"I went home, drank my water and that's about it," he said. "You dream about making shots like that, but once it's over, it's over. There's another game to win."

The celebration of Thursday's thrilling 75-72 overtime victory over Rice came to an end for the entire University of Hawai'i men's basketball team yesterday as it prepared for tonight's game against Tulsa.

"You have to be ready for every game in this league or you'll get beat," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "This is a tough year. Anybody can beat anybody."

Hawai'i is 11-5 overall and tied for sixth place in the WAC at 3-5. The Golden Hurricane is 4-13 overall and 1-7 in the conference.

In keeping with recent tradition, tonight's game has been designated as a "White-Out." All fans are being encouraged to wear white shirts.

The tradition started in 2002, when Tulsa and Hawai'i were battling for first place in the WAC. The 'Bows are 5-0 in White-Out games, including 3-0 against Tulsa.

"They became our rival because of their success," Wallace said. "They're down now, but that tradition, the memories, it's still there."

It is also the last scheduled White-Out game against Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane will join Conference USA next season.

"It's the last time around, so hopefully it'll be a good one," Wallace said. "The atmosphere and our fans have helped us out a lot in the past against Tulsa."

The Golden Hurricane is struggling this season, and has already endured a coaching change. John Phillips resigned as head coach in December, and former assistant Alvin "Pooh" Williamson is the interim head coach.

"It's very difficult to start with one system and go into another once the season has started," Wallace said. "But that's what makes them dangerous — they're improving with every game."

Tulsa is coming off a 76-69 loss at San Jose State on Thursday. and its only WAC victory this season was a 68-65 upset of Fresno State last week.

Tulsa opted to stay in San Jose, Calif., yesterday for an early practice. The Golden Hurricane did not arrive in Honolulu until late last night.

Tulsa has two effective low-post players in 6-foot-6 forward Jarius Glenn and 6-8 center Anthony Price.

Glenn leads the team in scoring with 16.5 points per game, rebounding with 7.3 per game, and assists with 3.5 per game. Price is contributing 15.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

"Just because they're in last place doesn't mean anything," Hawai'i junior forward Julian Sensley said. "They've got a bunch of guys who can score, so we're going to have to be on our toes defensively."

For its part, Hawai'i is trying to find more consistent shooting.

Nash scored a career-high 20 points in the victory over Rice. But he scored a total of 20 points in the previous six games.

"My confidence level was never shaken," he said. "I'm just going to keep practicing the way I normally do, and hope the shots keep falling."

Jake Sottos was the go-to shooter last week, and before that it was "Little Matt" Gibson.

"It seems like we have to keep fishing to find the guy who's going to be hot," Wallace said. "We don't have a Michael Kuebler like we did last year — a guy who's going to do it every night. Hopefully we'll start playing some games where we get more than one of those guys going."

Point guard Deonte Tatum has been cleared to play, and he will probably be used in a reserve role tonight. He did not play against Rice because he was not feeling well earlier in the week.

Notes

The Honolulu Marathon will donate $10,000 to the University of Hawai'i Foundation at tonight's game. Honolulu Marathon Association president Dr. Jim Barahal will present the check to UH athletic director Herman Frazier during a timeout in the game. The UH Foundation is the central fund-raising agency for the university system and provides fund-raising services for all 10 UH campuses.

Dr. Dennis Chai will receive the Kane Fernandez Community Service Award at tonight's game. The award has been presented annually by the UH Letterwinners Club since 2002. Chai was a member of the UH basketball, volleyball and track teams from 1961-65. He recently retired after more than 30 years in the Kinesiology and Leisure Sciences department at UH.