The Bows
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Bows will tinker with lineup vs. Miners
The Bracket Buster didn't work out the way it wanted, so the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team is busting out a new look.
Julian Sensley ? the team's leader in scoring, rebounding and assists ? is not expected to start for the first time in his career tonight when the Rainbow Warriors host Texas-El Paso in a Western Athletic Conference game.
"Julian showed me that he's not ready," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "So we have to treat him like everybody else on this team. He doesn't deserve to start, so he won't. Now he's going to have to fight his way out of it."
Sensley, a 6-foot-9 junior, shot 3 of 10 from the field and finished with eight points and five rebounds in Hawai'i's 87-81 loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee on ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday. He played with a sprained right knee, an injury he suffered last Wednesday.
Sensley still leads the team with 13.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. He has started all 55 games of his UH career.
Sensley was not in a talking mood after yesterday's practice, but acknowledged that his knee was in more pain yesterday than it was before Saturday's game.
"He wants to be the go-to guy, well this is his chance to prove it," Wallace said. "I want to see him come out and go get it."
Chris Botez, a 7-foot junior center, will start in Sensley's place. The other starters will be "Little Matt" Gibson and Jake Sottos at guard, and Bobby Nash and Jeff Blackett at forward.
"We were all hanging our heads after the loss (Saturday) night, but we get a chance right away to redeem ourselves with this one because UTEP is a good team," Sottos said.
Wallace said he has no specific substitution pattern, but Sensley, Vaidotas Peciukas, Deonte Tatum and "Big Matt" Gipson are all expected to contribute in reserve roles.
In any case, the 'Bows are hoping to wear down a road-weary UTEP team. Tonight will be the Miners' seventh road game in their past nine games.
They lost at Pacific on Saturday in a game that finished after 11 p.m. in Stockton, Calif. The Miners caught a flight out of San Francisco yesterday morning and arrived in Honolulu late in the afternoon.
"We can come up with all kinds of excuses if that's what we want to do, but the bottom line is this is the way it's going to be," UTEP head coach Doc Sadler said. "If the flight was the hardest thing over here, we're in good shape."
The Miners are in second place in the WAC at 10-4; the 'Bows are in seventh place at 6-7.
A month ago in El Paso, UTEP beat Hawai'i 71-70. The Miners shot 38 free throws to Hawai'i's 13, including the game-winners by Omar Thomas.
Wallace said UTEP point guard Filiberto Rivera is the key to the Miners' attack.
"He's so good at penetrating through the defense, he sets up all his teammates," Wallace said. "They get you out of position defensively and cause you to reach in and foul."
And the Miners make fouling teams pay. UTEP is ranked second in NCAA Division I with a 78.7 free-throw percentage.
UTEP has already attempted 602 free throws this season, making 474. In contrast, Hawai'i has made only 248 free throws in 374 attempts.
Thomas, UTEP's leading scorer at 19.5 points per game, has made 157 free throws in 191 attempts. No Hawai'i player has attempted more than 72.
"We just have to be more aggressive offensively," Wallace said.
It will also be a rematch of former junior college teammates. Sottos and Rivera were the starting guards for the Southeastern (Iowa) team that won a national championship in 2003.
"We talked about it just (Saturday) night," Sottos said. "He has bragging rights for now, so I have to try and get it back."
The Bracket Buster didn't work out the way it wanted, so the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team is busting out a new look.
Julian Sensley ? the team's leader in scoring, rebounding and assists ? is not expected to start for the first time in his career tonight when the Rainbow Warriors host Texas-El Paso in a Western Athletic Conference game.
"Julian showed me that he's not ready," Hawai'i head coach Riley Wallace said. "So we have to treat him like everybody else on this team. He doesn't deserve to start, so he won't. Now he's going to have to fight his way out of it."
Sensley, a 6-foot-9 junior, shot 3 of 10 from the field and finished with eight points and five rebounds in Hawai'i's 87-81 loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee on ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday. He played with a sprained right knee, an injury he suffered last Wednesday.
Sensley still leads the team with 13.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. He has started all 55 games of his UH career.
Sensley was not in a talking mood after yesterday's practice, but acknowledged that his knee was in more pain yesterday than it was before Saturday's game.
"He wants to be the go-to guy, well this is his chance to prove it," Wallace said. "I want to see him come out and go get it."
Chris Botez, a 7-foot junior center, will start in Sensley's place. The other starters will be "Little Matt" Gibson and Jake Sottos at guard, and Bobby Nash and Jeff Blackett at forward.
"We were all hanging our heads after the loss (Saturday) night, but we get a chance right away to redeem ourselves with this one because UTEP is a good team," Sottos said.
Wallace said he has no specific substitution pattern, but Sensley, Vaidotas Peciukas, Deonte Tatum and "Big Matt" Gipson are all expected to contribute in reserve roles.
In any case, the 'Bows are hoping to wear down a road-weary UTEP team. Tonight will be the Miners' seventh road game in their past nine games.
They lost at Pacific on Saturday in a game that finished after 11 p.m. in Stockton, Calif. The Miners caught a flight out of San Francisco yesterday morning and arrived in Honolulu late in the afternoon.
"We can come up with all kinds of excuses if that's what we want to do, but the bottom line is this is the way it's going to be," UTEP head coach Doc Sadler said. "If the flight was the hardest thing over here, we're in good shape."
The Miners are in second place in the WAC at 10-4; the 'Bows are in seventh place at 6-7.
A month ago in El Paso, UTEP beat Hawai'i 71-70. The Miners shot 38 free throws to Hawai'i's 13, including the game-winners by Omar Thomas.
Wallace said UTEP point guard Filiberto Rivera is the key to the Miners' attack.
"He's so good at penetrating through the defense, he sets up all his teammates," Wallace said. "They get you out of position defensively and cause you to reach in and foul."
And the Miners make fouling teams pay. UTEP is ranked second in NCAA Division I with a 78.7 free-throw percentage.
UTEP has already attempted 602 free throws this season, making 474. In contrast, Hawai'i has made only 248 free throws in 374 attempts.
Thomas, UTEP's leading scorer at 19.5 points per game, has made 157 free throws in 191 attempts. No Hawai'i player has attempted more than 72.
"We just have to be more aggressive offensively," Wallace said.
It will also be a rematch of former junior college teammates. Sottos and Rivera were the starting guards for the Southeastern (Iowa) team that won a national championship in 2003.
"We talked about it just (Saturday) night," Sottos said. "He has bragging rights for now, so I have to try and get it back."
Parting shot for UTEP
Asked if the University of Texas-El Paso men's basketball team would be practicing in the Stan Sheriff Center, Hawai'i coach Riley Wallace quipped: "Don't we have a graduation, or something, that could keep them out?"
He was joking ... we think.
Though given the history involved, including UTEP shutting the 'Bows out of its arena in January, you could hardly blame Wallace for wanting to fire what could be the last salvo in one of the Rainbow Warriors' better series rivalries.
Barring a meeting in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament next month, tonight's 7:05 game will be the 51st ? and last ? collision between the two schools as WAC members. UTEP, the current senior member of the WAC, bolts to Conference USA on July 1.
UH won't much miss the departures of Southern Methodist or Rice and, only slightly Tulsa, which are also heading to C-USA. But the exit of the Miners will be a major loss. In the 67 seasons UH has been playing college competition, only Utah, with 56 meetings and New Mexico (55), have been more frequent opponents for the 'Bows.
It only seems like the 63-year-old Wallace has been around for all of them. Certainly, he and UTEP legend Don "The Bear" Haskins had some memorable confrontations over the years. And, such has been Wallace's 22-year tour of duty in the conference that fans in El Paso ? a couple in particular ? know him on a first-name basis. That name, however, can't be printed in this family newspaper.
We've seen it all in this series, UTEP piling it up one year in a game the 'Bows felt helped keep them out of the NCAA Tournament. And, the Miners forced to forfeit a game they'd just won in the WAC Tournament.
So, when the 'Bows got to El Paso last month and the Miners would not make the Haskins Center available over a two-day period, it didn't take Wallace long to suspect something more afoot than last-minute scheduling problems.
"They didn't like that we came in early," said Wallace, who was forced to take his team to a high school and across state lines to New Mexico State to practice.
Last year UTEP refused to accommodate Hawai'i's request to change a game in El Paso that would have lessened post-Bracket Buster travel problems. Instead, UH had less than 48 hours from the end of its Bracket Buster game at Southern Illinois until it tipped off at UTEP.
And, the Miners have apparently been miffed in the past when they were unable to practice in the Sheriff Center, seeing conspiracy in the UH men's volleyball team playing there instead.
So, tonight could be the last UH-UTEP WAC game. Just don't bet on it being an uneventful one.
Asked if the University of Texas-El Paso men's basketball team would be practicing in the Stan Sheriff Center, Hawai'i coach Riley Wallace quipped: "Don't we have a graduation, or something, that could keep them out?"
He was joking ... we think.
Though given the history involved, including UTEP shutting the 'Bows out of its arena in January, you could hardly blame Wallace for wanting to fire what could be the last salvo in one of the Rainbow Warriors' better series rivalries.
Barring a meeting in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament next month, tonight's 7:05 game will be the 51st ? and last ? collision between the two schools as WAC members. UTEP, the current senior member of the WAC, bolts to Conference USA on July 1.
UH won't much miss the departures of Southern Methodist or Rice and, only slightly Tulsa, which are also heading to C-USA. But the exit of the Miners will be a major loss. In the 67 seasons UH has been playing college competition, only Utah, with 56 meetings and New Mexico (55), have been more frequent opponents for the 'Bows.
It only seems like the 63-year-old Wallace has been around for all of them. Certainly, he and UTEP legend Don "The Bear" Haskins had some memorable confrontations over the years. And, such has been Wallace's 22-year tour of duty in the conference that fans in El Paso ? a couple in particular ? know him on a first-name basis. That name, however, can't be printed in this family newspaper.
We've seen it all in this series, UTEP piling it up one year in a game the 'Bows felt helped keep them out of the NCAA Tournament. And, the Miners forced to forfeit a game they'd just won in the WAC Tournament.
So, when the 'Bows got to El Paso last month and the Miners would not make the Haskins Center available over a two-day period, it didn't take Wallace long to suspect something more afoot than last-minute scheduling problems.
"They didn't like that we came in early," said Wallace, who was forced to take his team to a high school and across state lines to New Mexico State to practice.
Last year UTEP refused to accommodate Hawai'i's request to change a game in El Paso that would have lessened post-Bracket Buster travel problems. Instead, UH had less than 48 hours from the end of its Bracket Buster game at Southern Illinois until it tipped off at UTEP.
And, the Miners have apparently been miffed in the past when they were unable to practice in the Sheriff Center, seeing conspiracy in the UH men's volleyball team playing there instead.
So, tonight could be the last UH-UTEP WAC game. Just don't bet on it being an uneventful one.
