WAC honors Hawai'i's Savovic

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

UH men's basketball player Predrag Savovic was named the WAC Player of the Week for the second time this season. Advertiser library photo

Getting the rest of the nation to notice the Rainbow Warriors is another problem.

Yesterday, UH senior Predrag Savovic was named the WAC Player of the Week for the second time this season. It was also the second consecutive week that a Hawai'i player won the award, following Mike McIntyre last week.

Savovic, a 6-foot-6 guard, scored 52 points in two Hawai'i victories last week, including a career-high 32 in a 75-60 win over Texas-El Paso Saturday.

"That was probably his best game since he's been in Hawai'i because he took good shots and he made them at key moments during the game," UH head coach Riley Wallace said.

Savovic was 10-of-15 from the field against UTEP, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range. For the week, he shot 16-of-32 from the field, and 6-of-12 from 3-point range. He also had 11 rebounds and three assists.

Savovic was also named the WAC Player of the Week Jan. 2. He also won the award as a sophomore Jan. 3, 2000.

Tulsa guard Dante Swanson is the only other player to win the award twice this season, but Hawai'i is the first team to win it three times this season.

With last week's two victories, the 'Bows improved to 19-3 overall and remained alone in first place in the WAC at 10-1.

Hawai'i is having its best season in 30 years and has won 13 of its past 14 games, but the national polls are only slowly recognizing the 'Bows.

The 'Bows have yet to break into either of the top 25 polls, although they did reach a season-high in points received this weekend. In the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll released Sunday, UH was 29th with 41 points.

In the Associated Press Top 25 released yesterday, Hawai'i was 32nd with 38 points.

"We're not discouraged by it because the word is getting out about us," Wallace said. "As long as we keep winning, we'll keep getting more and more votes."

The 'Bows departed for Dallas yesterday morning. They will play WAC road games at Southern Methodist Thursday, and then at Louisiana Tech Saturday.