RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Jeff Blackett passed the ball past Tulsa's Guilherme Teichmann (back) and Anthony Price on Saturday night.

Wallace wants more of
a ‘go for it’ attitude

At the halfway point of the Western Athletic Conference basketball season, Hawaii coach Riley Wallace isn't quite ready to give his team a midterm grade.

"I'd give them an incomplete. They've got more work to do," Wallace said. "They haven't been consistent enough. You can see they've got it in them, they really play well at times, but we're not able to sustain it."

The Rainbow Warriors completed the first half of the WAC schedule at 12-5 overall and 4-5 in the conference after sweeping Rice and Tulsa in last week's homestand.

Catching WAC co-leaders Nevada and UTEP (both 7-2) over the final nine conference games will be a tall order, but the Rainbows could make a run at it if their season follows the pattern of their last four ballgames.

The 'Bows got off to slow starts in those contests before turning it up in the second half. Post-halftime rallies put UH in contention in road games at UTEP and Boise State before falling short, and led to dramatic comeback wins in both of last week's home games.

After trailing at the break in each of the last four games, UH has outscored its opponents by an average of 43-32 in the second half. The 'Bows' shooting percentage also jumps from 40.3 percent to 50 percent in the second 20 minutes of those games.

"It's like we're out there punching with them and then they go for it," Wallace said. "They have to go for it earlier."

Hawaii begins its second run through the WAC with a three-game road trip that begins Saturday at San Jose State and continues to Louisiana Tech and Southern Methodist next week.

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Matthew Gipson went to the hoop over Tulsa's Guilherme Teichmann in the first half Saturday night.

UH swept the road swing last season, but "all three are improved now," Wallace said.

SJSU knocked off Tulsa and Rice last week to post back-to-back conference wins for the first time since 2002. Louisiana Tech hasn't lost since pulling out a last-second win over UH on Jan. 15, and SMU is tied with the Rainbows for sixth in the WAC standings.

Wallace rates Nevada as the best WAC team the Rainbows have faced so far. And although the league appears fairly even, with five losses the Rainbows can't afford any more stumbles to remain in the race.

"There's two losses on everybody now, so you feel like you're still in it," Wallace said. "But you can't lose any more. ... To keep that five where it is is going to be hard.

"If we come back here with three wins, then you'd say we're back in the hunt."

The Rainbows completed last week's homestand with a 76-73 win over Tulsa on Saturday led by strong second-half performances from guard Jake Sottos and forward Julian Sensley.

After scoring 30 points in UH's first 11 games, Sottos has averaged 17.2 in the last six. His 25 points on Saturday was the most posted by a UH player this season.

Sensley increased his team-leading average to 13.1 ppg by hitting for 21 against Tulsa. He also leads UH in rebounding (7.5 per game) and assists (50) and turned in a dominant second-half performance on Saturday.

"We've always said he needs to (take over ballgames)," Wallace said. "And they'll get on his back and follow him."

Bracket Busters coming up: Wallace said Wisconsin-Milwaukee of the Horizon Conference has been mentioned as a likely opponent for the Rainbows on ESPN's Bracket Busters Saturday set for Feb. 19 at the Stan Sheriff Center, although he hadn't received official word as of yesterday afternoon.

The announcement of the pairings for 11 of the games will be made this morning. The matchups for the 21 non-televised games will be announced tomorrow.

The Rainbows' wins last week may have earned them a spot among the 11 Bracket Busters games to be televised by ESPN and its affiliates. Six games will be aired on ESPN and ESPN2, with another five televised regionally.

"(WAC officials) said if you win these two games there's a strong possibility you'll be on TV," Wallace said.

After having two "White Outs" and a "Black Out" game earlier this season, Wallace said the Bracket Buster game will be a "Green Out," where fans are asked to wear green shirts.