Back to business for the Rainbows

When the Hawaii basketball team trudged out of the Thunderdome into the wind and torrential rain of Santa Barbara, Calif., on Thursday night, the stormy conditions matched the Rainbow Warriors’ collective mood.

They had fallen 56-54 to the last-place UCSB Gauchos on a tip-in in the final seconds, capping one of their sloppiest performances of the season. It was a huge swing in the Big West standings, as UH (12-13, 6-6 BWC) could have remained in its top-three position but instead tumbled to sixth with four games to play.

Friday’s storm, described as “brutal” by UH coach Eran Ganot, followed them up the California coast to San Luis Obispo, where the ’Bows arrived safely after a two-hour bus ride for today’s game with Cal Poly.

“It looks outside how we felt last night, but it certainly doesn’t look outside the way we feel today,” Ganot said via phone Friday afternoon upon arrival at the team hotel.

“Yesterday was rough. Today was professional. (Hawaii practiced at UCSB before making the bus ride). We get back to our team and shift gears.”

Starters Noah Allen and Jack Purchase both had subpar games (they combined to go 0-for-10 on 3s for six points) in Thursday’s loss. It was Purchase’s second scoreless game of the season.

Ganot said Purchase was the latest ’Bow to have a bout with illness, but that the Australian was an active practice participant Friday, adding “we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”

The team had just gotten Leland Green back from an extended sickness; Green was held to seven points and four turnovers in 23 bench minutes against the Gauchos.

“That’s part of Division I. That’s part of February,” Ganot said. “A lot of people go through that and we’re going through it right now. … Recently it’s caught up to us a little bit.”

Today is the second meeting with the eighth-place Mustangs (8-17, 3-8) in 10 days. UH won 74-65 in Honolulu, then dropped two against teams — UC Irvine and UCSB — that supplied some difficulty with zone defenses.

Cal Poly had only one game since, an 85-71 win at Cal State Northridge on Wednesday. The Mustangs now boast wins over the top three teams in the standings.

“I wouldn’t say we cruised in (to the finish), but when you build it up by 30, and you win by 14, 15 points and keep it in double figures the rest of the night, I’ll take that every night for the rest of my life,” Mustangs coach Joe Callero told Cal Poly athletics after that game.

Callero has made frequent lineup tweaks, partly out of necessity with injuries, but he feels that’s paid dividends.

“The young guys aren’t playing young anymore,” he said.

The latest move involves a two-point-guard starting backcourt of Donovan Fields and Ridge Shipley, with 6-foot combo guard Victor Joseph playing on the wing. The frontcourt has shuffled too, with forward Luke Meikle back from a bone spurs injury.

“They’ve really done a nice job readjusting their lineup … even since that game (against us) they’ve made another adjustment, going smaller in the backcourt,” Ganot said. “Now they’re two point guards and a combo guard, and try to spread you out.”

The Mustangs have stumbled ever so slightly when it comes to their lofty ball control standards. They are still 10th in the nation in fewest turnovers committed, at 10.5 per game. UH forced them into a season-high 16 in Honolulu.

While they have been curiously proficient at knocking off the league’s better teams, they haven’t defended home court well. They are just 1-4 in conference at the 3,000-seat Mott Athletics Center.

UH has won the past two meetings at Mott and four straight in the overall series. With a victory, it can move ahead in the all-time series (tied 6-6) for the first time as Big West foes.