Rupp knows ‘Dogs well

Kerry Rupp swears there’s no mixed emotions on the matter.

The former four-year coach of Louisiana Tech and current Hawaii basketball director of operations has a front-row seat and vested interest at the Stan Sheriff Center tonight. He’ll be rooting against his ex-players and assistant coaches when the third-place Rainbow Warriors and last-place Bulldogs meet in a Western Athletic Conference game.

"It’s definitely a unique situation where a lot of these guys I recruited and coached last year," said Rupp, who was dismissed after a 12-20 (2-14 WAC) season in 2010-11, then latched on with Gib Arnold’s coaching staff a few months later. "But my heart and soul’s definitely with these guys and I’m expecting us to come out and play hard and go get a win."

About half the LaTech roster is familiar to him, but a big piece of it, double-double threat Olu Ashaolu, fled for Oregon after Rupp was let go.

"My whole thought process has been, once I left there it was behind me and everybody needed to move on, myself and the players," Rupp said. "My whole focus has been with these guys, doing what I can do to help Coach and the players to get ready."

It’s a strangely similar situation to last season, when UH assistant coach Benjy Taylor — the head coach at Chicago State the year before — watched his old and new teams collide. UH and Taylor got satisfaction with a lopsided win.

The same could be expected here, with UH having played well so far in its final WAC season. The Rainbow Warriors seek their first 3-1 start to WAC play since the 2003-04 season.

Meanwhile, LaTech has struggled, dropping all three league games in Ruston, La., all but putting the Bulldogs out of the WAC race at an early stage.

However, UH was hit with some uncertainty this week. Starting point guard Miah Ostrowski, the catalyst of the ‘Bows’ offensive flow, is questionable for tonight with a staph infection around the shin and ankle of his left leg.

He experienced considerable swelling there after last week’s 77-74 loss at Nevada and had to have it drained of fluid. After missing all three regular practices this week, the senior captain’s status will be evaluated before shootaround this morning.

"I have no idea (how it happened). At first I thought I got kicked," said Ostrowski, who has 68 assists against 21 turnovers on the season. "If they say I can go, I’ll go. If not, we’ll see, it’s all right. I’ll sit out and try to come back on Saturday."

UH is 8-3 since Ostrowski returned from football season. Backup guards Shaquille Stokes and Bobby Miles shared the first-team practice load in his stead.

"He’s not cleared to play right now. His staph infection’s still infected, and we’ll wait and see till game time," Arnold said. "Obviously we love him and we’d love to see him play, but if he’s not able to go, Bobby and Shaq will be more than ready to step in there and fill his role."

If there were a good time to lose your starting point guard for a game, this would figure to be it.

With Rupp on staff, UH should be well-versed in much of the Bulldogs’ personnel. However, the other farthest-flung WAC team has a much different look this season under first-year coach Michael White.

"I don’t think (Rupp) will be a big factor, because so much time’s elapsed since he’s been around these guys," said White, a former assistant at Ole Miss. "And we’re playing differently.

"He does have a little bit of an advantage on the returners," he added. "I can tell you with regard to Coach Rupp, they do have the most overqualified staff in the country with him being an operations guy. … They’re a very good staff and they’re very talented, so we have our hands full."

It is the WAC road opener for LaTech, which has lost 10 straight conference games going back to last season.

The Bulldogs, picked last of eight teams in the preseason polls, are last in the league in free-throw percentage (.611) and second-to-last in field-goal percentage (.404). Conversely, UH is best in the league in field-goal percentage allowed (.399).

Freshman guard Raheem Appleby leads the team in scoring with 12.5 points per game. Senior Trevor Gaskins adds 10.6 a game.

LaTech starts four guards around 6-foot-10 senior center Romario Souza. The Bulldogs, who lead the WAC in steals per game at 7.7, are expected to press for turnovers and try to turn the game up-tempo.

UH will look to attack the Bulldogs inside early and often. Junior center Vander Joaquim (13.8 ppg, 9.8 rpg), the reigning WAC Player of the Week, has three straight 20-point games. He was instrumental in helping UH to a split of last week’s road trip to Fresno State and Nevada. Senior guard Zane Johnson is fifth in WAC scoring at 15.1 ppg and junior forward Joston Thomas is 14th at 12.4.

"It’s going to continue to be our game plan, to throw it inside there to Vander and Joston," Arnold said. "Those two guys have been delivering, and we’re pretty good when we do that."

UH continues WAC play on Saturday against second-place New Mexico State (13-5, 3-0).