Once again, the Hawaii basketball team departed for the Big West road without one of its key players.

Three weeks ago it was point guard Roderick Bobbitt, who had to tend to some academic issues and eventually made it up in time to play in wins at UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton.

On Tuesday, it was Isaac Fleming who was left behind on the flight to California. The guard suffered a right ankle sprain in Saturday’s home loss to Long Beach State and said Monday night he will remain in Honolulu to recover.

“Not (going on) this trip at all,” Fleming said. “Staying back to get myself right and just to get healthy. My goal is to come back for the Irvine game (Feb. 11).”

When Fleming got hurt, second-place UH (16-3, 5-1) had just welcomed second-leading scorer Aaron Valdes back from a toe injury that caused him to miss three games. Fleming is the team’s fourth-leading scorer at 11.2 points per game.

“I don’t want to have a pity party,” UH coach Eran Ganot said Tuesday before boarding the team bus behind the Stan Sheriff Center. “We’re not the only team that goes through this. It’s a long journey. But one of the great things about this group is it’s been a next man up, every man up.

“Like I said before, some new guys have to play some roles, and some guys who currently play big roles have to play bigger roles.”

Fleming played in the starting lineup while Valdes was injured. The sophomore played well over that span, scoring in double figures in each of those games, including a career-high 23 points at Fullerton.

“Isaac’s a big part of this team,” Valdes said. “If he doesn’t play in these games, then we’re going to miss him. Somebody’s going to have to step up, like they stepped up for me when I was out.”

The potentially pivotal trip could keep Hawaii at the top of the conference right with leader UC Irvine (17-6, 6-1) or knock the Rainbow Warriors back into the pack. UH plays at UC Santa Barbara (9-11, 3-4) on Thursday and Cal Poly (8-12, 2-5) on Saturday. The Rainbows already defeated both at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH has yet to sweep this Central California road swing since joining the Big West in 2012.

Forward Stefan Jankovic had a simple response to how the Rainbows will use the trip to respond to the demoralizing 14-point loss to LBSU, which snapped an eight-game winning streak.

“Two and oh,” he said.

Composure was a popular topic in the 48 hours after the 78-64 loss, in which UH posted its worst numbers of the season in scoring and rebounding margin.

“(Long Beach) did a good job and they kind of got to us,” said Valdes, who was held to three points off the bench in his return. “We’re not used to being down like that. It was a change. It humbled us, I think, a bit.”

Ganot said his team’s composure has generally been “dang good” but cautioned his group that every game from this point will get harder, not easier, especially as UH begins to encounter teams for the second time around in league play.

“You get what you deserve sometimes,” he said. “We got away from that and you get punched in the mouth. So I think sometimes you don’t want to learn the hard way; we definitely did.”