[ RAINBOW BASKETBALL ]
Off the road, ’Bows
catch up on classAfter five road games in a month,
UH has more to worry about
than San Jose State
The Hawaii basketball team might be leading the Western Athletic Conference, but the Rainbow Warriors are playing catch-up this week.
With five road games in the last month, covering 16 days on the mainland, the UH players have had precious little time in the classroom so far in the spring semester. So with just one game on this week's schedule, the 'Bows have used the down time to get caught up off the court.
"I've been to class three times out of however many sessions we've had so far," UH senior Michael Kuebler said.
"(The teachers) laugh about it, but I'm sure they don't want me to miss as much as I have already. But its just going to get worse."
UH coach Riley Wallace gave the players two days off early in the week to give them a chance to recuperate from the road trip both physically and academically.
After the team returned to Honolulu on Sunday following a week-long trip to Houston and Tulsa, Kuebler had several two-hour sessions with tutors and instructors earlier this week in addition to doing his regular assignments for his four business classes.
"With homework and everything all together, I've probably already put in 10 hours besides my actual classes," said Kuebler, who posted a 4.0 grade-point average last semester. "I'm not getting any sleep right now."
The team holds regular study periods during road trips, but there's still work to be done due to the missed class time.
Another three-game road trip looms later this month. After a week at home, it's back on the road for their final regular-season road games, followed immediately by the WAC tournament in Fresno.
"The teachers have been really understanding," sophomore guard Logan Lee said. "They give us the right amount of time to do our work, so it's OK."
With two weeks at home thanks to a three-game homestand, the Rainbows have a chance to pick up ground both in the standings and in the classroom.
They returned to the practice gym on Wednesday to begin preparing for tomorrow's WAC contest with San Jose State.
UH (15-4, 7-2 WAC) enters the game alone in first place in the conference after a wacky day around the conference yesterday.
Rice, which shared the conference lead with Hawaii entering the week, was routed by Texas-El Paso 105-62. Fresno State and Nevada were both a game out of first place before yesterday's games, but both lost in overtime.
While the players get caught up in school, the team is also using the week to review their basic sets while implementing a few new wrinkles heading into the stretch run.
"We have to add some new stuff going into the second half because we've played everybody," Wallace said.
Wallace is giving the reserves who hadn't been getting much game action more court time to get them back in the flow.
Although San Jose State has lost 11 games in a row, the 'Bows know they can ill afford to give up ground at home by overlooking a Spartans team that has won two of the last three meetings.
"Right now it's an important stretch," Lee said. "We have three games at home, and we want to take all of those. Then we have the toughest road trips coming up, with the Bracket Busters in between, so we just have to prepare ourselves right now.
"Physically it's a light week, but we're going over a lot of stuff."
WAC men's standings
Yesterday's games
Conference All Games W L Pct. W L Pct. Hawaii 7 2 .778 15 4 .789 Rice 7 3 .700 15 6 .714 UTEP 7 3 .700 16 4 .800 Nevada 7 4 .636 13 7 .650 Fresno St. 6 4 .600 10 9 .526 Boise St. 5 5 .500 13 7 .650 Louisiana Tech 5 5 .500 11 9 .550 SMU 3 7 .300 9 11 .450 Tulsa 3 8 .273 7 13 .350 San Jose St. 0 9 .000 5 14 .263
Louisiana Tech 80, Fresno St. 75, 2OT
UTEP 105, Rice 62
Boise St. 73, Tulsa 62
SMU 71, Nevada 70, OT
Saturday's games
Rice at Boise State, 10 a.m.
Nevada at Louisiana Tech, 3 p.m.
Fresno State at SMU, 3 p.m.
Tulsa at UTEP, 4:05 p.m.
San Jose State at Hawaii, 7:05 p.m.