Hawaii got knocked to the mat Thursday night. Tonight, the Rainbow Warriors will try to get back up against a team that’s been pretty good at keeping them down.

UH fell into a fourth-place tie with Cal Poly, tonight’s opponent, after a 75-64 defeat to UC Santa Barbara in which the ‘Bows shot a season-low 36.8 percent.

Now they’ll try to salvage a 2-2 mark for their two-week, four-game homestand, during which they’ve fallen two games out of first.

UH coach Gib Arnold decided brevity was the best course after the team’s relatively short practice Friday.

"Great practice. Spirit was great. Keep the faith. Go ‘Bows," he said in rapid-fire fashion.

Senior captain Brandon Spearman wore a determined expression.

"The coaches did a good job of helping us refocus," Spearman said. "We should be ready."

Cal Poly will look to extend a lopsided series. The Mustangs, a program of modest means even by Big West standards, have won five straight over the ‘Bows since 2010, including all four meetings under Arnold.

Poly has had its own issues of late, dropping three straight after a 3-0 conference start. Rotation guards Reese Morgan and Kyle Odister have missed serious time due to injuries. Morgan has been out all year and did not make this trip, while Odister has played spot minutes lately.

The Mustangs have the advantage of this being their only game of the week. They took Monday and Tuesday off to recuperate and arrived in Honolulu on Thursday night.

"We’re probably in a very similar spot in that good health, good energy and good shooting solves a lot of problems," Mustangs coach Joe Callero said.

"Who has the good shooting? Timely shooting, getting a run where you hit three in a row and get the other team back on their heels. I think that’s the key for (tonight) for both of us. I think that’s why we’re both .500, is that we’ve had some problems, some inconsistencies on the perimeter."

UH got a refresher course in the one-sided series when it lost 77-65 in San Luis Obispo, Calif., on Jan. 9 to open Big West play. The Mustangs led wire-to-wire and got a big game from unheralded senior point guard Jamal Johnson — 15 points, six assists and five rebounds. Callero called it "probably his best game of the year to date."

"You know, we learned a lot from that," Spearman said. "I think we’re just evolving every week. And I think we’ll be ready for Cal Poly. We’ve been waiting to play them here, so we’re ready."

UH associate coach Benjy Taylor, who scouted the Mustangs, said the team will defend Johnson differently on ball screens, where he sprung free repeatedly in the last meeting.

And UH must still account for forward Chris Eversley (13.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg), who went off for 25 points on 11-for-18 shooting to spoil the Rainbows’ 2013 senior night, 64-61, in the teams’ last meeting in Honolulu.

Forward David Nwaba, a newcomer to the program, has converted more than 57 percent of his shots and adds 11.9 ppg. He scored 17 on UH at Mott Athletics Center, as did the brawny Eversley.

Cal Poly remains one of the best teams in the country — sixth — at taking care of the ball, at a scant 9.5 turnovers per game. And it leads the Big West in points allowed at 63.6 per game.

Pace will be key. UH, the highest-scoring team in the league at 81.6, was unable to exert an up-tempo style in Poly’s small gym.

"They want to move the ball side-top-side, get it reversed, and wait for you to break down," Taylor said. "They’re very good at doing that."