UH hopes to rebound on road
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
It's way too early for any team to be out of the race for the Western Athletic Conference championship.
But the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team certainly didn't help itself with a 61-59 loss to Louisiana Tech on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Wallace
"I heard UTEP lost (on Saturday)," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "What a shame we lose here."
The Sheriff Center is considered one of the most difficult arenas to play in for opponents, so Wallace knows Saturday's loss could wind up being a crucial one at the end of the regular season. The Rainbow Warriors, who had a 13-game home winning streak snapped, are 10-3 overall and 2-3 in the WAC.
A victory Saturday would have kept Hawai'i only one game behind the league leaders in the loss column. Texas-El Paso suffered its first conference loss of the season at Fresno State on Saturday, meaning every team in the WAC has at least one loss.
Wallace said the 'Bows now need to "get one back" on the road to make up for Saturday's home loss.
They will get a big chance Saturday when they play at UTEP, which was the preseason pick to win the WAC. The Miners are 14-3 overall and 4-1 in the conference.
"We need to get this team back together," Wallace said. "They have to understand their roles better and they also have to know that they have to show up and play hard every night or we're going to get beat."
The 'Bows also need to figure out how to run their flex-motion offense against zone defenses.
On Saturday, LaTech frustrated Hawai'i by playing 40 minutes of various zone defenses. Last Thursday, a zone defense helped Southern Methodist cut a 25-point deficit down to 10 in a 71-59 loss at Hawai'i.
"When that word gets out, you're going to see zone after zone after zone until you beat it," Wallace said.
Hawai'i senior guard Jake Sottos has become the team's designated "Zone Buster," and he had the two best games of his career against SMU and LaTech. He scored 37 points in the two games, and shot 9 of 18 from 3-point range.
However, he is turning out to be the only consistent long-range shooter for the 'Bows this season.
"With the zone, we're becoming a perimeter shooting team and that's not what we're really good at," Wallace said.
Sottos leads the team with a 45.9 shooting percentage from 3-point range, but the 'Bows are shooting 31.2 percent from 3-point range as a team.
"We have to attack the zones," Wallace said.
He added that forward Julian Sensley needs to snap out of his recent slump for the 'Bows to get back to their winning ways.
The 6-foot-9 junior averaged 9.3 points and 7.7 rebounds during Hawai'i's three-game homestand. He shot just 35.5 percent from the field (11 of 31), and went 0 for 8 from 3-point range.
"I don't know what we have to do to get him back in it, because he has to be in it," Wallace said. "He's the man out there who takes charge and gives the other guys confidence. And he's not even shooting the ball now. He up-fakes instead of shooting it."
But Wallace said several other 'Bows had subpar showings last week.
"Our team is a very good basketball team when we come out and play hard," he said. "But when we come out and think we're good and just go through the motions, we're very average."
In an attempt to get acclimated on the road, the 'Bows departed Honolulu late last night, and are scheduled to arrive in El Paso, Texas, this morning.
They will have three days of practice in El Paso before Thursday's game.
"We just have to come out and practice hard and prepare for UTEP because they're a great team," Sottos said.
Hawai'i also will play at Boise State on Saturday.
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.
