The Hawaii basketball team’s membership in an exclusive club expires today.
When the Rainbow Warriors open Big West Conference play at Titan Gym to play Cal State Fullerton, they drop out of the ranks of Division I teams yet to play on an opponent’s floor in 2016-17. Entering today, there were exactly four: UH, California, Missouri and Mississippi State.
UH BASKETBALL TIPOFF
Hawaii (6-7, 0-0 Big West) at Cal State Fullerton (6-7, 0-0), 5 p.m.
At Titan Gym, Fullerton, Calif.
TV/streaming: ESPN3
Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
Series: UH leads 11-2
Projected starting lineups
Hawaii
Pos. No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl.
PG 23 Brocke Stepteau 5-9 160 So.
SG 23 Sheriff Drammeh 6-3 160 So.
SG 0 Leland Green 6-2 175 Fr.
PF 12 Jack Purchase 6-8 200 So.
PF 21 Gibson Johnson 6-8 220 Jr.
When Hawaii has the ball
Getting Noah Allen going again remains a paramount issue. Allen, who scored a game-high 22 points against North Carolina, scored 11 points in the last three games combined. Green has been a more willing shooter of late, firing up eight or more field goal attempts in each of the last three, over which he is 7-for-25.
Cal State Fullerton
Pos. No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl.
G 2 Lionheart Leslie 5-10 179 Sr.
G 1 Tre’ Coggins 6-3 193 Sr.
G 14 Khalil Ahmad 6-4 185 So.
F 34 Jackson Rowe 6-7 210 Fr.
C 50 Darcy Malone 7-0 244 Sr.
When CSF has the ball
It’s all about the potent three-pronged guard attack now that Ahmad, last year’s Big West freshman of the year, is back from academic ineligibility. In his absence, BWC leading scorer Coggins (20.4 ppg) has hoisted 10.2 3-pointers a game, making 3.7. But CSF also has better size and rebounding than past years.
“We don’t have a lot of experience playing on the road, so it’s going to be tough,” UH guard Sheriff Drammeh said this week. “But I think we’re ready. We’re going to go out there and give it all we got. Try to come out and be the aggressors, not be on our heels.”
The closest the ’Bows have come to playing in a road environment was in the Pearl Harbor Invitational in early December. But it was close only in proximity, not hostility. At Bloch Arena, they went 0-2 in neutral site games to Seton Hall and Princeton in front of mostly impartial military personnel.
Forward Jack Purchase hasn’t been on a team road trip since his freshman year at Auburn in 2014-15.
“I’m looking forward to it,” the Australian said. “I’m looking forward to getting on the road, playing some away games against some good teams (at) the start of conference play.”
UH (6-7) caps the two-game trip at UC Irvine (8-9, 1-0) on Saturday. UH and UCI shared the BWC regular-season title last year.
Going by history, the Titans (6-7) are an ideal first foe for the young ’Bows. CSF has been a doormat of the league in the years since Hawaii joined it in 2012. UH has won all nine head-to-head meetings since, including a 31-point blowout of CSF in the first round of the Big West tournament last March.
UH assistant John Montgomery scouted the Titans. He thinks they have the best guard trio in the league in Tre’ Coggins (20.4 points per game), Khalil Ahmad (16.5) and Lionheart Leslie (11.8).
“The difference this year is they have better big guys,” Montgomery said. “Their 4-man, Jackson Rowe, is a freshman, averaging 10. He’s athletic, a good offensive rebounder. And their center (7-foot LSU transfer Darcy Malone) is better than (their options) last year. They have a lot of depth. It starts with those three (guards) though, first.”
Coggins, a 3-point-happy senior, leads the BWC field in scoring average by a margin of 4.6.
Rebounding, typically a Fullerton weakness, has been an area of strength this year, at plus-4.5. UH is narrowly in the negative there.
“I think we’ve finally got a couple of guys who’ve bought into it,” said fourth-year coach Dedrique Taylor, referring to Rowe (6.4 rpg) and backup forward Davon Clare (4.7).
“Most importantly, we have depth,” Taylor said. “I think being able to throw different guys in there, with the understanding of the way you’re going to play is to rebound the ball. I think we’ve being able to attract their attention at a different level than what we’d been able to prior to this year.”
Hawaii won its last two nonconference games in late December to feel a tinge of accomplishment heading into the new year. The Titans have won three of four.
UH was a program-best 7-1 in conference road games last year. It came within a few unfriendly whistles at Long Beach State of sweeping the slate.
