Two years ago, UC Davis guard Corey Hawkins achieved a rare feat at the Stan Sheriff Center. It wasn’t just the 40 points he put up — although that was the second-most scored by anyone in the 20-year-old building.

The son of former NBA guard Hersey Hawkins was applauded by a segment of awed Hawaii fans following the outstanding outburst, something Hawkins remembers to this day.

Since then, he’s enjoyed numerous other big nights. The senior is a Big West Player of the Year candidate and NBA prospect for the surprise first-place team of the league.

But that 40 on just 14 field-goal attempts the night of Jan. 19, 2013, in a 93-82 Davis win at the Sheriff? Oh, man. He sank eight of nine 3-point attempts and was 12-for-12 at the line. Only Cal State Fullerton’s Josh Akognon (41) had more. Hawkins followed it up with (just) 29 points in a loss to UH here last season.

"The 40-point game is probably one of the more significant highlights of my career," Hawkins said soon after his team’s arrival in the islands on Wednesday. "You know, I love coming here. I think the atmosphere is what really draws me to play well. Hawaii gets a big crowd every night, they’re a great team, they get after it defensively, really aggressive and uptempo. And it’s just a fun game all around. Nothing but respect for that team and the things that they’ve done.

"And I have respect for the fans. You know, they like to get on my case when I’m out there on the court, but I think there’s a level of respect that has been established between me and the fans of Hawaii. I think they can appreciate good basketball. And I think when Hawaii plays UC Davis, is what it’s always going to be — a good basketball game."

What’s the Big West’s leading scorer going to do in his senior finale in the islands on Thursday night? If the Rainbow Warriors have their way, not as much.

Everyone’s had difficulties stopping Hawkins and the league-leading Aggies (14-3, 4-0 Big West) this season. Hawkins leads the Big West in scoring at 20.9 points per game and tops his team (rated No. 17 in the Mid-Major Top 25 poll) in a host of other categories, including rebounding, steals, assists per game, 3-pointers, and more.

UH will have senior guard Garrett Nevels (11.4 ppg, 40 percent shooting) back from right hand surgery after he missed the first three games of Big West play. He’ll wear a padded brace, but expects to have close to full shooting functionality.

Nevels welcomes the challenge of checking Hawkins.

"I want to guard him, I’m going to make sure he doesn’t get any easy looks. Just make him work for everything," Nevels said. "I think they’re a pretty solid team. They’ve got a good scorer in Hawkins, supposedly they’ve got a good big man (Josh Ritchart) who can shoot it. So, we have to come out and respect their game and play tough."

In four games against UH over the past two years, Hawkins’ numbers are astounding: a scoring average of 27.8 on 59.3 percent shooting from the field, including 78.2 percent from beyond the arc (18-for-23).

The 6-foot-3 Hawkins was never considered an elite 3-point shooter early in his career — more of a dribble-drive threat — but that’s changed. He’s second nationally in conversion from beyond the arc at 50 percent.

That’s a big reason Davis now leads the country in 3-point shooting (44.1 percent), and is fourth nationally in overall shooting at 50.1 percent.

Davis already has an overtime home win over Long Beach State, one of the Aggies’ historic tormentors. One more win nets them a program season record as a Division I team.

"We haven’t talked at all about that," UCD coach Jim Les said. "What we’ve talked about from the start of the year is, creating a culture around our team, that every day (it) comes to work hard, every day competes really hard, and every day tries to get better. And you know what, if we stay on that path, which is what we’ve done to date, all the numbers and records and wins and accolades will take care of themselves."

Davis has done it with much-improved depth and superior floor spacing. It was injury plagued to an extreme last season and went 9-22 en route to missing the Big West tournament. But Ritchart (11.9 ppg, 42.2 3-point shooting) is back from injury along with forward J.T. Adenrele, and sharpshooter Tyler Les is also back from a redshirt year.

"They’ve taken their lumps the last couple years, and this is their time and they’re playing like this is their time," UH coach Benjy Taylor said. "They’re a hungry team."

Thursday begins a difficult stretch for UH during the heart of league play. UC Irvine, the preseason favorite, comes to town for a game Saturday, then it’s four straight on the road for the ‘Bows.

Taylor said Wednesday he was undecided on his starting lineup after starting big men Stefan Jankovic and Stefan Jovanovic in last week’s 66-62 road loss at UC Riverside. Negus Webster-Chan was slowed while working his way back from a flu bug and forward Mike Thomas sprained a thumb at Riverside, but is available. Leading scorer Aaron Valdes (15.5 ppg) is coming off his worst game of the season, two points on 1-for-12 shooting.

"We have, 10, 11, 12 good players," Taylor said. "Somebody will jump in there and play their hearts out tomorrow night."