Rainbows return to face tough challenge

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

•	UH basketball WHO: Hawai'i vs. Texas-El Paso WHERE: Stan Sheriff Center WHEN: Tomorrow, 7:05 p.m. TV/RADIO: Live on KFVE-TV/KKEA (1420 AM). TICKET PRICES: $15 (lower-singles only); $11 (upper-adult); $5 (upper-students); $8 (Super Rooter). PARKING: $3.

"I can't even begin to tell you how great it feels to be back here," sophomore point guard Logan Lee said after the Rainbow Warriors completed practice yesterday in the Stan Sheriff Center.

Even after three historic road wins last week, the 'Bows were so eager to get to their home arena that they made it their first stop after arriving in Honolulu on Sunday.

"The bus dropped us off and instead of taking our stuff to the locker room, we walked straight to the court," Lee said. "It just felt like so long since we've been here, I think we were all anxious to get back on our own court for a change."

After an 11-day road trip that produced three Western Athletic Conference victories, the 'Bows will host Texas-El Paso tomorrow.

Hawai'i and UTEP are arguably the two biggest surprises of the conference so far this season.

The 'Bows are 12-3 overall and tied for second place in the WAC at 4-1. For the first time in school history, they won three WAC road games on one trip.

The rest of the conference was impressed.

"Hawai'i is one of the two teams in the league that has three road wins, which is unbelievable at this point of the season," UTEP head coach Billy Gillispie said.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson added: "Probably one of the most surprising points thus far is the Hawai'i 3-0 road mark. That's unprecedented and a great tribute to Hawai'i."

The Miners have been impressive themselves.

After going 6-24 last season and 10-22 the year before, UTEP is 12-3 this season, including 3-2 in the WAC.

The Miners lead the WAC in scoring (82.9 points per game), field-goal percentage (.491) and free-throw percentage (.760).

According to collegerpi.com, UTEP is the highest rated team in the WAC at No. 35 in the country. Hawai'i is No. 47, the second-best among WAC teams.

"At this point, I would say they are the surprise of the WAC," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said of the Miners. "But (Gillispie) has a reputation as a good recruiter, and that's what he's done to rebuild that program."

In particular, the Miners brought in two of the best players in junior college last season in forward Omar Thomas and point guard Filiberto Rivera.

"One was the leading scorer in junior college and the other was the best point guard in junior college," Wallace said. "So that's a big reason why they're winning right there."

Thomas, a 6-foot-5 junior, led all junior college players with 36.1 points per game at Panola College (Texas) last season. This season, he leads the Miners with 15.9 points per game, and has been named the WAC Player of the Week twice, including this week. (In contrast, Hawai'i has not had a player win the honor this season).

"He's just on a hot streak right now," Gillispie said. "He's doing everything for us. He's scoring a lot of points, he's become a very good defender, and he's a vital rebounder for us."

Rivera, a 6-2 junior, was selected by some publications as the junior college player of the year last season after leading Southeastern Community College (Iowa) to the national championship. Hawai'i reserve guard Jake Sottos also played on that team.

Rivera is averaging 10.8 points and 4.7 assists per game this season.

As proof of how much the Miners have improved, last season's top two scorers — Giovanni St. Amant and John Tofi — are now the top reserves. They started as freshmen last season.

"I think that we've definitely improved quite a bit," Gillispie said. "But we're not anywhere near where the upper echelon teams in the WAC are, in my opinion."

The results might say otherwise. The Miners are coming off a 72-58 home victory over first-place Fresno State last Saturday.

"They're small, but they're very quick," Wallace said. "They'll push it up and down. It'll be our size against their speed."

The Miners do not start a player taller than 6-6. Tofi, who is 6-8 and 240 pounds, is the biggest player on the roster.

Hawai'i will counter with a frontcourt of 6-10 Haim Shimonovich, 6-9 Julian Sensley and 6-8 Phil Martin.

"If they want to run, we'll run," Lee said. "We feel like we have a team that can run or play in the half court. Because of what we did on the road, we feel like we're rolling right now and we're ready for anything."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.