RENO, Nev. — The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team is in dire need of a cure for a four-game losing streak.

Not only have the Rainbow Warriors dropped four straight entering the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, but they also haven't won a tournament game the past four years.

Hawai'i, the No. 8 seed, will look to snap both skids tonight in the play-in game against No. 9-seed Fresno State at the Lawlor Events Center.

"You break your season down into three categories: non-conference, conference and postseason," 'Bows coach Bob Nash said yesterday. "All the failures you had in the other parts of the season, they don't matter now. In our case, it's four games to get to where we need to be and that's our mindset at this point."

Hawai'i's last win this season, ironically, came against the Bulldogs, 73-69 on Feb. 19 at Fresno. They also won, 69-43, at the Stan Sheriff Center on Feb. 5.

Hawai'i's last WAC tournament victory came the last time it was involved in a play-in game. That was in 2005, when there were two play-in games and Hawai'i throttled San Jose State by 24 points.

Tonight's winner will play No. 1-seed Utah State at 11:30 a.m. Hawai'i time in Thursday's quarterfinals.

No play-in game participant has ever won the WAC Tournament, though Boise State advanced to the championship game in 2005.

"We're just going to work hard, the way we've done all year long, and hopefully against Fresno State, or the rest of the teams in the tournament, that's going to be good enough for us to win," Nash said. "We have good offense, we had good defense. Now we just have to do it for 40 minutes."

Hawai'i (13-16, 5-11), which is 1-1 against Fresno State in past conference tournament match-ups, must find a way to get leading scorer and all-WAC second-team selection Roderick Flemings more involved than he was Saturday against New Mexico State.

Flemings is coming off just the second game this year in which he did not reach double-figures in points — he had nine on 2-of-6 shooting from the field in the 'Bows' 70-59 home loss to New Mexico State that dropped Hawai'i into the play-in game.

"You're not going to stop Roderick Flemings. That's not going to happen," Fresno State coach Steve Cleveland said. "He's just too good a player and he can score from the inside and score from the outside. We'll try to be more proactive rather than reacting to his moves."

Flemings, a junior, has averaged 18 points and 12.5 rebounds in two games against the Bulldogs (12-20, 3-13) this season.

"I'm just going to try and come out for my team and have a good game, and do the little things even though teams try to take me out of it," said Flemings, adding that he expects the Bulldogs to employ a 2-3 zone defense tonight.

Sylvester Seay and Paul George will be the focal points of the 'Bows' defense. The 1-2 punch from Fresno State averages 48 percent of the team's scoring — Seay at 17.4 points per game and George at 14.3.

"It is hard to beat a team three times in a row," Flemings said. "Especially Fresno State, because the first time we blew them out and the second time it was a tough game. So this time, you never know."

If Hawai'i can advance, there could be a bit of history on its side. In the tournament's 26 years, there has been a first-round upset in 21 of those years, including 2005 when No. 1 Nevada went down.

Utah State (27-4), though, won both meetings this season with the 'Bows by an average of 18 points.

"We don't have anything to lose, so we're just going to come in here and make it hard for other teams, and build a name for next year," Flemings said.