Hawai'i on road to hoops respect
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
The road to renewed respect could begin tomorrow for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team.
In one of the highlights of an admittedly "bad" non-conference schedule, the Rainbow Warriors will play an important road game at San Diego State tomorrow. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. (Hawai'i time) at Cox Arena in San Diego.
Hawai'i, which opened the season with two home victories to win the Hawaiian Airlines Tip-Off Tournament, will be playing a regular-season game for the first time since Nov. 24.
"Nothing against the other teams we've played already, but this is going to be our first real test of the year," senior captain Mark Campbell said. "San Diego State's a real athletic team — they played No. 1 Arizona and stayed with them the whole game ... and it's going to be our first game on the road. If we want to get respect like we did last year, we have to prove that we can win on the road all over again."
Road used to be a four-letter word in more ways than one for UH basketball teams. But that all changed last season when the 'Bows went 11-5 away from the Stan Sheriff Center, ending a streak of 11 consecutive seasons with a losing road record.
The 11 victories away from home represented a school record, and if there is one thing from last season's team that head coach Riley Wallace would like to carry over, it's the road success.
"Hawai'i has always had the reputation of being good at home and then not winning on the road," Wallace said. "We broke that last year, and we need to keep that going more than anything else."
Just in case, the 'Bows are following many of the road rules that helped establish success last season.
For starters, the team departed on an early-morning flight yesterday (they met at the Stan Sheriff Center at 5:45 a.m. for a 7:50 a.m. flight). The theory is that traveling during daylight hours keeps the players awake during the flight, thus keeping their sleep patterns intact.
"I've already been told that we can't sleep on the plane," said junior Michael Kuebler, who will be making his first road trip as a UH player. "And we have to keep drinking water and try to keep our schedules on Hawai'i time. It's all for our benefit, mentally and physically."
Wallace added: "You're always concerned about the first road trip of every season because you don't know how the new guys are going to react. The good thing is we have a lot of returnees who know what it takes and they can teach the new guys."
The opponent will not make matters easy.
San Diego State is 3-3, and one of its losses was by eight points (89-81) to No. 1 Arizona. What's more, the Aztecs were one of only six teams to beat Hawai'i last season, and the only one to beat the 'Bows in the Stan Sheriff Center. Both Hawai'i and SDSU participated in last season's NCAA Championship Tournament.
"You can't put the whole season on one game because it's a long haul to the end," Wallace said. "But if you want to get a run going and have people believe in you and respect you, you have to prove it on the road."
It will also be Hawai'i's only non-conference road game this season. The other nine road games on the schedule are Western Athletic Conference contests.
"I guess you could say our season starts now," Campbell said. "It's not make-or-break, but it's important to show that we can win on the road, otherwise people will doubt us about it."
