Gameday: UC Davis (Superhero Night)
It has the making of a super kind of night between Hawaii and UC Davis tonight at the Stan Sheriff Center.
“Superhero Night” has the potential to be the most flamboyant themed game of the season. Jamie Smith is really going all out for this one.
Word is UH is coming out for warmups in Batman garb, while UC Davis is playing along and will come out in Superman regalia.
UH (15-2, 4-0 Big West) needs a win tonight to keep pace with UC Davis (5-0) atop the league standings. With Long Beach State’s loss at UC Riverside today, dropping the 49ers to 3-3, the Rainbow Warriors can create some true separation in the standings. Davis, at 2-2 (7-10 overall) is the closest to the Anteaters or Rainbows.
The Rainbows’ seven-game winning streak is its longest since the 2004-05 team started the year 8-0. UH is a 16.5-point favorite tonight.
Aaron Valdes (turf toe) will miss his third straight game, as he has not gone full speed or with contact this week.
For Davis, 6-10 forward Nolan Berry (9.2 ppg) and 6-4 guard Lawrence White (6.0) missed the Aggies’ last game and are game-time decisions to play UH, the team said.
It was a tough travel turnaround for Davis coming off a three-point home win over Riverside on Thursday. Keep an eye on the Aggies’ energy level tonight.
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Before the national anthem tonight, there will be a moment of silence for the late TJ Fernandez, the terminally ill Pearl City High student whom the basketball team befriended last season. TJ died this week.
Awesome crowd tonight Brian.
For once, the influx of people didn’t throw Hawaii off their game, although they did squander a double-digit lead in the first half.
If Quincy Smith’s basketball IQ matched his athleticism, he would be the best player on the team.
Smith looked great tonight. Not once did he look scared or unsure of himself out there. He hit a three. He even hit both ends of his free throws. And three out of his last four. I think he’ll get his free throw percentage up to 55% by season’s end.
I hope the team goes out there with the attitude that they can win it all. I really believe they can do it.
The hiring of Benjy Taylor is already paying dividends for SE Missouri State. In overtime, they upended UT-Martin.
4-16.
1-0 with Taylor on the bench.
So who voted for Hawaii?
I missed a name or two.
Seven of our nine points comes from Fletcher Matel(WPSU-TV New Orleans) who has the Rainbow Warriors at #20 and Zac Boyer(The Washington Times) who puts the 16-2 squad at #23.