Posted on: Tuesday, February 8, 2005

UH makes itself at home in Shreveport

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team is taking advantage of some southern hospitality this week.

Thanks to head coach Riley Wallace's ties, the Rainbow Warriors have adopted Centenary College and the city of Shreveport, La., as their road base in preparation for a game at Louisiana Tech on Thursday.

"I still know a lot of people here and they were nice enough to help us out," Wallace said. "It makes a difference. We have facilities to use every day that we're here. They're even letting our guys use their academic center for computer work and stuff like that."

Wallace graduated from Centenary in 1964. He is a former player, assistant coach and head coach there. Last night, he was honored by the school at the "Coach Riley Reception" in Shreveport.

"I got to see my old coach and a lot of my ex-teammates and some of the old boosters," he said. "It was a lot of fun, talking about the good old days. It made me feel really good."

Earlier in the day, Centenary allowed the 'Bows to practice in its on-campus arena. After practice, the 'Bows worked out in the Centenary weight room, and then used the school's academic facilities for a two-hour study hall.

Wallace said the team will follow a similar routine today.

Hawai'i is on a three-game, 11-day road trip.The 'Bows won at San Jose State, 84-73, on Saturday, and arrived in Shreveport on Sunday.

They will spend three days in Shreveport before moving closer to the Louisiana Tech campus.

Shreveport is about a one-hour drive away from the Louisiana Tech campus in Ruston, La. The 'Bows will drive to Ruston tomorrow to practice in LaTech's Thomas Assembly Center.

Ruston, however, is a much smaller town than Shreveport. As Wallace put it: "We'd go stir crazy if we had to stay a whole week in Ruston. It works out a lot better to stay in Shreveport — there's more to do."

LaTech, which is 11-9 overall and 6-5 in the Western Athletic Conference, beat Hawai'i, 61-59, at the Stan Sheriff Center on Jan. 15. The Bulldogs are the only team to beat the 'Bows in Honolulu this season.

Hawai'i is 13-5 overall and a half-game behind the Bulldogs in the WAC standings at 5-5.

"We're staying (in Shreveport), but it's not like a vacation," Wallace said. "We know we have to take care of business to win. They got us at our place, now we have to try and get them back at theirs."

After Thursday's game, the 'Bows will make a five-hour bus ride to Dallas for another WAC game at Southern Methodist on Saturday.

Hawai'i is only team to miss weekly honor

Tulsa forward Jarius Glenn was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week yesterday.

The 6-foot-6 senior averaged 22.5 points, 5.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds last week as the Golden Hurricane defeated Texas-El Paso and Boise State.

With that, nine of the 10 teams in the WAC have received a Player of the Week award this season.

Hawai'i is the only team without one.

"That individual stuff doesn't bother me," Wallace said. "We just need to focus on winning games as a team. A lot of the teams this year have some really good players. We're doing it more as a team — we don't have that one guy carrying us — so I can see why we haven't got one yet."

There have been 12 Player of the Week awards this season, and four more will be awarded.

The last time Hawai'i went an entire season without a player getting the award was during the 1998-99 season.

ESPN expected to reveal TV schedule

Hawai'i is expected to find out today if it will get one of the nationally televised games for the ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday event Feb. 19.

The 'Bows will host Wisconsin-Milwaukee at the Stan Sheriff Center in the Bracket Buster.

Only six Bracket Buster games will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2, including two involving WAC teams.

The pairings were announced last week. Since then, Hawai'i beat San Jose State, while Wisconsin-Milwaukee won two games.

The 'Bows are 13-5 overall and in sixth place in the WAC at 5-5. The Panthers are 17-5 overall and in first place in the Horizon League at 10-2.

"We did our part; we've both won games since they made the announcement (of the pairings)," Wallace said. "But we'll see. We think ours is a pretty good match-up, but there are some other good games out there."

Wallace said two other Bracket Buster games involving WAC teams could be more attractive to ESPN: Vermont at Nevada, and Texas-El Paso at Pacific.

Nevada and UTEP are the top two teams in the WAC standings.

Vermont is 17-3 and features one of the nation's leading scorers in Taylor Coppenrath. Pacific is 18-2 and broke into the Top 25 polls yesterday for the first time in school history.

If Hawai'i's game is not chosen for an ESPN or ESPN2 broadcast, it will be made available on ESPN Full Court, which is a pay-per-view station.

Hawai'i is participating in the Bracket Buster for the third consecutive year, but hosting for the first time. The 'Bows won at Kent State on ESPN2 in 2003, then lost at Southern Illinois on ESPN last season.

The event was created by ESPN to showcase some of college basketball's so-called "mid-major" programs.

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