When it comes to telling it like it is, few coaches in the Big West Conference dish doses of truth quite like Long Beach State’s Dan Monson.

“We expect to contend for a Big West championship, and after six games we’re already three games back of Hawaii and (UC) Irvine,” said the winningest coach in 49ers history, in his ninth season. “We have a long ways to go to be at the level that (they) are playing at right now.”

UH (16-2, 5-0 BWC) is indeed one of two teams that has separated from the pack after just a handful of games, trailing only 6-0 Irvine. The Rainbow Warriors have taken advantage of a home-heavy start to conference play and seek to wash out the Beach at 8 p.m. today for their ninth straight win.

It is expected to be a sellout of the 10,300-seat Stan Sheriff Center or close to it. Should UH attain it, it will be the first in nearly 12 years. By late Friday, there were about 1,500 tickets available, according to a team spokesperson.

“Man, everybody on the team is just really excited to see how the turnout is going to be,” co-captain Quincy Smith said. “They got a special theme night (Cartoon Character Night). A lot of students are already talking about coming. So it’s going to be a lot of energy. It’s going to be really fun. It’s probably going to be the most packed game since I’ve been here. So I’m looking forward to it.”

In what’s so far been a season full of callbacks to some of the program’s heights, UH can match its 2001-02 squad for the best conference start in school history at 6-0. That team finished 15-3 and won the WAC outright.

“The crowd will make a big difference,” assistant coach Adam Jacobsen said. “The Stan Sheriff’s a great place to play. But I think at this point in the season, it’s about focusing on the game plan, the details and all the things that have got you there.”

Wing Aaron Valdes (14.8 ppg) is cleared for a return coming off three missed games due to a turf toe injury. Valdes practiced with the second unit on Thursday and Friday, while guard Isaac Fleming continued to play with the starters.

“You always want those guys, good players like that, to get back,” Monson said Friday. “It doesn’t do any good to beat a half-manned team and think that you’re better than you are going into the tournament. So I’m glad he’s back. I say that now, until he goes for 25 tomorrow, and then I’ll wish his toe was still sore.”

An expected return to Big West prominence for Long Beach (10-12, 4-3) this season behind an entirely new starting five hasn’t yet transpired the way Monson hoped and others predicted, although the 49ers came up with a potentially pivotal win at home on Thursday, 80-70 over UC Santa Barbara in overtime. The Gauchos were held scoreless in the extra period.

Like UC Davis last week, the Beach had a tough turnaround, having to fly out to Honolulu in its lone day between games. Meanwhile, UH has enjoyed its second straight single-game week at home.

“This is one of those opportunities that nobody’s planning on going over to Hawaii and thinking they’re going to roll in there and have an easy game, or even to win to be realistic,” Monson said. “So, for us to be back in the hunt, we’re going to have to do something that is a little bit special and something nobody else has done.”

LBSU played the top-rated nonconference schedule in the country, with losses to Virginia, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Oregon, Arizona and Duke, and wins over BYU and Colorado State. Monson usually tries to draft behind such tough games, then boost ahead once more manageable competition rounds the bend in the Big West. But the Beach failed to hold double-digit leads in each of its three league losses.

Long Beach’s strength is its 3-point shooting. The 49ers lead the Big West in 3-pointers made (9.0) and attempted (23.2) per game, for a conference-best conversion rate of 38.8 percent.

“They do a nice job in their ball-screen motion of really spreading you out, so you have to decide where you’re going to help from,” Jacobsen said. “Then they kick it to shooters.”

Last March, UH ended LBSU’s season and the decorated career of three-time BWC first-team point guard Mike Caffey with a 79-72 victory in the Big West tournament first round.

But Caffey’s former backup, 5-foot-8 sophomore Justin Bibbins, has stepped forward as a capable playmaker, especially in BWC play (17.4 ppg, 3.9 apg).

Maryland transfer Nick Faust is the Big West’s fourth-leading scorer at 16.3 ppg. He’s coming off a career-high 34-point outburst against UCSB. And 6-7 Gabe Levin, a Loyola Marymount transfer, is an explosive frontcourt player.