Rainbow basketball team returns to home, sweet home

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Time to put the good streak back on.

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team is home again, where it has won 24 consecutive games in the Stan Sheriff Center.

The streak is the fifth-longest in NCAA Division I, and the Rainbow Warriors will get a chance to increase it when they host San Jose State on Saturday, and then Nevada next Wednesday.

Two wins would tie the school record of 26 consecutive home victories set from 1971-73, when games were played in the Honolulu International Center.

"I'm glad we have that streak because it's good motivation," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "It's fun because the players take a lot of pride in it and so do the fans. The fans are a big part of that streak as well."

Away from the home fans, the 'Bows have a six-game road losing streak. Hawai'i is 13-7 overall and 6-6 and in fifth place in the Western Athletic Conference. While the 'Bows are undefeated (12-0) at home, they are 1-7 on the road, including 1-6 on the WAC road.

Two of those losses came last week at Louisiana Tech and Southern Methodist.

"If I knew the answer to it, we wouldn't have the problem," Wallace said. "But we're not far enough off to panic. There are a lot of fixable things."

Wallace is quick to point out that three of the road losses have been by two points or fewer.

"If we pull those out, all of a sudden we're one of the all-time great teams (at UH), just like last year," he said. "We're that close."

The current UH record streak for home victories was started by the "Fabulous Five" team in 1971-72, and continued by the Tom Henderson-led team of 1972-73.

That streak was ended by a Centenary team that had Riley Wallace as an assistant coach.

• Rest days: The 'Bows did not practice yesterday — their third consecutive day off after returning from a seven-day road trip on Sunday.

"I've never done this in all my years, where we go three days in a row without practicing in the middle of a season," Wallace said.

One of the factors is that Hawai'i does not have a Thursday game this week. Another is that Wallace wanted each of his players "to relax."

"We had an 11-day trip, then last week it was seven days," he said. "We'll go on another 11-day trip next week, and then the (WAC Tournament). I saw a team that needed some rest because this is going to be a key stretch."

Yesterday, however, was not an entire day off. There was a short film session, and then Wallace scheduled individual "chat sessions" with a handful of players.

"I wanted to talk to a few guys who I thought were maybe a little more down than the others," he said. "But everybody's fine."

• Haim's back in: Haim Shimonovich is expected to return to the starting lineup on Saturday when the 'Bows host San Jose State, according to Wallace.

The 6-foot-10 junior center played a reserve role in UH's last game at SMU, ending a streak of 52 consecutive starts. Nkeruwem "Tony" Akpan, a 6-8 sophomore, started in place of Shimonovich last week, but will return to his role as sixth man.

"I think Tony brings more energy off the bench," Wallace said. "But I don't know if it matters that much because both guys will play their normal minutes."

Shimonovich is averaging 8.7 points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds per game; Akpan is contributing 7.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.