One perfect road trip injected Hawaii into the Big West Conference title discussion. The Rainbow Warriors hope to remain there by replicating the rare feat.

Fourth-place UH (16-7, 5-4 Big West) can maintain footing in the top half of the league, as well as match last season’s win total of 17 with a victory at UC Riverside on Thursday. The ‘Bows continue play at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.

"I want to make sure that these guys realize that they got a chance to do something special, that we’re still in the running," UH coach Gib Arnold said before the team departed Honolulu for Los Angeles on Tuesday. "And I want to compete. I want us to be in both these games and have a chance to win it when it comes down to the final minute."

With its last road trip to UC Davis and UC Irvine three weeks ago a 2-0 success, UH aims for a third straight road victory, a feat accomplished only a handful of times in program history. UH did it last season at UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton.

Since UH lambasted Riverside 100-69 in Honolulu on Jan. 18, the Highlanders (8-15, 3-6) have been competitive. They went 2-2 at home, and lost two close overtime games.

UH likewise went 2-2 at home since meeting Riverside at the Stan Sheriff Center. In that one, senior forward Christian Standhardinger took Highlanders big man Taylor Johns almost completely out of the game with foul trouble.

"Basketball is such a complex sport, there’s so many things that can happen. It’s very hard," said Standhardinger, who is coming off his team-high seventh double-double of the season in a 69-60 win over Cal Poly last Saturday. "I think they’ve found themselves as a team and we can’t underestimate them at all."

UH rested up in Riverside during the day Wednesday and got in a late-night practice at the 2,750-seat SRC Arena.

The ‘Bows own four straight wins over the Highlanders, none by a margin even close to the 31-point rout of the last meeting.

"I think the guys know enough about basketball to realize that really doesn’t matter a whole lot," Arnold said. "You watch an NBA series and a team beats someone by 20 one night, the next night, same venue, they’ll turn around and lose by 20. So it’s not that big a deal. You refocus and you get back to business."

UH will look to shake off some recent shooting woes (it is 5-for-30 on 3-pointers in its past two games), but the ‘Bows know where the ball should go — inside to Isaac Fotu.

The sophomore has been beastly in Big West play, scoring 19.3 points on 65.4 percent shooting in nine league games.

"I made it a New Year’s resolution to try to be aggressive every game I go into, and that’s just what I’ve been doing this (calendar) year," Fotu said. "So hopefully I can just continue to stay aggressive and help the team out any way I can."

UCR is fighting to stay out of last place. The ninth-place team will miss out on the Big West tournament in Anaheim, Calif., next month.

The Highlanders are up to a respectable 70.9 scoring average in Big West play.

Despite some offensive hiccups of late, UH still leads the league in scoring and is 17th nationally and 81.0 ppg.

"It’s the best team in our league, offensively," Riverside coach Dennis Cutts said. "So we’re going to have to do some things to really slow down that offense, get the tempo more to where we can be productive. And that’s going to be, not only Fotu but everybody, getting them under control."

Center Chris Patton has found the offensive touch coming off an injury, averaging a team-best 13.2 points per game while converting 65.6 percent of his field goals over the past seven. The athletic Johns (12.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg) has put up 16.3 ppg over the past three games and guard Sam Finley (12.3 ppg) has scored in double figures in 12 straight, largely coming off the bench.