The initial rematch between the 2016 Big West regular-season co-champions was more of a mismatch.
UC Irvine blasted Hawaii by 28 at the Bren Events Center on Jan. 7, part of a 6-0 start in the Big West that gave the Anteaters a stranglehold on first place.
UH BASKETBALL TIPOFF
at Stan Sheriff Center
UC Irvine (14-12, 7-3 Big West) at Hawaii (12-11, 6-4), 7:30 p.m.
TV: OC Sports
Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
Series: UCI leads 10-7
Projected starting lineups
UC Irvine
G 0 Jaron Martin 5-10 170 Sr.
G 10 Luke Nelson 6-3 190 Sr.
F 13 Brandon Smith 6-5 190 So.
F 5 Jonathan Galloway 6-10 235 So.
C 12 Ioannis Dimakopoulos 7-2 255 Sr.
When UC Irvine has the ball
UCI has gone deep this season; 12 players average close to double-digit minutes. Nelson is back in the fold after a flare-up of a hamstring injury kept him out of three games in late January. He’s averaged only 20.6 minutes in eight games all season. Dimakopoulos’ sizzling 3-point shooting has cooled off in the nine games since the first meeting with UH; he is 3-for-15 including that Jan. 7 contest.
Hawaii
Pos. No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl.
PG 2 Brocke Stepteau 5-9 160 So.
SG 23 Sheriff Drammeh 6-3 160 So.
SF 32 Noah Allen 6-7 215 Sr.
PF 12 Jack Purchase 6-8 200 So.
PF 21 Gibson Johnson 6-8 220 Jr.
When Hawaii has the ball
The Rainbow Warriors are coming off their first game of the season shooting in the 50s; it was second only to their 60.7 percent against Long Beach State. They did it by working the ball inside and outscoring Cal Poly 46-10 in the paint, easily UH’s best margin in that statistic in 2016-17. Stepteau is a Big West-best 92.3 percent at the foul line in conference games (36-for-39), but is 2-for-18 on 3s in those games.
That grip has loosened considerably in the weeks since. In fact, UC Davis (7-2) took over first while Irvine (7-3) lost three straight, and teams like Hawaii (6-4), Cal State Northridge (6-4) and Long Beach State (6-4) probe for an opening.
There’s a huge opportunity tonight for UH (12-11 overall), which can draw even with UCI (14-12) if the surprising Rainbow Warriors extend their winning streak to five games in a “Blackout” doubleheader following Rainbow Wahine basketball at the Stan Sheriff Center.
“It’s going to be a really big game for us,” said Warriors small forward Noah Allen, the embodiment of UH’s surge with a BWC-best 18.7 scoring average in conference games. “They’re a really, really good team. We have to come ready to play for sure.”
Allen was a total nonfactor at UCI last month. His scoreless eight-minute outing capped a midseason slump and served as a tipping point for his downpour of buckets — 60 field goals made in eight games since. He scored 21 points in a 74-65 win over Cal Poly on Thursday.
“It’s a big game for both teams. I don’t think the first game has any bearing, really, on this one,” Anteaters coach Russell Turner said. “I think Hawaii’s playing a lot better. The first time, Noah Allen was going through a down period for some reason and didn’t play very much. He’s been at times a dominant player in conference play this year. I think they’re a very different team with him.
“It’s going to take a team effort on our part to contain him but one of the things our team does well is make it hard for another team’s best player.”
UH got off to a hot start at the Bren — the Warriors led 9-2 — then withered against the Big West’s best team in scoring defense (65.9) and field-goal percentage defense (.385).
Backup guard Matt Owies led UH in scoring in the 84-56 loss with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting. No player who attempted at least five shots shot better than 40 percent.
“The hope … is that you’re different at this time of the year than you were then, and grow and develop and improve,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “I feel like we’ve done that.”
The Anteaters lost all-conference guard Luke Nelson (13.3 ppg) to a hamstring issue in late January but he’s back in action, restoring Irvine’s dangerous backcourt to full force with short sharpshooter Jaron Martin (13.4 ppg).
UH might miss shooting guard Leland Green for a third straight game. He was a partial practice participant Friday.
“He’s still recovering from the effects of a stomach virus,” Ganot said after Thursday’s win over Cal Poly. “I think because he hasn’t recovered right away we’re getting some more answers there. In the meantime, he’s feeling better and we’re encouraged by that.”
UH may have to go to a zone to contain UCI’s massive front line of 7-2 center Ioannis Dimakopoulos (11.5 ppg) and 6-10 Jonathan Galloway, the latter their leading rebounder (7.3 rpg) who is coming off his first career double-double in a 64-47 win over UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday.
“He’s either six or seven inches taller than me, which makes it tough,” UH 6-8 post man Gibson Johnson said of matching up with Dimakopoulos. “It also just means I need to get a little more crafty.”
UCI is outrebounding opponents by 9.3 in conference.
UH’s post play has improved as the season’s progressed. The parents of freshman center Ido Flaisher, Ofer and Irit, flew in from Israel this week and saw their son’s 10-point, six-rebound effort off the bench Thursday.
Turner recalled with clarity Hawaii’s 22-point win over his Anteaters last year at the Sheriff, in which Stefan Jankovic poured in 25 points.
“It should be a high intensity game; I expect a good crowd like they always have at Hawaii,” Turner said. “I think we’ll have to play well to win. Last time we got blasted when we played in the Sheriff Center against a team that was clearly better on that night.”
