‘Bows have great expectations for game against CS Fullerton

FULLERTON, CALIF. >> At times like these it’s best to keep your head down and play ball.

Look around, and you might notice things like pesky national trends, such as the dearth of success for No. 1 conference tournament seeds so far in March Madness.

Of 12 completed tournaments, the top seed has won exactly one — Chattanooga in the Southern Conference. Hawaii (24-5) will try to avoid adding to the statistic when it takes on No. 8 Cal State Fullerton in the Big West tournament quarterfinals today at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

“That’s no surprise,” UH coach Eran Ganot said prior to Wednesday’s closed practice at Fullerton College. “It’s been going on for some time in college basketball, the parity. And again, once conference tournament (time) hits, everybody’s zero and zero. Anything can happen and that’s what’s great about March Madness.”

Great, if you’re Fullerton (10-19), a ninth-place team with nothing to lose. The Titans, whom UH swept in the regular season, wouldn’t even be in the eight-team tournament were it not for Cal State Northridge’s self-imposed ban due to academics.

Less great if you’ve got the weight of expectations like Hawaii, the Big West regular-season co-champion coming off its finest league campaign in 14 years.

“It’s a different level,” said UH forward Sai Tummala, a reserve with Arizona State during the last two Pac-12 tournaments. “Single elimination, anyone can beat anyone. Intensity’s higher. Everyone’s gotta be ready to play. It’s like a different season is starting (today).”

UH, like the other seven teams in the tourney, must win three times in three days to earn the Big West’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Rainbow Warriors haven’t been to the Big Dance since 2002, when they won the WAC tournament in Tulsa, Okla.

Then there’s the fact that Big West top seeds have won just one of past five tournaments — Long Beach State in 2012. In the last three editions, the top seed failed to make the title game. Last season, that was thanks to UH’s 65-58 defeat of No. 1 UC Davis in the semifinals.

The only benefit accorded the top seed — besides the guarantee of an NIT berth should it trip up in the league tournament — after today is a re-seeding in the semifinals with the lowest seed to advance.

Forward Stefan Jankovic, the newly minted Big West Player of the Year, was unperturbed by any lead-in pressure. He’s among the UH veterans who bitterly recall last year’s 67-58 loss to UC Irvine in the tournament title game.

“Honestly, just be solid,” Jankovic said. “Make as few mistakes as possible and we should come out with the easy win. Obviously around this time, anything’s possible. March Madness. I want to be that Cinderella story, so obviously we gotta take it one game at a time. Three days, three games and you make history. So we’re excited.”

UH plays in the second game of the day at the 18,000-seat “Pond,” where it is 2-3 after last year’s spirited run under interim coach Benjy Taylor.

These ’Bows aren’t playing their best ball of late, 2-2 in the last two weeks, but still have not dropped back-to-back games all season; they are 4-0 coming off a loss. That streak gets put to the test, as they fell 74-72 at Long Beach State last Saturday to close out the regular season.

The Titans still rely heavily on their guard play which occasionally gave UH trouble. The trio of Tre’ Coggins, Khalil Ahmad and Malcolm Brooks averages 43 points per game. The 6-foot-4 Ahmad, young but solidly built, won Big West Freshman of the Year on Monday.

Fullerton gave UH quite a game at Titan Gym; the ’Bows needed some heady plays from Jankovic late to send it into overtime for an 86-79 victory. Then, despite not shooting well, the Rainbows were in control most of the way in the return game in Honolulu for a 76-59 win.

CSF coach Dedrique Taylor said his team will need to do three things well to have a chance: minimize turnovers against UH’s ball-hawking backcourt of Roderick Bobbitt and Quincy Smith; be aware of the Rainbows myriad scorers like Jankovic, Aaron Valdes and Tummala; and cut down UH’s offensive boards (28 in two games).

“I think just playing in the (BWC) tournament for this ballclub is something unique and something special for them, in terms of just being able to prolong our season for one more game,” CSF’s Taylor said. “That’s the way we’re looking at it, in hopes that we can be better against Hawaii than we were the last time.”

The key stat from UH’s end? Rebounding. It is 20-0 this year when it out-boards its foes, and 3-5 when it doesn’t (1-0 when even). It won that battle plus-five and plus-six in the home-and-home sweep of the Titans.

The Rainbows allowed 12 offensive boards on Saturday, a glaring lapse for the second time this season to The Beach, a possible opponent in the championship game as the third seed.

Second-seeded UC Irvine is strong on the boards as well, and fourth-seeded UC Santa Barbara is the hottest team coming into the tournament with eight straight wins.

“We’ve tried to address it in film … we tried in practices the last couple days, especially after Long Beach try to get refreshed and recovered,” Ganot said. “But defending and rebounding is every day, whether it’s going well or not. We always watch that first and foremost. It’s the foundation of everything we do; it’s the foundation of every good team.”

Bobbitt, UH’s other BWC first-teamer, needs one more steal to tie Tom Henderson for the program career record of 160.