A short break before the home stretch of the Big West Conference men’s basketball season does not necessarily mean Hawai’i caught a break in the schedule.
A rare Thursday bye only meant one extra day of rest before a tough road trip to first-place UC San Diego on Saturday.
Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. Hawai’i time; the game will be shown via livestream at ESPN+ and broadcast live via radio on ESPN 1420AM.
The Warriors enter the game at 14-12 overall and 6-9 in league play coming off last Saturday’s 66-49 home loss to UC Irvine. UCSD is 23-4 , 13-2, and in sole possession of first place after Thursday’s 81-67 victory at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
In the teams’ first meeting in Honolulu on Jan. 30, the Tritons pulled away from UH, 74-63.
“The big thing is, we gotta get better, they’re playing well, and we’re playing at their place,” Warriors coach Eran Ganot said. “They pose a lot of problems for us, and for every team in our league because of the way they spread you out and have five guys who can dribble past (you) and shoot. And obviously they’re working to get better for their stretch run.
“It’s a great challenge, we have a lot of respect for them.”
Near the top of Hawai’i’s “to-do” list is finding a solution to its turnover problem, which Ganot has described as “across the board.”
“It’s tough, because we talked about setting the tone (against UC Irvine) and we worked on it, and then right off the bat we make three or four on the first several possessions,” Ganot said. “And they capitalized on that. It’s really disappointing (because) we won the rebounding battle, our defensive numbers were good. That’s why giving up so many pick-6’s or points off turnovers is certainly disappointing.”
More details to come.
Big West Conference Standings
UC San Diego 13-2
UC Irvine 12-3
Cal State Northridge 12-4
UC Riverside 11-5
UC Santa Barbara 9-7
UC Davis 9-8
HAWAI’I 6-9
Cal State Bakersfield 6-10
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 4-11
Long Beach State 3-12
Cal State Fullerton 1-15