As it ponders ways to improve, the Hawaii basketball team has decided — for now — two heads are better than one.

UH has increasingly gone to a two-point-guard backcourt as it attempts to shake out of offensive malaise early in the season. The young Rainbow Warriors are 4-3, with the wins coming against very beatable competition. Sequences of synergy have been few.

“I’d say right now as a collective group, our guard play is not good,” associate head coach Adam Jacobsen said. “I’ll take a lot of responsibility for that, being in charge of the offense and the guards.”

UH ramped up the intensity in practice Wednesday and closed Thursday’s session to the media. The ’Bows resume play Tuesday and Wednesday in the Pearl Harbor Invitational against Seton Hall (5-2) and Princeton (2-3) — teams that represent a step up from previous competition, with the notable exception of No. 3 North Carolina.

“We feel right now is a good time to (improve),” Jacobsen said. “Our purpose needs to get better, our screening needs to get better. At times we’re just moving the ball around without a lot of purpose, and you can see that.”

After an offensively challenged 64-44 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday, UH coach Eran Ganot reaffirmed sophomore Sheriff Drammeh as the team’s primary point guard. The position was a topic of much discussion leading up to and during the game.

Sophomore point guard Brocke Stepteau started in the backcourt next to Drammeh against the Golden Lions — it first appeared Stepteau had the keys to the offense — but then the 5-foot-9 walk-on struggled and gave way to 6-foot freshman Matt Owies for the second half. Owies responded with season highs of 11 points, four assists and three turnovers.

Freshman shooting guard Leland Green has struggled with his shot (25.8 percent) and moved to the bench. Wing Noah Allen (16.3 points per game) has struggled his last two outings on the wing.

The point of origin of those offensive woes can be traced … to the point. UH got off to slow starts against both Troy and Pine Bluff.

Whether he’s next to Owies or Stepteau, the converted playmaker Drammeh said he’s good with it.

“If that’s better than having one point guard and a true shooting guard in, then definitely,” Drammeh said. “If that’s what the coaches feel and that’s what’s shown in the games, definitely.”

On Wednesday, Drammeh and Owies played together in the backcourt, while Stepteau ran the second unit next to Green.

Jacobsen views the group as eager to please, sometimes to a fault. There’s a delicate balance between being unselfish and tentative, to the point of taking repeated bad shots late in the shot clock.

“I think right now the biggest thing is empowering those guys; they’re still kind of looking to the coaches to run the team,” he said.

The ’Bows want to play faster, too. They reached their goal of 10 fast-break points just once so far, against Hawaii Hilo. Scoring is down 7.5 points from last year.

“Last year we were at 18, 19, 20 transition points every game, which is probably 20, 25 percent of your offense,” Jacobsen said. “This year is about 10 percent of our offense. We have to increase that number. When you’re struggling scoring, you have to find a way to get easy baskets.”

That’s where UH hopes two point guards will make a difference — if not a fast-break bucket, then earlier entry into the halfcourt offense.

“I love it because we can get out in transition,” Drammeh said. “I don’t know if you saw the last game, but as soon as Brocke or Matt got the ball, I got a chance to run. So I mean, It’s a good opportunity. Plus, if I’m denied, it’s easier for us to get set into plays when we have two point guards in the game.”

Drammeh (12.3 points, 3.7 assists, 3.0 turnovers per game) is working on making fewer jump passes and not picking up his dribble prematurely.

UH might get a lift soon in the form of freshman combo guard Drew Buggs, who’s begun practicing on defense during contract drills. If Buggs is fully recovered from his right ACL surgery, and is a full practice participant in another week or so, he could be active for the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic and Big West Conference play. Otherwise, he will redshirt.