The Rainbow Warriors arrived in Fresno, Calif., yesterday and will play the Bulldogs tomorrow in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Hawai'i is 8-0, its best start in 31 years. Fresno State started 6-0, but is now 6-3.

Tomorrow's game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. (Hawai'i time) and will be televised live on KFVE (Ch. 5).

"I'm just anxious to play another game, it doesn't matter who or where," said Sensley, a 6-foot-9 junior forward. "I think everybody knows I didn't play too well (last week), so I have to go out and play like the regular old me."

Sensley averaged 7.3 points on 33.3 percent shooting, and 6.7 rebounds in UH's three games in the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic last week.

"For some reason, I wasn't being aggressive," he said. "I might have been able to do some things defensively, but I still feel like I should have stepped it up more on the offensive end."

Despite his subpar Rainbow Classic, Sensley continues to lead Hawai'i in scoring with 12.9 points per game, rebounding with 7.4 per game, and assists with 3.1 per game.

What's more, Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said Sensley's value can not always be found in the statistics.

"He's big, but he's athletic enough to defend much smaller players," Wallace said. "Because he's able to do that, we can go with our big lineup and not lose too much quickness on the defensive end."

Sensley will receive added motivation tomorrow when he steps into the Save Mart Center. He attended Fresno State for one semester in 2002, but transferred to a junior college before he could play for the Bulldogs.

He signed with Hawai'i prior to the 2003-04 season.

"I still have a lot of friends there," Sensley said. "I'm always excited to play against Fresno, but this week especially. I feel like we really need to establish ourselves with it being the first game in the WAC and all."

However, the Bulldogs swept the home-and-home series from Hawai'i last season.

"We want to win, but we can't worry about what happened last year," Sensley said. "We need to keep this year rolling."

Hawai'i will get its first look at Fresno State's touted newcomer, Ja'Vance Coleman. The 6-3 sophomore guard leads the Bulldogs with 19.6 points per game, and leads the WAC with 29 3-pointers.

Hawai'i and Fresno State have played two common opponents this season — Mississippi Valley State and Southern California. The 'Bows beat MVSU, 71-58, and USC, 72-68. The Bulldogs beat MVSU, 80-65, and USC, 71-68.

"The scores are very similar, so it should be a good game," Wallace said. "I think Fresno State is probably doing a lot better than what people expected, but so are we."

'Bows and Bulldogs getting national notice

Hawai'i and Fresno State were the only teams from the WAC to receive points in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll released yesterday.

Hawai'i received eight points — the same number it got last week — while Fresno State received two. The No. 25 team, Virginia, had 144 points.

Despite winning three games in the Rainbow Classic last week, Hawai'i did not receive any points in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll.

In the latest Rating Percentage Index projections according to collegerpi.com, Hawai'i is No. 17. The next highest team from the WAC is Rice at No. 41. Fresno State is No. 143.