Rainbows ready to be unleashed

FULLERTON, CALIF. » This first-round Big West tournament battle has gone to the dogs.

Hawaii coach Gib Arnold and Cal State Northridge coach Reggie Theus both ascribed canine references to Thursday’s matchup at the Honda Center between the two teams closest matched (on paper) in the eight-team event.

UH is the fourth seed and Northridge is the fifth. The teams split their regular-season series, each winning at home.

"There’s only one team to go to the NCAA Tournament from this conference; we all got a shot at it," Arnold said. "So it’s going to be a dogfight, and the biggest dog’s going to win."

Theus, a former NBA All-Star in his first year with the Matadors, has lent some star power to the league’s coaching ranks. He’s taken Cal State Northridge back to the conference tournament after a two-year absence for both academic and athletic futility.

"I tell our guys, You ever been chased by a dog?’ We’ve all been chased by a dog," Theus said this week. "That adrenalin, that effort, you run a little faster, you jump a little higher. You gotta play with your hair on fire. And you have to be tougher. (If) you’re not slobbering at the mouth when you’re playing this game and you’re undersized, and you’re the underdog going in, you have no chance to win."

The winners of Thursday’s four quarterfinal games in the cavernous, 18,000-seat Pond of the Anaheim Ducks of which UH-CSUN is the last of the day must win twice more over the next two days to advance to the NCAA Tournament. That’s a place the Rainbow Warriors haven’t been since 2002.

UH has three conference tournament titles to its name, in 1994, 2001 and ’02, but has won just once in its past nine conference tourney games a first-round win over Idaho in 2012. The ‘Bows were bounced 71-60 by UC Irvine in their inaugural Big West tournament game last season, leading to a short-lived CIT appearance.

Senior forward Christian Standhardinger (17.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg), a Big West first-teamer alongside frontcourt mate Isaac Fotu (15.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg), is driven to change that trend and has been more hyped up than his already amped default setting this week.

"To be honest with you, I love the do-or-die moment," Standhardinger said. "That’s just the kind of guy I am, I’m everything or nothing. I want to continue to play for Hawaii and that’s only possible if we win, so let’s get a win."

UH arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday night and got in an evening practice at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym on Wednesday.

Stylistically, Northridge more closely resembles UH than any other team in the Big West. The Matadors enjoy getting up and down they are second in scoring (76.9 ppg), behind only the ‘Bows (79.8) and have a polished big man in first-teamer Stephen Maxwell (17.9 ppg, 9.0 rpg), a sharpshooter in Josh Greene (15.6 ppg, .424 3FG pct) and a slasher in Stephan Hicks (16.9 ppg). Greene and Hicks were Big West honorable mentions.

Those three account for 66 percent of the team’s offense, but reserve guard Aaron Parks is also adept at getting to the line.

That’s where the smallish Matadors are truly dangerous. They shoot a nation-best 78.6 percent at the stripe and have made the second-most foul shots in the country. Northridge was lethal in that aspect in UH’s 79-78 loss at the Matadome on Jan. 11, going 28-for-31 (90.3 percent). UH closed that game on a furious run and had several chances to take the lead in the final seconds but was unable to come up with a clutch basket.

"We’ve got to counter their athleticism, their ability to penetrate and get to the rim," Arnold said. "You know, that’s a good challenge. Anytime you’re playing against a bunch of athletes you gotta really lock in."

UH closed out the Matadors much better in a 77-63 victory at the Stan Sheriff Center on Feb. 1.

"I expect them to play very hard. You can’t underestimate them," Fotu said. "They have big-time scorers, one really good shooter and one really good big man who knows what he’s doing. But we need to come out with intensity. If our will is stronger than their will like it was last game, then they can’t stop us."

This would seem to be an opportune time for shooting guard Garrett Nevels (13.4 ppg) to rediscover his long-rage stroke; he’s shot just 3-for-17 on 3s in the past four games to drop from first to fourth (.413) among the league leaders.

UH point guard Keith Shamburger enters the tournament as the Big West assists leader at 5.4 per contest. His Northridge counterpart, Landon Drew, averages 3.5, but Greene complements him with 3.3.

Depth could come into play if UH is to make a tourney run. Quincy Smith, Davis Rozitis and Aaron Valdes have been the primary reserves all season and may be counted on to relieve a starting five that accounts for 82 percent of UH’s points.

With 17 points and 15 rebounds in UH’s final regular-season game last Saturday, Standhardinger became the only player to surpass 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a two-year UH career. He needs four free throws to break Chris Gaines’ single-season record of free throws made (184).

Should No. 4 UH prevail and top-seeded UC Irvine also win, the ‘Bows and Anteaters wouldn’t necessarily meet up in the semifinals like in a standard tournament. The Big West reseeds the bracket to make the highest and lowest remaining seeds meet in the semis.