Time to separate the contenders from the pretenders.

Coming up on the midpoint of the Western Athletic Conference season, the Hawaii men’s basketball team finds itself in the top half of the league. Whether UH (11-8, 3-2 WAC) can remain there could be decided in part by this week’s pivotal Thursday-Saturday road trip to Utah State and Idaho, the last two WAC teams the Rainbow Warriors haven’t seen this season.

"Every week it just gets bigger," coach Gib Arnold said. "This is no exception. You got two teams that are very, very good. Very tough to beat on the road. It’s our task to go up there and play the best basketball we can, and try to give us a chance to win there at the end of games. If that were to happen, then obviously that puts us in a great position going into the second half of league play."

UH, which left Tuesday night on a red-eye flight to Salt Lake City, will look to build off a big 91-87 win over contender New Mexico State last Saturday, helping the team rebound from a disappointing 74-70 home loss to Louisiana Tech two days prior in which it missed senior captains Zane Johnson and Miah Ostrowski.

The ‘Bows are back at full strength, and at a good time, too. Four-time defending regular-season champion USU (10-10, 2-3) is having a down year by its lofty standards, but Logan, Utah, is still one of the toughest places to play in the country.

And Idaho (10-9, 3-2) has mimicked USU’s strategy of acquiring smart, technically sound players who might lack pure talent but can be extremely effective in a disciplined system. The Vandals, one of the WAC’s positive surprises this season, are tied for third with UH.

This week’s road swing could decide whether the ‘Bows have a chance to overtake conference leaders Nevada (5-0) and NMSU (4-1). Those two meet on Thursday in Las Cruces, N.M., in a game that could decide the pecking order in the second half.

The ‘Bows are 1-4 on the mainland this season, including 1-1 in WAC play. But junior forward Joston Thomas has firm belief in his team’s ability to stay among the WAC elite.

"It’s a lot of people out there who say we’re going to lose this week, and a lot of people saying we gonna win," said Thomas, who has topped 20 points in three of five WAC games. "I don’t buy into the criticism, that’s (why) I got a tattoo on my arm that says, ‘No one can see through what I am except the one who made me.’

"I just look at that every day and look at how hard my fellas go every day, to the point of exhaustion. We just believe in each other, no matter what the critics say, what the papers say, what the analysts say."

UH made a concerted effort over the past two days to tune up its press break after it was exposed as vulnerable late in the NMSU win, allowing the Aggies to make a game of it coming from 19 points down.

Johnson is expecting to see more pressure on this road trip after the ‘Bows coughed up the ball six times late in the game.

"Oh yeah. Probably, just because they saw what happened at the end of the game," said Johnson, who had season highs of 29 points and seven 3-pointers in that contest. "But you know what, we didn’t even run our press break right at the end of the game, so we fixed it and got back to the basics. Figured it out and if we (get pressed), we’re ready."

UH dropped both of those road games last season, 74-66 at USU and 75-61 at UI. The ‘Bows play a third straight away game next week at San Jose State, but will return home in between.

Note

ESPN Regional Television will broadcast both of the road games this week and they will appear on OCSports (Ch. 12). UH plays Utah State on Thursday at 4 p.m. and Idaho on Saturday at 6 p.m.