Earning top billing is one thing. Holding it is another challenge entirely.

Tonight, the Rainbow Warriors take the Stan Sheriff Center court as a first-place team for the first time this season. UH (13-5, 4-1 Big West) can match its best BWC record through six games, set by the NCAA Tournament squad of two years ago, if it notches its fifth straight victory by topping Cal State Fullerton.

Fullerton can attest to the capricious nature of this year’s wide-open Big West. The Titans won their first four league games — earning their best BWC start since 1983-84 — but have since dropped to fifth place.

“They were in first place and looked like a really solid team for the first four games, and they’ve taken three straight L’s,” UH co-captain Mike Thomas said. “Hopefully we can give them the fourth (today). But it’s definitely humbling. It shows you where you can be and where you can fall to. We gotta play hard.”

Play tips off at 8 p.m., following Rainbow Wahine basketball against UC Riverside at 5:30 as part of a “green out” doubleheader.

UH has enjoyed full weeks between games over its four-game homestand, topping UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis the past two Saturdays. It’s unquestionably helped the ’Bows build their season-best winning streak, over which they’ve held foes to 59.8 points and 37.6 percent shooting, and trailed for just under five of a possible 160 game minutes.

They got it done without fourth-leading scorer Brocke Stepteau (finger fracture) in the 77-72 win over Davis, but Stepteau resumed practicing this week.

“It’s felt good to get back. I was unable to do anything, just itching to get back on the court,” said the guard, a top-five Big West shooter at 55.7 percent. “It’s feeling better every day. I’m ready to give it a go (today).”

Fullerton, an up-and-coming team in the conference, has not won in five Big West meetings at the Stan Sheriff Center. UH has owned the series as league mates, winning 10 of 11.

Part of the Titans’ recent tumble can be explained by a difficult portion of their schedule. Another aspect might be their relative youth with a single senior rostered. There’s no doubt that the youth possesses talent, though; the Titans have the past two Big West freshmen of the year in guard Khalil Ahmad and forward Jackson Rowe.

“They got some dynamic scoring and play team basketball,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “Why they’ve made the jump is because they’re balanced. This is an inside-out team. This is a team that attacks you from the perimeter with their shooting and their drive.”

Fullerton led UCSB for 35 minutes in Thursday’s game at Titan Gym, but gave up some offensive rebounds and a 10-2 run to end the 70-65 home loss.

CSUF coach Dedrique Taylor said the quick turnaround and “five-hour flight out to paradise … doesn’t make it much easier.”

“We gotta play almost a perfect game. I think Hawaii’s playing really, really well,” Taylor said. “That’s another entity we’ve gotta deal with … they’re rested, I would imagine, and ready to rock and roll with their environment.”

The Titans’ chief concerns are limiting their turnovers (15.1 per game) and opponents’ transition opportunities. UH forced a season-high 23 giveaways on 13 steals against Davis.

Guard Kyle Allman (17.7 ppg), a 6-foot-3 junior, is the conference’s third-leading scorer and has seven 20-point games this season. His backcourt mate Ahmad (15.5) is approaching the 1,000-point career mark, but was held to three points on 1-for-9 shooting against the Gauchos. The versatile, 6-7 Rowe (12.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg) has converted 60.3 percent of his shots, including 51.5 percent of his 3s.

Rowe’s efficiency dipped a bit in the UCSB loss, allowing UH’s Thomas (60.9 percent) to take the lead among Big West players. Thomas has made 28 of his 34 shot attempts (82.4 percent) in BWC play. His frontcourt mate, Gibson Johnson, has also been efficient in league, at 61.3 percent.