Rainbows can't seem to mesh on the road
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
DALLAS — If there is one aspect the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team has been consistent with on the road, its inconsistency.
The latest example came in a 78-69 loss to Southern Methodist last night at Moody Coliseum. It was UH's sixth consecutive road loss, and the Rainbow Warriors are now 1-7 away from home this season.
"I really don't know what the answer is," UH guard Carl English said. "I can give you so many different reasons — the crowds, the adrenaline you feel only at home, being comfortable in your own bed — but the truth is, I don't know."
The statistics are equally puzzling.
Starting guard Michael Kuebler scored 27 points at Louisiana Tech, but had zero on 0-of-7 shooting last night; starting forward Phil Martin had four points on 2-of-8 shooting at Louisiana Tech, but scored 15 on 7-of-11 shooting last night.
"Carl's consistent, for the most part," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "But we need other guys behind him."
Wallace admits that his bench players are not as strong as he expected this season, but he also expected more consistency from his starters.
"With this team, it needs to be a balanced attack," he said. "Four, if not five, guys need to have good games for us to win. At home, we get that balanced scoring. On the road, we don't. I don't know why that is."
SMU head coach Mike Dement said he put his best defenders on English and Kuebler last night.
"We couldn't really stop English, but I don't know who has," Dement said. "But I thought we did a good job on Kuebler. He missed some open shots, but our guys were aware of him and didn't give him a lot of great looks (at the basket)."
English added: "I'm sure everybody is trying hard, so I'm not going to blame anybody. But we need to have guys step up on the road. Even if it's not scoring, it can be rebounding or something else."
• Leading scorers: Quinton Ross won the statistical battle with Carl English in a matchup of the two top scorers in the Western Athletic Conference.
Ross, a 6-foot-6 senior, scored 27 points; English, a 6-5 junior, finished with 21. Prior to last night, English was ranked No. 1 in the WAC in scoring at 20.6 per game, while Ross was second at 20.0.
"English is a great player," Ross said. "We knew we weren't going to stop him, but we wanted to make every shot tough for him."
Ross was the primary defender on English, although English was not the primary defender of Ross.
"I wouldn't say it was a personal battle," Ross said. "I just wanted to come out hard and win the game."
English is still No. 1 in the WAC at 20.6, while Ross remains second at 20.3.
"He hit some big shots," English said. "They set some good screens for him and they find him. He's good."
