All bets are off for ’Bows-Gauchos hoops game

Funny things have a way of happening when Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara meet up at the Thunderdome.

At UCSB’s 6,000-seat arena last season, the Rainbow Warriors suffered one of their most painful losses all year in coughing up a 13-point second-half lead. A would-be tying, last-second corner shot by Isaac Fleming was called a 2 instead of a 3 — both teams initially thought he tied it up with 1.1 seconds left — and the clock was allowed to expire in a 75-74 defeat.

The year before that, a crazed fan ran onto the court during the game and gestured at then-UH coach Gib Arnold at close range before being escorted out by security. The incident made the rounds on national TV; the score, 86-77, in favor of UCSB, was almost an afterthought.

So what’s going to happen when the Rainbow Warriors and the Gauchos tip off there today?

“Well, we’ll see,” UCSB coach Bob Williams said with a chuckle..

UH (16-3, 5-1) looks to respond to its first defeat in league play, a 14-point home loss to Long Beach State, while UCSB (9-11, 3-4) seeks to avenge an eight-point setback to the Rainbows in Honolulu on Jan. 9.

“We were somewhat different than we’ve been in the past. Now they have a better feel for us,” UH coach Eran Ganot said before his team departed Tuesday. UH got in a practice at the Thunderdome on Wednesday evening. “Every game’s going to be a dogfight. We gotta continue to get better.”

The Rainbows are 2-0 on the Big West road, and 2-1 for the full season on the mainland. UCSB is coming off a momentous 76-60 road victory over conference leader UC Irvine on Saturday.

“We’ve had real trouble finishing games,” Williams said. “So this was a very good step forward hopefully for us.”

UH closed out the first meeting vs. the Gauchos with a 7-0 run to prevail 65-57. Fleming came up big with 22 points in the stead of Aaron Valdes, who exited early in the game with a toe injury.

Valdes will likely make his first start today since the last UCSB game, but Fleming (11.2 points per game) is back in Honolulu recovering from an ankle sprain he suffered against Long Beach.

Valdes should have a second chance to go head-to-head against Gauchos senior wing Michael Bryson, the conference’s leading scorer at 19.2 ppg. Bryson had 16 and 10 rebounds the first time against UH.

“I feel good, I feel healthy, and almost 100 percent,” Valdes said Tuesday. “Hopefully by Thursday I’ll be good. It’s going to be a fun matchup and I’m excited to play against him.”

UCSB’s Williams had plenty of other concerns against UH, including cutting down on the 19 turnovers his team committed last time.

“I think that keeping (Roderick) Bobbitt under control, not letting him run wild, and then how do we handle (Stefan) Jankovic? That big sucker bothers us. His skill-set, his versatility. … He’s a real nightmare for us. Whereas we do feel we match up with Valdes a little better.”

An unusual Big West schedule this season means that UH will complete its home-and-home series with UCSB, then Cal Poly on Saturday in the first half of the league slate. The Rainbows have yet to play Irvine or Cal State Northridge a single time.

“(The schedule) is unique, it is what it is,” Ganot said. “I think our focus is more control and just continue to enjoy the journey, embrace the journey, embrace the play.”

The Gauchos don’t want to hear any complaints about it. They’ve already had to play Irvine and Long Beach State twice. After they meet UH today, they’ll have completed their games against the top three teams in the league by the midpoint.

“We’re playing everybody twice. That’s the important thing,” Williams said. “So we can stew about what we don’t think is right, but at the same time, it’s fair across the board.”

While UH is down a key contributor in Fleming, UCSB has one back in forward John Green.

Since returning from a knee injury that kept him out of the teams’ last meeting, Green has averaged 11.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in four games.