SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. >> Aaron Valdes didn’t have an outside shooting touch, but he was good in several other areas of his game, and they provided Hawaii with a big boost in a 76-64 Big West basketball win over UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night at the Thunderdome.

The win gave the Rainbow Warriors a 3-0 start on the road in the Big West, their best start away from home in conference since the 2003-04 season. They head to Cal Poly on Saturday at 6-1 and 17-3 overall.

Valdes, in his first start since suffering a turf toe in early January, made just one of eight from behind the arc and was 4-for-12 overall against UCSB. But he was aggressive driving to the basket and drawing fouls. He knocked down nine of 10 from the free-throw line en route to a game-high 18 points. He also had five rebounds and three steals and inspired UH with his tough defense on UCSB’s Michael Bryson, the Big West’s leading scorer.

The win was a nice bounce-back for UH, which was coming off its worst performance in a 14-point home loss to Long Beach State on Saturday.

UH coach Eran Ganot said Valdes did a great job getting himself back into the lineup.

“During the process his spirit was great and his rehab efforts were great,” he said. “He had to fight through first-game jitters (off the bench against LBSU) maybe in getting back to that comfort level.”

He played so hard defensively that he blew his shoe out in the first half. The entire sole came off.

“I hadn’t seen that before,” Ganot said. “The whole shoe was gone. We had to take him out and we did well in his absence.”

The break after his shoe failed was one of the few he had in the game. He played 35 minutes.

“You could see his fatigue a little bit in the second half, but his effort defensively and on the glass, and especially at the free-throw line, was huge,” Ganot said.

“I felt good being out there and getting some significant minutes,” Valdes said. “Last week against Long Beach, I had to ease into things.”

He never eased up on guarding Bryson, making the Gauchos sharpshooter work hard for his shots.

“I always have fun playing against Michael. He’s good competition and a great competitor,” said Valdes.

On the team’s tough defense, “That’s just who we are,” he said. “We take pride on that. Last week against Long Beach, we didn’t really do a good job, so Coach really emphasized playing defense this week, especially against guys like (Gabe) Vincent, Bryson and (John) Green out there that can score.”

While Valdes’ shooting was off, Ganot was thrilled with his effort and determination. “He gave us a huge lift,” he said.

“He’s our leading rebounder and scorer,” said Quincy Smith. “There’s a level of confidence the rest of the guys have when he’s on the floor. They’re keying on him, so it leaves a lot of us wide open.”

Smith played a strong second half after struggling in the early going guarding UCSB guard Vincent, who had nine points in the first half.

“He kind of caught me off guard with some of the shots he was taking, how aggressive he was,” Smith said. “Once I saw how he was playing, I made the adjustment and tried to keep him in front and not gamble as much.”

Smith’s offense picked up in the second half, as he scored nine points.

Mike Thomas hit a jumper and Valdes knocked down a shot after the Warriors battled for an offensive rebound, giving them a 47-40 lead early in the second half.

UH then got sloppy with the ball and the Gauchos capitalized. A steal by Green led to a Vincent 3-pointer to cut the lead to 47-45.

UH regrouped, and got 3-pointers from Smith and Sai Tummala and a layup by Stefan Jankovic after an offensive rebound to build the lead up to 56-49 with 10:04 remaining in the second half.

Jankovic, who got into early foul trouble, finished with a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

UH’s offense was well balanced, as four players scored in double figures. Smith had 15 points and Thomas scored 11.

Point guard Roderick Bobbitt finished with nine points, including a back-breaking 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 2:54 left on the game clock. Smith missed his 3-point attempt off the backboard and the ball was tipped out to Bobbitt at the top of the key. From the top of the arc, he caught it and shot in the same motion and the ball banked in for 67-56 advantage.

UCSB coach Bob Williams expressed his frustration on his team’s performance at home, where the Gauchos are 2-5.

“I cannot for the life of me figure out why we have better energy, better focus, more enthusiasm to play the game on the road than we do at home. But I told the team that this is embarrassing,” he said. “Two of our last three games, we’ve come out with minimal effort at home. It’s unexplainable and it’s unacceptable.”

Bryson led UCSB with 16 points and Vincent had 15, but only six in the second half.

The Gauchos were coming off their best conference win, a 76-60 win at UC Irvine. But any momentum they carried into Thursday night was taken away by the inspired play of Valdes and the Warriors.

BIG WEST MEN

Wednesday

UC Irvine 78, Cal Poly 72, OT

CSUN 73, UC Riverside 71

Thursday

Hawaii 76, UC Santa Barbara 64 CS Fullerton 61, UC Davis 57

Saturday

Hawaii at Cal Poly, 5 p.m. HST

CSUN at Long Beach St.

CS Fullerton at UC Santa Barbara

UC Davis at UC Riverside

HAWAII 76, UC SANTA BARBARA 64

Key — fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; r: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points; a: assists; to: turnovers; min: minutes played.

Halftime — Hawaii 36, UC Santa Barbara 33

3-point goals — Hawaii 6-21 (Smith 2-3, Bobbitt 2-5, Tummala 1-1, Valdes 1-8, Filipovich 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Jankovic 0-2). UC Santa Barbara 7-26 (Vincent 3-8, Bryson 2-6, Childress 1-4, Taylor 1-4, Kupchak 0-1, Green 0-3). Steals — Hawaii 9 (Valdes 3, Smith 2, Bobbitt, Filipovich, Jovanovic, Thomas). UC Santa Barbara 7 (Bryson 2, Brewe, Childress, Green, Taylor, Vincent). Blocked shots — Hawaii 1 (Jankovic). UC Santa Barbara 3 (Beeler, Brewe, Bryson). Turnovers — Hawaii 12 (Bobbitt 4, Valdes 3, Jovanovic 2, Thomas 2, Jankovic). UC Santa Barbara 14 (Childress 5, Green 3, Vincent 2, Bryson, Hart, Smith, Taylor). Technical fouls — none. Officials — Michael Reed, Richard Batsell, Deidre Carr. A— 1,722.