Rainbows are getting healthy at right time

Hawaii has some unfinished business with Long Beach State.

The Rainbow Warriors will look to avenge one of their five Big West road losses on "Harry Potter Night" Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center. The 65-50 defeat at the Walter Pyramid on Jan. 31 was certainly one of the most painful for UH, which enjoyed a 12-0 start to the game — only for the Rainbows to lose all momentum by halftime and put up a season low in points.

"I feel like we need to keep the same intensity we had in the beginning of the game at their place, and I think we should be fine," point guard Roderick Bobbitt said. "I think we let up. We fell out of our press, which was creating turnovers for us and easy baskets. I think we let them a little bit into the game."

UH coach Benjy Taylor vowed UH would give a "40-minute fight" this time.

Both teams are looking to end recent slides before the Big West tournament in mid-March. For sixth-place UH, its 0-2 road trip last week represents its first losing streak all season.

"It’s the way conference basketball is. If you don’t come to play on a particular night, you can lose to anybody," Taylor said. "It’s a thin line of being 0-4 in your last four games, or 3-1, or 2-2."

Third-place LBSU started Big West play 7-1, but its four-game losing streak is its longest in conference play since 2007-08, coach Dan Monson’s first year with the 49ers.

It’s been a shock to the system for a Big West program used to peering down from the top of the league standings.

"We’re out of the conference regular-(season) championship for the first time in seven years or whatever this early," Monson said. "We gotta focus on why and how we can fix this, because we only got two weeks until the tournament or our season will be over."

Because of a spate of injuries to key players, UH has made do of late with a reduced rotation, including seldom-used guards Niko Filipovich and Dyrbe Enos, but depth should be less of an issue now.

Taylor will have forwards Aaron Valdes and Mike Thomas back in action; both were participants in practices this week. But guard Isaac Fleming continues rehabbing his sprained ankle from a Feb. 14 win over Cal State Fullerton and could miss his third straight game.

On the bright side, forward Stefan Jankovic has found his offensive touch. Jankovic is coming off consecutive games of career highs with 18 points and 15 rebounds at UC Irvine, then 21 points at UC Davis.

But they were both losses, Jankovic was quick to point out.

"Just my effort, honestly. Nothing else different than that," Jankovic said of the reason for his improved play. "I personally thought I played OK. Definitely could have played a lot better. But the effort was there, so individually it was a good performance for me. But none of that matters. No one remembers stats from a loser. So, going to keep moving forward and contribute in hopefully a few more wins."

An improved team defense of the 3-point arc would help the ‘Bows. In last week’s trip, they yielded 20 makes among 38 long-range attempts (52.6 percent). As a team, UH is still elite in steals per game; its 10.2 average is second in the country, led by Bobbitt’s nation-best 3.14 per game.

Point guard Mike Caffey (16.8 ppg, 3.5 apg) remains the key player for the 49ers, though UH held him to five points on 2-for-11 shooting with four turnovers at The Beach.

Forward David Samuels has stepped up his play as the season’s progressed; he’s averaged 12.4 points and 9.5 rebounds in league play.

Beyond that, Monson is looking for somebody, anybody to provide consistent scoring among his nine other players getting playing time.

"Since we’re out of the (conference race), one of my goals is not to play Mike Caffey 40 minutes right now," Monson said. "And also find a little bit tighter rotation."