Posted on: Saturday, January 5, 2002
Basketball
Hawai'i, Boise State play for the first time
• Probable starters
• Men's WAC schedule
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| WALLACE: "This is a confident bunch"
. . . Radio 4:15 p.m. |
Temperatures were in the 20s in Boise, Idaho, yesterday, and neophobia was running rampant.
Don't worry, it wasn't some cold-weather sickness. Just a fear of something new as the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team prepared for its first ever game against Boise State today.
Tip-off at the BSU Pavilion is scheduled for 4:35 p.m. (Hawai'i time).
"We don't know anything about them," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "It's a new experience for me, it's a new experience for the players. That could work for you, or it could work against you."
After five seasons in the Big West Conference, the Broncos joined the Western Athletic Conference this year. Like Hawai'i, Boise State's isolation from the other WAC schools could prove to be a factor.
Yesterday, for example, the Rainbow Warriors spent nearly nine hours traveling from El Paso, Texas, to Boise. On Thursday night, the 'Bows defeated Texas-El Paso, 70-68.
"There are no easy trips in the WAC," Wallace said. "You can't treat this one any different."
The 12-2 'Bows certainly don't want to deviate from their six-game winning streak, which includes that crucial road victory over UTEP.
"Winning that first one on the road was big," Wallace said. "This is a confident bunch right now because they know they can win on the road."
Homecourt advantage
Fitting in right away with the WAC basketball theme, Boise State has been drastically more successful at home than on the road this season.
The Broncos are 7-6 overall, but 6-1 in the BSU Pavilion. Their lone WAC victory (against two losses) came at home on Thursday against San Jose State.
"As a coach, you have nightmares that you're never going to get that first win," BSU head coach Rod Jensen said. "So it really was a relief to get that one."
Although the BSU Pavilion seats 12,380 and has served as a host site for four NCAA regionals since 1992, the Broncos are averaging just 5,025 fans per game this season.
If it's point-production that is keeping the crowds away, today's game will probably not be a cure. The 'Bows and Broncos are the top two defensive teams in the WAC, allowing 58.6 and 60.1 points per game, respectively.
"The only reason why we try to focus on defense is because we can't score ourselves," Jensen joked.
Wallace added: "We'd prefer to have it a low-scoring game. That probably suits our style a little better."
Boise State ranks last among WAC teams with an average of 60.0 points per game. Abe Jackson, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, accounts for more than 17 of those points per game.
Jackson, a four-year starter, ranks second in the WAC with 2.7 3-pointers per game, and is Boise State's all-time leader in 3-pointers made with 197. But in the Broncos' three WAC games, Jackson is averaging 10.1 points per game, and is 4-for-25 from 3-point range.
"He's a tremendous shooter, but he hasn't been shooting it well and that's discerning to us," Jensen said.
Some of those concerns were eased in the victory over San Jose State by sophomore Booker Nabors, who scored a career-high 23 points while Jackson had 11. Nabors, a 6-3 guard, is the only other Boise State player averaging double-figure points (10.2).
"That was the first game we won this year with Abe not shooting well," Jensen said. "We've been riding his coattails all season, so it was important to get somebody else up there."
Still, Jensen is concerned about a Hawai'i team he describes as "the hottest in the WAC."
"We're still trying to figure out how they run that offense and how they finish all those baskets," he said. "Remember, this is our first year in the WAC, so everybody's new to us."
