It was a mismatch made in heaven for UC Davis.

Coming off a staggering home-and-home sweep at the hands of the Aggies last season, Hawaii will find out today if it’s better equipped to handle high-scoring guards Corey Hawkins and Ryan Sypkens, the catalysts of Davis’ victories over UH in the Rainbow Warriors’ first Big West go-around in 2013.

Davis shot a combined 27-for-45 (60 percent) on 3-pointers in the program’s first two wins over UH. The ‘Bows were then an inside-out team, largely revolving around center Vander Joaquim, and had considerable difficulty staying with the Aggies on the perimeter.

"Last year they gave us a lot of trouble off the bounce," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "We’ve addressed that issue with recruiting, and I think we have a much better chance of, you know, doing a better job defensively with teams like this."

UH rides into Davis’ 6,000-seat Pavilion in Northern California for today’s matchup having lost its past five conference road games dating back to last season. But the ‘Bows dispatched UC Riverside 100-69 last Saturday to gain considerable confidence to go with their first league win of the season.

It’s been a struggle all season for injury-wracked UC Davis, which lost 10 of 12 before breaking through in the second half at home over Cal State Fullerton, 69-61 on Saturday.

Davis coach Jim Les said on Wednesday that forward Josh Ritchart, who was off to a stellar senior year, averaging 17.3 points, will miss the remainder of the season with a lower leg injury. He’d sat out the past 10 games.

"We’ve had to throw some young guys, or maybe even some inexperienced guys, to the wolves a little bit," Les said. "What we’re preaching to them is continuing to get better every day, continuing to progress in our system. Saturday was a really good example, beating Fullerton at home. We played well and did some really good things on both ends of the floor. We want to build off of that outing … knowing we’ve got a tough challenge with Hawaii coming in."

Davis went an unremarkable 14-17 overall last season and 9-9 in the Big West, but its mastery over UH was complete both at The Pavilion (a 24-point rout) and at the Stan Sheriff Center (by 11), and it became the first Big West team to sweep the ‘Bows.

Hawkins, then a sophomore, introduced himself to UH hoops fans by going for a Davis program-record 40 points at the Sheriff. It was one point off the building’s scoring record held by Cal State Fullerton’s Josh Akognon.

Hawkins’ numbers are down a bit as a junior, however, from more than 20 points per game to 18.0 currently. He’s still more dangerous off the dribble than from outside, despite making eight 3s in Honolulu.

The other scoring guard, Sypkens (11.9 ppg), or "Snipe-kens" as he’s known to Aggies fans, can launch from anywhere and connect. He finished last season second in the country in 3-point percentage at .461, and stands at .423 this year while making more than three long balls per game. Last time the Rainbows and the Aggies hooked up in Davis, Sypkens set UC Davis 3-point records in career and single-season totals in an 89-65 blowout.

He’s already made 63 3s this season — by contrast, UH’s top marksman Garrett Nevels has 35. Sypkens made a program single-game record 10 (in 14 attempts) earlier this season against Simpson College, completing the hat trick of 3-point records.

"(It’s) more of the same with Davis," Arnold said. "They’re outside-oriented, got the best scorer in the conference in Corey Hawkins. And Sypkens, who’s been hurt, is back. He’s maybe the deepest shooter in the conference. So, gotta guard from 3-point range, gotta guard them off the dribble."

UH feels it is better equipped with guards Nevels, Keith Shamburger and Quincy Smith, who did not play last season. But the team will be without senior center Davis Rozitis, who did not make the first leg of the trip while he works to make himself academically eligible coming off a missed game against Riverside. That means the team will be without its "point zone" formation again built around Rozitis’ 7-foot length at the top of the key.

"Well, Davis brings a big presence on defense, so I think we’ll have to match his intensity (there)," sophomore forward Isaac Fotu said. "Try to go as hard as we can."

The ‘Bows continue their Big West-opening stretch of four of five games on the road at first-place UC Irvine (12-7, 3-0) on Saturday.