The Hawaii basketball team helped itself to some payback on Thursday at UC Riverside. Today, Cal State Northridge will attempt to slide some off the Rainbow Warriors’ plate.

Third-place CSUN (10-12, 6-3 Big West) is rolling, having won three straight since a 32-point spanking at the hands of UC Irvine.

The Matadors just raced past Long Beach State 108-98 on Wednesday, the first of four straight games at the Matadome. Coach Reggie Theus has designs of a winning streak to propel his team to March success.

“It was an important game for momentum purposes, pride,” Theus told CSUN athletics this week. “A lot of different things to let people know that every game’s important. … We’ve done our work on the road. Now we have an opportunity to check off four victories at home.”

Hawaii (10-11, 4-4) has a chance to sweep its two-game road trip after escaping with a 72-63 win at Riverside’s SRC Arena on Thursday. The victory propelled the ’Bows into a four-way tie for fourth place at the midpoint of conference play.

UH settled in at the Northridge campus on Friday and practiced in a gym adjacent to the 1,600-seat Matadome.

“It’s certainly a quick turnaround, coming off a physical game, especially the second half,” UH coach Eran Ganot said in a phone interview Friday. “I thought our guys did a good job in terms of the mental approach, making sure we’re firing fresh.”

The ’Bows have had Northridge’s number since becoming conference foes — with the notable exception of the teams’ first-round meeting in the 2014 Big West tournament.

UH’s fifth straight win in the series came Jan. 18 at the Stan Sheriff Center, where Leland Green buried a corner 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left to cap a comeback from seven points down with 7:44 to play.

Noah Allen (13.6 ppg) went for a then-career-high 30 points and 12 rebounds in the 80-77 win. But he hasn’t had a big game on the road; in three BWC away games, he’s averaging 3.0 points on 3-for-16 shooting. He was held to seven points and committed five turnovers two days ago.

“I don’t think we need to read too much into it,” Ganot said. “The game dictates certain things; the shot attempts were pretty spread out. It’s encouraging we can do well with him and maybe one of our other guys not playing to their potential.”

CSUN remains the most potent offensive team in the Big West, with league highs in scoring (79.1), field-goal percentage (.466) and 3-point field-goal percentage (.371). They also lead in free-throw takes and makes.

Guard Kendall Smith (16.2 ppg, 4.8 apg) and forward Tavrion Dawson (14.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg) are the BWC’s top scoring tandem. In Honolulu, they combined for 38 points, while guards Aaron Parks and Darin Johnson added 28 more.

“It’s a very potent offensive team with a lot of firepower from different spots,” said Ganot, who noted CSUN had an extra day of prep time. “Can we contain them? Can we corral them from going off to that extent? Defend them without fouling, which we talked a lot about after that (Jan. 18) game. That’s some of the prime targets we’re focusing on. ”

That CSUN plays, well, matador defense is something Theus can live with if his players are straight-up outscoring the opposition.

“I don’t worry about the fact (LBSU) scored in the 90s because that’s the … pace, that’s the way it goes,” he said.

Free-throw shooting has been a common ingredient in UH winning four of six. In four of the past five games, it’s exceeded its Big West-best clip of 74.2 percent.

UH shot 15-for-17 on free throws in the second half Thursday (16-for-19 overall, 84.2 percent) to help secure the victory as Riverside shot 75 percent from the field in the second period, trimming a 20-point halftime deficit to three late. But Brocke Stepteau and Sheriff Drammeh were able to put it away at the stripe.

Last year at the Matadome, Quincy Smith’s putback dunk clinched a 69-63 UH victory over CSUN and little brother Kendall.