shots. Harris, last season's WAC freshman of the year, has started just four games but is second on team in scoring, averaging 14.7 points per game.
"They try to beat your big men down the floor and score on quick transition," UH coach Riley Wallace said. "And they run a lot of picks for their shooters, a lot of motion."
Hawaii counters with the WAC's second-rated defense (65.3 ppg) and its home court, where the Rainbows have won 22 consecutive games.
The Rainbows are hoping to take a cue from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who used tenacious defense to throttle a high-powered Oakland offense in Sunday's Super Bowl.
"Defense wins, let's hope so," Wallace said. "We've got to play good, tough defense on them and get our offense clicking again, at home it usually does."
Bracket Busters narrows: It now appears Hawaii will face Southern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago or Kent State in its Feb. 22 Bracket Busters game.
The schools involved in the event held a teleconference yesterday to narrow down the options for the 18-team event.
Tulsa at Gonzaga was the only predetermined matchup when the event was announced in August. A game pitting Creighton against Fresno State appears set as well.
When: Tomorrow, 7 p.m. Rice at Hawaii
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
TV: Live, KFVE-TV
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
Internet: uhathletics.hawaii.edu
UH Athletics
