Hawai'i faces crucial WAC road test against SMU
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
A loss at seventh-ranked Louisiana Tech Thursday dropped University of Hawai'i Wahine basketball from second to fourth in the Western Athletic Conference. A loss today at Southern Methodist would be much worse.
"Huge," UH coach Vince Goo said. "Winning three of four on this trip — and Louisiana Tech being the fourth — would be really good."
Winning two of four could be postseason suicide.
Since leaving on this four-game road swing last month, the Rainbow Wahine (15-5) have defeated San Jose State and UTEP, and lost big (82-53) at Louisiana Tech, which is winning WAC games by an average of 30 points. Hawai'i is 8-3 in the conference and a half-game behind Rice and Tulsa.
The difference between second, third and fourth could be the difference between playing in the postseason or not, or dancing into the NCAA Tournament instead of trudging into the WNIT. Reaching the WAC Tournament final is a postseason priority. Anyone who sees Louisiana Tech before that is in deep trouble.
After today, Hawai'i has six regular-season games left, four against the bottom half of the WAC, and Tulsa and Rice at home. "So," Goo figures, "we have the advantage. But if we lose Saturday, there goes the advantage."
SMU has been in six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments, but now finds itself in the rare position of spoiler. The Mustangs (9-13) had to win their last three to climb into seventh in the WAC, at 4-8. They have only nine players on their roster — none are seniors — and are the only team that has lost to UTEP.
They are also dangerous. "They can light it up and score big points," Goo says.
They did Thursday in a 92-87 victory over fifth-place San Jose State. SMU shot 52 percent in the first half, trailed most of the second, then pulled ahead 88-84. Cricket Williams hit a 3-pointer for SJSU with :01 showing and called a timeout, which the Spartans didn't have. SMU hit four free throws in the final second to create its longest winning streak of the season.
Andrea Cossey, the WAC 3-point leader, sank six from beyond the arc and scored 26 points for SMU. Williams finished with 27, and a Moody Coliseum-record 15 assists.
It was the antithesis of SMU's game here a month ago, when it lost 52-51 after clawing back from a 20-point first-half deficit. Kenni Patton missed a short jumper with :22 left that would have put the Mustangs up.
Today, Goo wants his players to remember where they went wrong in that game, and what they did right the last time they lost on the road.
"I want them to come back from Louisiana Tech," he says. "I want them to think about that stinger at Rice on the last trip and how they came back at Tulsa.
"It's our fourth game in eight days. We've got to come in mentally strong. That's the key now."
Today's game will be broadcast live on 1420 AM at 10 a.m. HST.
OVER AND BACK: Louisiana Tech, ranked seventh in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, won both its games last week and dropped from No. 6 to No. 8 in the AP Top 25. ... Hawai'i has lost its last eight games against ranked teams, four this season. ... The Rainbows' next home game is Thursday against Tulsa. ... In the latest national statistics, Hawai'i is third in field-goal percentage defense (34.1), 16th in rebounding margin (plus 7.6) and 21st in scoring defense (58.1). ... UH junior Christen Roper is fifth nationally in blocks (2.9 per game).
