Rainbows face nemesis in UC Riverside

Underestimate UC Riverside at your own peril. And lately, the peril has been high when the Highlanders descend on the Stan Sheriff Center.

Riverside — the Big West underdog perpetually fighting for table scraps — got a taste of prime rib here the last two years, surmounting low expectations to stun host Hawaii twice.

“We haven’t beat them in the last two years (here), have we?” said forward Jack Purchase, who played in last year’s upset loss and had a front-row seat the year before as a redshirt. “They’ve got our number here at the Stan, so that’s our thing, we want to protect home court as much as we can. We gotta lock in, stay focused.”

Somebody’s losing streak ends tonight. UH and UCR have lost a combined 13 games in a row — three for the Rainbow Warriors, 10 for the Highlanders.

A fourth straight loss would match the longest for UH (13-8, 4-4 Big West) in the past six years. UCR (5-17, 0-8) must manage more futility to reach its longest Division I skid of 15 games in 2006-07.

There’s struggling, as UH has of late dropping some winnable games, and then there’s struggling, as Riverside has for most of its brief D-I existence.

Despite posting wins over California, Air Force and Valparaiso this season, UCR fired five-year coach Dennis Cutts on essentially on the eve of Big West play and gave assistant Justin Bell a battlefield promotion. The Highlanders haven’t won under their interim coach.

Bell did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

UH is coming off a disappointing loss Saturday at Cal Poly, 78-64, in which it surrendered a season-worst 50-point second half after leading by seven at halftime. Last time the ’Bows were at home, they allowed 40 to Cal State Fullerton’s Kyle Allman in a three-point loss.

“A lot of our (league) games could’ve gone the other way. Every single one of them,” UH coach Eran Ganot said Monday. “You got a Riverside team coming in who’s hungry.”

UH-UCR has been perhaps the most curious of the Rainbows’ Big West series; the visiting team has won the past four games.

The Highlanders stunned the soon-to-be NCAA Tournament-edition ’Bows here in 2016, 77-71, and repeated the feat as an undermanned underdog in 2017, 70-64.

UH is aware the conditions point to a trap game again.

Guard Dikymbe Martin led the charge last time as a true freshman, scoring 17. But Martin (13.1 ppg, 45.7 3-FG. pct.), UCR’s best 1-on-1 threat, has missed the past five games with a suspension for an unspecified violation of team rules after starting the previous 17. Barring a late change, it doesn’t appear he’ll make his return today, a school spokesperson said he remains out.

Center Alex Larsson (10.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg), who was also instrumental in the road stunner last year, is day to day with ankle trouble. With or without the Swede, UCR still has size.

“They return a lot of guys who’ve been in a lot of Big West games. It’s not like they’re an inexperienced team,” UH associate head coach Adam Jacobsen said. “They’re trying to find their identity; they have played different lineups. … That’s a little bit more of an unknown.”

UCR came much closer to winning at Cal Poly than UH last week, falling 71-68 after leading in the final minute. The Highlanders shot 9-for-23 from beyond the arc and backup center Idy Diallo (6-11, 245) had 17 points and eight rebounds.

And they still have two guards capable of volume shooting in DJ Sylvester (10.8 ppg) and Chance Murray (9.3).

“Every team in this conference is capable,” said guard Brocke Stepteau, who returned from a finger injury on last week’s road trip. “They’ve come in here to this gym and beat us the last two years … so we’re not going to take anybody for granted, especially the fact we’re not doing so good right now ourselves.”

Purchase has hit three or more 3s in four straight games, bringing his two-year total to 110. He pushed Tes Whitlock (109) out of the UH career top 10. Trevor Ruffin is at No. 9 with 122.