Ho hum. Another week, another weekly award — or two — for the Hawaii basketball team.
In what has become a common occurrence this season, a Rainbow Warrior was bestowed honors coming off of a perfect week of games on the mainland.
UH MEN’S BASKETBALL
At the Stan Sheriff Center
» Who: UC Riverside (13-15, 4-8) at Hawaii (22-3, 11-1).
» When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
» TV: OC Sports
» Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
In this case, two highly effective outings produced two merit badges for forward Stefan Jankovic on Monday. UH’s 6-foot-11 junior sizzled in wins at Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine, averaging 29.5 points and 7.0 rebounds on 76 percent shooting in the victories, including a career-high 34 points at CSUN on 12-for-13 shooting.
He received his second Big West Player of the Week award of the season, then got the nod for CollegeInsider.com’s Lou Henson Award, given weekly to a player from a mid-major conference.
Jankovic was dismissive of the BWC award two weeks ago, and seemed similarly unimpressed with himself Monday.
“Shout-out Niko Filipovich for playing 1-on-1 with me every day after practice … without him none of this is possible,” Jankovic messaged the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Filipovich is a 6-foot reserve guard.
It marked the first time in program history UH received a conference player of the week award more than four times in a season, including the Rainbows’ 33 years in the WAC.
Jankovic joined point guard Roderick Bobbitt as Rainbows to receive multiple Big West weekly honors in 2015-16. Guard Isaac Fleming picked up one.
“I don’t know if it’s ever old hat,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “You’re very appreciative and proud of your guys. We know there are so many guys that are worthy of those honors.
“You do what this team did on the road, individuals get rewarded for that. And Janks was just special. A lot of our guys have been special; he’s been stepping up in conference play, especially on the road.”
The big man also received the award coming off the previous road trip, wins at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. Before that, Fleming’s award came after a road sweep of UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton.
By improving to a record 6-0 on the conference road with Saturday’s key 75-71 win over UC Irvine, UH (22-3, 11-1 BWC) maintained a tight grip on first place — a two-game lead — with four regular-season games to play. Up next is Riverside (13-15, 4-8) on Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A Big West player has received the Lou Henson Award two times this season; Long Beach State’s Nick Faust got it on Feb. 1.
In national polls released Monday, UH picked up seven voting points in the Associated Press Top 25, but actually lost four points in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
The Rainbows are 35th in AP poll points (12) and 37th in Coaches poll points (three).