Rainbows, Gauchos will wing it tonight

The eyeballs in the Stan Sheriff Center will shift to the wings tonight.

That’s where the marquee matchup takes place between host Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara. Gauchos senior Michael Bryson comes in as the top offensive player in the Big West Conference, while UH’s Aaron Valdes is one of the most explosive performers in the league.

“He’s a good (challenging) matchup for me,” Valdes said. “Last year I enjoyed playing against him. This year he’s a lot better because they don’t have Alan Williams on their team, so he’s more of an offensive go-to guy for them. So I’m more excited to play against him this year — it’s going to be fun (tonight.)”

Williams, the burly and skilled center who was No. 2 in Big West career rebounds and blocked shots, is finally graduated and playing professionally in China, to the unending gratitude of the rest of the BWC.

“I think there will be more rebounds for us,” Valdes said with a smile.

But Bryson has been a key figure in UCSB’s wins at the Sheriff the past two years, allowing the Gauchos to earn home-and-home sweeps of UH both those seasons.

On last year’s senior night, the Gauchos got a combined 47 points from Bryson and guard Gabe Vincent to win 98-90. The year before that, Bryson had three clutch triples and 18 points in an 11-point win.

The 6-foot-5 Bryson leads the Big West field in scoring by a margin of nearly three points a night — 19.8 — thanks to an effective combination of outside shooting, inside cutting and alert rebounding.

The 6-5 Valdes, a fourth-year junior, has been no slouch this season either, notching the only triple double among BWC players, and hiking his scoring average to 15.9 from 13.7 last year. He’s showcased an effective post-up game of late.

“They’re two of the very best in the league when it comes to wing players. It’s a great matchup,” UCSB coach Bob Williams said.

UH (12-2) picked up a 13-point win over Cal Poly on Wednesday to open Big West play 1-0 for the first time in three years. The Gauchos (6-7, 0-0), picked to finish second in preseason polling to UH’s third, are making their BWC season debut tonight. This caps a 10-game homestand for the ‘Bows.

The Gauchos played 10 of their 13 preconference games on the road, but arrived on a four-game winning streak, including an 83-78 victory at Washington on Dec. 28. It represented the Big West’s most notable win of the nonconference season, and was the Gauchos’ first win at a Pac-12 team in 12 years. Bryson followed up with career highs of nine 3-pointers and 36 points in a blowout win at Seattle.

“He’s trying to assert being the leader, in terms of being the versatile, team-oriented, tough-minded, tough physical-type kid,” Bob Williams said.

Still, this matchup figures to be as much about a battle of finesse and transition opportunities as it was a physical free-throw fest against the Mustangs.

UH assistant coach Adam Jacobsen compared UCSB’s current four-out, one-in attack to the one the Gauchos ran prior to the Alan Williams era. Jacobsen scouted them then for former Big West team Pacific.

“Santa Barbara’s a little more of a moving, cutting, passing team, than trying to come right at you and be tough and physical through the whole game,” Jacobsen said, noting the Gauchos are also elite at offensive rebounding. “They found their way.”

UCSB coach Williams raved about UH’s confident play at home, and compared the Rainbows’ ability to rise to a game’s occasion to that of last March, when they reached the Big West championship.

“They were a big-game-type team. They could raise their level,” he said. “And I think this group’s very similar. You’ve got three at their position … three of the top players in the league, no doubt.”

He was referring to Valdes, point guard Roderick Bobbitt (14.5 ppg, 5.4 apg) and forward Stefan Jankovic (14.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg).

UCSB’s Vincent (12.3 ppg) beat out UH’s Isaac Fleming, among others, for 2015 Big West Freshman of the Year honors. Third-leading scorer John Green (11.7) is out at least a couple more weeks with a knee injury.

Center Sam Beeler capitalizes on attention given to his teammates and leads the BWC in field-goal percentage at 72.2. He would qualify for the national lead if he had more attempts per game.