Rainbow Warriors look to turn things around

Following Thursday’s losses, the Hawaii and Cal Poly basketball teams made the drives to San Luis Obispo, Calif., in advance of today’s Big West meeting in Mott Gym.

The Rainbow Warriors traveled 107 miles from the hotel near the UC Santa Barbara campus, where they suffered a 79-61 defeat to the Gauchos. The Mustangs made the five-hour bus ride from UC Irvine, site of their palindromic 74-47 setback to the first-place Anteaters.

It has not been an easy road for either team.

The ’Bows struggled in several key areas in being swept in the regular-season series against the Gauchos. The ’Bows’ woes in the previous meeting — post defense, lane protection and scoring lapses — were again exposed in Thursday’s rematch.

“The way they came out of the gates,” UH coach Eran Ganot said of the Gauchos’ 17-4 start, “they imposed their will early. They continued to stifle us defensively, at least in the first half, before we made the adjustments we planned on making earlier.”

The ’Bows had closed to 41-36 with 14:06 to play, and they were down by seven points with 7:04 to go. But the Gauchos scored seven unanswered points to end the suspense.

“The way the game started and the way they finished wasn’t really good for us,” Ganot said. “In the toughness areas, they out-rebounded us (35-27), they defended us at key times (two of 11 on first-half 3s), and they attacked the rim (48 paint points).”

After entering with single-digit turnovers in four consecutive games, the ’Bows committed nine in the first half and 15 overall against UCSB. “We had too many pick-sixes,” Ganot said, a reference to the Gauchos’ 29 points off UH turnovers.

The ’Bows and Gauchos are 7-5 and tied for third place in the Big West, two games behind second-place Cal State Fullerton with four regular-season games remaining.

“We have bounced back before,” Ganot said. “I’m looking forward to getting back to work. (Thursday) night was tough. It doesn’t feel good. But you don’t sit there and pout about it. There’s a lot at stake for teams right now. If we’re going to (pout), we don’t deserve to be successful. It’s go time. We need to respond or we’ll suffer the same feelings we felt (on Thursday).”

Cal Poly, which has won once in 11 Big West games, needs a strong push to qualify for the Big West tournament. The Mustangs are in last place, two games behind UC Riverside. Only the top eight teams qualify for the league’s postseason.

“We have been completely inconsistent in our ability to score,” coach Joe Callero said. “(Point guard) Donovan Fields is our leading scorer (15.6 points per game), and if he doesn’t have a great night, we struggle.”

Against Irvine, the Mustangs missed their first seven shots.

In the previous meeting with UH, the Mustangs used face-guarding tactics to limit forward Jack Purchase to one field goal in 33 minutes. Purchase, who is Hawaii’s career leader in 3-point shots, instead became a decoy. “I thought our defense on Purchase was excellent, but we didn’t play the pick and roll very well at all,” Callero said. “We allowed a bunch of penetration and then dumpoffs. We were soft on it, and that’s something we’re going to be addressing.”

The Mustangs also have been on a season-long quest to find scoring in the post. Hank Hollingsworth has been inconsistent at that position. Karlis Garoza has not started the past two games because of a meniscus and ankle issues. He is scheduled for postseason surgery. Tuukka Jaakkola, a 6-foot-10 freshman from Finland, still is adjusting to Division I basketball.