Rainbow Warriors ready
to look in the mirror

The Hawaii and Southern Methodist basketball teams have quite a bit in common this week.

SMU at Hawaii When: Tomorrow, 7:05 p.m. Where: Stan Sheriff Center TV: Live, KFVE (Ch. 5) Radio: Live, KKEA 1420-AM Internet: HawaiiAthletics.com Tickets: $17 (lower level-single seats only); $13 (upper level-adult); $5 (upper level-students); $3 (upper level-UH students); $5 (Super Rooter/Manoa Maniacs). Parking $3.

Both the Rainbow Warriors and Mustangs already have two Western Athletic Conference losses and both need to reel off a few wins to maintain contact with the league's early frontrunners.

And both teams' leading scorers enter tomorrow's meeting at the Stan Sheriff Center at less than 100 percent.

Neither Hawaii forward Julian Sensley nor SMU guard Bryan Hopkins suited up for their teams' practices yesterday.

Sensley missed practice on Monday and watched yesterday's from the bench with flu-like symptoms, and Hopkins is nursing a sprained right wrist.

Sensley is expected to return to practice today and will take the court tomorrow if he does. Hopkins also thinks he'll be ready come tipoff.

"It's OK; it's a slight sprain. I should be able to go," Hopkins said.

First-year SMU coach Jimmy Tubbs wasn't quite as confident about Hopkins' availability yesterday and is making contingency plans. The official word is it'll be a game-time decision.

"If Bryan doesn't play it will be a huge effect," Tubbs said. "It's an opportunity for someone to step up though. But we're not the same team without Bryan Hopkins."

Hawaii (9-2, 1-2 WAC) heads into the game looking to remain perfect at home, while SMU (7-5, 2-2) hopes to steal a road win after dropping a home game to Nevada last week.

With Sensley, who leads UH with 13.5 points per game, sitting out the last two days, senior Vaidotas Peciukas spent more time with the first unit. Even if Sensley plays, the extra work for some of the UH reserves could help the Rainbows' depth.

"They did all right," UH coach Riley Wallace said after experimenting with a few combinations on Monday. "You miss Julian, obviously, because he's in the middle of things, but sometimes it does you some good."

While Hopkins rests his wrist, Hawaii's guards are preparing to face one of the WAC's most dynamic scorers. If he's healthy, the 6-foot junior can roll up points both slashing to the basket and launching 3-pointers.

"We have to stay up on him and make him work for everything," Wallace said. "He's a good enough player where he's going to get his points, but you have to make him work hard."

A strong defensive performance fueled Hawaii's 71-45 win over a deliberate San Jose State squad on Saturday. The Rainbows will need to shift gears against an SMU team that looks to hit the gas more with Tubbs at the controls.

"They'll be a lot different team," UH forward Matthew Gipson said. "They're going to try to run on us and it's not going to be that slow-down ball we played last game. If we play defense hard and rebound we'll be in every ballgame."

While Hopkins leads SMU with 17.7 points per game, center Eric Castro has made a WAC-best 64 percent of his attempts and averages 14.4 points, while forward Patrick Simpson is scoring 13.3 per night.

SMU is already down one starter, as freshman guard Derrick Roberts (6.1 points, 3 rebounds per game) didn't make the trip after suffering a sprained MCL in his left knee on Monday.