Wounded Warriors return to action

Hawaii’s walking wounded are closing in on a return to action.

Three rotation players — forwards Aaron Valdes and Mike Thomas and guard Isaac Fleming — were out for UH’s 74-67 loss at UC Davis on Saturday. Valdes, the Rainbow Warriors’ leading scorer and rebounder, fell ill on game day. Thomas had a setback to his sprained ankle in a loss at UC Irvine last Thursday. And Fleming is still recovering from the ankle he sprained on Feb. 14 against Cal State Fullerton.

But all three could return to the court for Thursday’s home game against Long Beach State (13-15, 7-5 Big West), the only contest of the week for sixth-place UH (18-11, 6-7).

UH coach Benjy Taylor said Monday he was "cautiously optimistic" about Thomas and Fleming.

"Those guys have been working really, really hard (rehabbing)," Taylor said. "Isaac’s really, really improved. Mike tweaked his a little bit more on Thursday. We’re just trying to get them as close to 100 percent as we can. … We’ll know more the closer we get to game time."

Valdes, who also recently sprained his ankle, likely would have played Saturday were it not for his sudden illness. He is expected to play going forward.

The team took Monday off from practice for some extra recovery time.

UH’s loss to the first-place Davis Aggies marked the first time all season the Rainbows dropped back-to-back games.

Yet Taylor said he and his team felt good about it’s showing in Northern California down three key players. All eight available players played crunch-time minutes.

"We’re a resilient group," Taylor said. "We felt good about playing the way we did, especially being so short-handed. Three of your top six guys are out. But the guys definitely responded, the guys who played. Everybody who played contributed and kept us around; we just couldn’t get over the hump."

UH has three regular-season games remaining to improve its seeding for the Big West tournament at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., starting March 12. The Rainbows are two back in the loss column of the two teams tied for third — LBSU and UC Santa Barbara — and are one game behind UC Riverside (7-6).

"We still got a lot of fight left in us. We just gotta get healthy," Taylor said.

Big West tourney tickets on sale

Single-session tickets for the Big West tournament go on sale Tuesday.

Tickets range from $30 to $38 for general admission seating at Anaheim’s Honda Center. Tickets for UH students are $10.

The single-elimination tournament runs March 12, 13 and 14. All-session general admission tickets may be had for $69.

Fans can purchase tickets at the Stan Sheriff Center box office or the Honda Center box office, at Ticketmaster.com, or by calling (800) 745-3000.