UC Davis on a roll, with or without Hawkins

The pile of emails from Hawaii fans was split about evenly.

Some of the feedback addressed to UC Davis coach Jim Les was critical of his call to lead his team off the Stan Sheriff Center floor without shaking hands after UH’s 84-76 win over the Aggies on Jan. 22. The other half was apologetic for the debris thrown on the court by a couple of unruly fans in the final seconds, which led Les to make that decision on the spot.

Fifth-place Hawaii (18-10, 6-6 Big West) and first-place Davis are set to rematch that heated contest on Saturday at The Pavilion in Davis, Calif. It is still the only league loss this season for the surging Aggies (20-4, 10-1), who have won all six games since.

Les said he bears no ill will.

"I think I said it after the game, I love going there and playing and there’s passionate fans," he said Friday. "Sometimes it’s only just a few that ruin it for the masses. To me it’s gone and forgotten.

"(Walking off) had nothing to do with (coach) Benjy (Taylor) and Hawaii, because we’ve got a lot of respect for them. It had more to do with, we just wanted to get our guys out of harm’s way. And we didn’t want anybody to get hit in the eye with an object or anything like that. So we weren’t disrespecting anyone by any means. I relayed that in those emails."

While UH was dealt a 75-60 setback at UC Irvine on Thursday, UC Davis earned its first 20-win season as a Division I program with a 65-58 win at Long Beach State. Its previous D-I best was 14 wins.

Three of Davis’ victories since the UH loss were achieved without Big West Player of the Year candidate Corey Hawkins (21.5 points per game), who dealt with a lower leg injury and returned to score 26 against the 49ers.

"I’m sure they’re fired up and ready to play," Taylor said. "They got the best player in the league, the coach of the year and the player of the year in my opinion. So, it’ll be a tough game for us, but we’re excited about just another chance to redeem ourselves and play again tomorrow."

On Friday morning UH flew from Los Angeles north to Sacramento, within driving distance of Davis. Taylor said he wanted to go light at practice that night to rest weary legs.

Forwards Aaron Valdes and Mike Thomas returned from ankle sprains in the loss to Irvine, but guard Isaac Fleming was out with a more severe sprain. Taylor said Fleming will miss Saturday’s game.

"I was still pretty happy with the way Mike and Aaron responded back," Taylor said. "Isaac’s walking around now without a boot and so I think we’ll have all those guys next week for sure."

Taylor was displeased with the showing from his guards on Thursday. The backcourt of Roderick Bobbitt and Garrett Nevels combined to shoot 1-for-17. With backup Quincy Smith factored in, it was 2-for-23.

"Our front line was pretty good last night," Taylor said, alluding to 34 points and 20 rebounds combined from Stefan Jankovic and Negus Webster-Chan. "But our guards shot the ball bad and didn’t defend very well. They just didn’t get it done for us."

The backcourt will be essential Saturday if UH is to replicate its success against the Aggies. At the Sheriff, Nevels did an admirable job of helping limit Hawkins to 19 points with seven turnovers, his worst game in five career meetings with UH.

Davis is still the top 3-point-shooting team in the country (.461), is third in overall field-goal percentage (.501) and has the top individual marksman from deep in Hawkins (67-for-124, 54 percent).

The Aggies remain one of the best turnaround stories in the country. They became just the third Big West team to go from single-digit wins to 20-plus the next year. Forward Josh Ritchart (12.7 ppg), reserve big Josh Fox (9.5), and backup guard Tyler Les took turns carrying the Aggies while Hawkins was out, boosting team morale.

Last time, UH consumed UCD in a hail of turnovers late in the first half and rode that momentum to the win. For the game, the Rainbows had 18 steals — their third-best mark of the season — and forced 24 turnovers.

"We didn’t play very well and execute portions of our game plan. And then missed some easy shots when we did execute," Les said. "I credit Hawaii. They forced us to play a little out of kilter and forced us not to execute as well. We gotta be able to clean that up, and I don’t necessarily think it was the pressure but the execution overall."

In comparison, UH had just five steals among seven turnovers forced against Irvine on Thursday, the Rainbows’ lowest marks in Big West play.