Play the man in front of you, not the guy who’s got next. Better yet, play the guy in the mirror.

With a wide range in quality of showings over the past two weeks — often depending on caliber of opponent — the Hawaii men’s basketball team took a hard look at itself to find improved consistency for today’s 8 p.m. home game against South Carolina State.

UH (7-5) is favored to dispatch the Bulldogs (4-8) of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference after impressive wins against then-No. 14 Xavier and Clemson in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic last week.

But a danger could be looking ahead for Saturday’s showdown with No. 19 UNLV, something UH coach Gib Arnold looked to squash during a Wednesday practice he called "feisty."

"I really hope (our players) understand that to be a very good college team they have to be consistent and you have to bring it every day and every practice," Arnold said. "That’s what this week means to us. We got two games, and we gotta prepare for both."

Point guard Miah Ostrowski took the message to heart.

"We just really gotta play our game, you know what I mean? Execute and play good team defense," said the senior captain, who has 30 assists and 10 turnovers in six games. "If we just do our part, you know, do what we do, we’ll be fine. Everything else will fall into place."

UH had lackluster showings (and still won) against UC Davis, Hawaii-Hilo and North Carolina A&T leading into the DHC.

But the Rainbow Warriors’ roles appear to be better defined after closing out the nationally televised tournament with a fifth-place win against Clemson, the program’s first victory over a school with active Atlantic Coast Conference membership.

Senior guard Zane Johnson scored 27 in that game, leading to Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors and a season average of 15.5 points per game. Junior center Vander Joaquim averaged 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds over the past six games, with UH winning five of them.

Junior forward Joston Thomas had a career-high 24-point effort against Xavier and swingman Hauns Brereton emerged as a valued rotation player. Ostrowski took over as the go-to playmaker, with freshman Shaquille Stokes mostly playing off the ball or coming off the bench to add a scoring punch.

SCSU coach Tim Carter was respectful of UH’s personnel and recent wins, saying, "We’ll have to play pretty much a perfect game."

However, these Bulldogs from the East Coast won’t be unprepared for the long-distance contest.

Playing a nonconference season full of big-money road games is a way of life for teams in the MEAC; the Bulldogs are coming off an 83-48 loss at Oklahoma on Dec. 21. This will be their sixth straight away game going back to Dec. 2.

Carter said his team is comfortable playing both up-tempo and in the halfcourt.

"They’re a very good team," Arnold said. "Their record isn’t, but they’ve played a tough schedule. … If we had the same schedule, we’d probably have the same record. So we’re not taking anything away from South Carolina State. I think they’re a good team and they’re well-coached, and they’re very athletic."

Senior guard Brandon Riley leads SCSU with 19.2 points per game, good for 29th in the country. He’s complemented by junior Khalif Toombs (11.5 ppg) in a speedy backcourt.

It might be considered a poor man’s version of the stellar Tu Holloway-Mark Lyons guard combo that Xavier employed against UH last week.

"They’re definitely similar," said UH’s defensive ace, sophomore guard Garrett Jefferson. "Whenever you have good guards that can get in the paint and score the ball, and pass to other teammates, they really control the whole game. So we’re just going to try to get them off the ball … and deny them touches so we can control the game more than them."