UH must jell quickly for opener
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Ready or not, the season opener for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team will take place tomorrow.
The Rainbow Warriors are scheduled to start the 2003-04 campaign against UC Santa Barbara at the Stan Sheriff Center at 7:05 p.m.
According to the coaches, both teams could have used an extra couple of weeks to prepare.
"We're not ready yet," UH head coach Riley Wallace said. "We got guys who are behind the others for one reason or another, and this team is the kind of team that needs to play together to make it work."
The 'Bows defeated Brigham Young-Hawai'i, 63-56, in an exhibition game Monday despite looking sloppy for most of the contest.
"We can't play like that and expect to win (tomorrow)," Wallace said.
But at least the 'Bows are healthy and eligible.
UCSB will play tomorrow's game without its two best players, guards Branduinn Fullove and Nick Jones.
"Even with those two starters, it would be a huge challenge to win a game at Hawai'i," UCSB head coach Bob Williams said. "But when you lose the MVP of the league and the emotional leader of your team, those are two big losses no matter how you look at it."
Fullove, last season's Big West Conference Player of the Year, injured a tendon in his left ankle during an exhibition game on Nov. 12. The injury is so severe that Fullove could not travel with the team yesterday.
The 6-foot-4 senior averaged a team-high 14.6 points per game last season while leading the Gauchos to the Big West regular-season championship.
Jones, a 6-4 senior, has to sit out the first eight games of this season as an NCAA suspension for participating in an uncertified summer league in Mexico. He won the Big West's Hustle Award last season, and averaged 12.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
In place of Fullove and Jones, sophomores Cecil Brown and Josh Davis are expected to start. They combined to average 7.1 points per game last season.
"They're good players, but our strength is depth," Williams said. "Even with (Fullove and Jones) we were going to play a lot of guys. Without them, we'll still use 10 players."
Of the 11 UCSB players available tomorrow, eight return from last season's team that finished 18-14 and participated in the NIT.
Payback game: Tomorrow's game is a "payback" to UH for participating in last season's ESPN Bracket Buster.
Last season, Hawai'i had to travel to Kent, Ohio, in the middle of the Western Athletic Conference season to play Kent State in the Bracket Buster. All the teams that had to travel for Bracket Buster last season were promised a home game for this season.
"It's basically a free game for us, cost-wise," Wallace said. "Normally, we'd be paying some kind of a guarantee to bring in a team like this, so it's a good situation."
Hawai'i defeated Kent State last season, but its matchup with UCSB for this season was determined prior to that game.
UCSB lost its Bracket Buster home game last season to Detroit.
"If you think about it, we could be in Detroit right now," Williams said. "But we're in Hawai'i, and I don't consider that getting the short end of anything.
"In terms of playing a game that's winnable, maybe we'd rather be playing Detroit. But we're looking at this as a nice trip to start the season. We're not going to stay out late and do anything crazy, but we want to do some team bonding on this trip."
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.
