Don’t stay bitter. Get better.

That’s been Hawaii’s mantra for its long-awaited contest with fellow Big West leader UC Irvine. Tonight’s meeting at the Stan Sheriff Center is the first between the teams since towering Mamadou Ndiaye and the Anteaters ended the Rainbow Warriors’ storybook season in the conference tournament championship game last March.

“You want to get that revenge, and kind of redeem yourself at the same time,” forward Stefan Jankovic said.

Behind an experienced backcourt, imposing size and suffocating 2-3 zone defense, Irvine has won four straight in the series, including all three meetings last year.

Co-captain Mike Thomas acknowledged a legitimate dislike of the Anteaters within the UH locker room.

“(This matchup has been) definitely on the back of our minds,” Thomas said. “We’ve struggled with Irvine since I’ve gotten here, to be honest. But I think we’re ready to beat them this year.”

Ndiaye is back with an improved skill-set. He’s still 7 feet 6.

There’s no one taller in college basketball. He’s now a legitimate offensive threat with some go-to post moves while shooting a vastly improved 62.5 percent at the line. He sat out the meeting in Honolulu last year with a foot injury, but the Anteaters won that one anyway, 78-72. With Ndiaye back in the lineup, they followed up with a 67-58 win in the tourney title game, denying UH its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2002. It was the first NCAA appearance for the ’Eaters (18-6, 7-1 BWC), who are on the cusp of a fourth straight 20-win season.

UH (18-3, 7-1) expects close to a sellout crowd for the second straight home game after going without one for nearly 12 years. There were about 2,000 tickets remaining as of Wednesday night, according to athletic director David Matlin.

UCI hasn’t played since winning in overtime at Cal Poly last Wednesday, in which Ndiaye tied his career high of 21 points.

“It’s not an easy place to shake rust off in the Stan Sheriff Center, with the type of crowd we know Hawaii’s going to bring and the type of opponent we’re facing,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “But we’re eager to compete, I know that.”

It’ll be Ndiaye’s first appearance at the Sheriff since he was a raw freshman. He’s averaging 12.3 points on 66 percent shooting, to go with 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.

“I think he’s just a dominant college basketball player,” Turner said of the junior from Senegal. “He’s able to be that on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively. Teams have to figure out what they’re going to do defensively against him, because it’s hard to cover him with just one guy. And that’s a challenge that Hawaii’s going to have to figure out.”

UH’s posts, topping out at 6-11, will have to body up Ndiaye and backup 7-foot-2 center Ioannis Dimakopoulos as best they can while exploiting mobility mismatches at the other end.

The Anteaters’ backcourt is formidable, as well. Luke Nelson (13.0 ppg, 3.8 apg) and Alex Young (8.8 ppg, 4.3 apg) have played together for three years.

“It’s led by those guys,” UH assistant coach Adam Jacobsen said. “Obviously it’s good to have an inside-outside attack, which they do, but it starts with those guys.”

UH can counter with its backcourt of Roderick Bobbitt and Quincy Smith. Both will look to be on their handsy defensive game and might have to make outside shots if the Rainbows are to prevail as UC Santa Barbara did over UCI on Jan. 30.

UCI is the top Big West team in scoring defense (63.9), field-goal percentage defense (.378) and blocked shots (5.4 per game). Meanwhile, UH is the top-scoring team at 79.2 ppg.

Irvine tries to funnel opposing drivers at Ndiaye.

“They do a good job in their zone of flying at shooters and trying to make you take and make shots that you don’t normally shoot,” Jacobsen said. “Offensively, they play aggressive early and play inside-out. If you have to help inside, they throw it out and make shots.”

UH has worked extensively on its zone offense since returning from a two-game road sweep of UCSB and Cal Poly. It won those games without top reserve Isaac Fleming, who stayed home with a right ankle sprain.

Fleming did some light shooting on the side this week but did not play in full contact. He could miss a third straight game.

“I feel good, I feel a lot better from the way I was feeling,” Fleming said. “Still day by day. Most likely not going to play (today). Still a little pain.”

Including tonight, UH’s seeding in the Big West tournament could be decided over the next 10 days. Two of UH’s four games over that span are against Irvine; the Rainbows play at the Bren Events Center on Feb. 20.

The Rainbows haven’t won a conference regular-season title since 2001-02 in the WAC.