UH gets chance at redemption
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
San Jose State is proof that there is no such thing as an automatic win in the Western Athletic Conference.
The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team found that out the hard way last month in a 79-67 upset loss at San Jose, Calif.
The Rainbow Warriors get a chance to avenge the loss tomorrow when they host the Spartans at 7 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"There are no breaks in this league," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "You factor in all the travel that everybody has to make, and you can see why it's so hard to win."
In truth, the Spartans have struggled this season. They are 5-15 overall, 2-9 and tied for last place in the WAC, and have a Rating Percentage Index (RPI) of 289 out of a possible 327 NCAA Division I teams.
Hawai'i is 13-7 overall and in sixth place in the WAC at 6-6.
"We feel like all our losses were ones that got away," UH senior captain Mark Campbell said. "But that game at San Jose was definitely one we don't feel good about."
On the other hand, the victory over Hawai'i has become a source of pride for the Spartans. Their only other WAC victory was against Tulsa.
"They mean a lot because Hawai'i is the two-time defending WAC champions and Tulsa has been the next team in the league that's been the best," SJSU head coach Phil Johnson said.
Making it more impressive, the Spartans beat the 'Bows without using a player taller than 6 feet 6 (Eric Walton, a 6-8 center, was injured last month, but is expected to play tomorrow).
"We played team ball; everybody was patient and we shared the ball," said senior guard Brandon Hawkins, who scored a game-high 23 points in that game. "And we feel like Hawai'i is one of the best teams, if not the best, in the WAC, so we always get up to play them."
Johnson added: "It wasn't so much a match-up thing. Really, we just played properly; played really hard at home."
The Spartans played especially hard defense on UH junior guard Carl English, the WAC's leading scorer with 20.6 points per game He was limited to a season-low six points on 2-of-9 shooting at San Jose.
"We tried to deny him the ball at times, but we really didn't do anything special," Johnson said. "We played our regular defense and that was it. We put Keith West on him and rotated Brandon Hawkins on him at times."
West said the key to defending English was "just fight through the screens and be real aggressive with him."
The Spartans will likely use a similar defensive approach, although Johnson said "I expect (English) to have a better night here at home."
Despite the victory at San Jose, the odds are against a Spartan victory tomorrow.
Since joining the WAC in the 1996-97 season, the Spartans have never won in Honolulu (0-6).
What's more, Hawai'i is on a 24-game home winning streak while SJSU is on a nine-game road losing streak. The Spartans are 1-10 on the road this season, including 0-6 on the WAC road.
"There's a lot of stuff that plays into our (record)," Hawkins said. "But if we get things rolling, we can play with any team in the conference. We've shown that before and we want to do it again."
