Warrior Insider

It’s been more than a month since the University of Hawai’i basketball team had a winning streak. The Rainbow Warriors will have a chance to close the regular season with another one when they take on CSUN in a Big West Conference game with playoff positioning on the line.

Hawai’i is 17-12 overall and tied for fourth place in the conference at 8-7. The Matadors are 14-17 overall and tied for second place at 9-6.

It is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Hawai’i Time) at The Matadome in Northridge, Calif. It will be available via live video streaming on www.espn3.com.

The winner of the game will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed for next week’s Big West Conference Championship Tournament. The loser of the game will be either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed. UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis are the other teams in contention for the Nos. 2-5 seeds.

The Warriors gained some much needed momentum with a 67-65 road win at UC Davis on Thursday. Junior forward Samuta Avea scored a career-high 18 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 3.8 seconds remaining to cap a rally from 13 points down with less than five minutes remaining.

Prior to that win, the Warriors were 2-6 in their previous eight games. Just before that down turn started, Hawai’i defeated CSUN, 80-75, in Honolulu on February 1.

Avea sat out that game with a back injury and thus could be a wildcard factor for this game. However, his replacement in the first CSUN game – freshman Justin Webster – scored 17 points against the Matadors.

Senior guard Eddie Stansberry had 22 points in the first meeting with CSUN, and he leads the Warriors in scoring at 15.3 points per game. He has also 83 3-pointers this season, which ranks second in the Big West and is the fifth-best single season mark in UH history.

Avea is averaging 10.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Junior point guard Drew Buggs is averaging 9.6 points per game and leads the Big West with 5.4 assists per game.

Senior forward Zigmars Raimo is contributing 9.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. He had 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting in the first game against CSUN.

The big chore for the Warriors will be on the defensive end. The Matadors lead the Big West in scoring at 76.9 points per game, and feature the league’s most productive 1-2 scoring combination in forward Lamine Diane and guard Terrell Gomez.

Diane, a 6-7 sophomore, is averaging 25.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game; Gomez, a 5-8 junior, is averaging 19.7 points per game and leads the conference with 106 3-pointers.

Elijah Harkless, a 6-4 sophomore, is averaging 10.7 points and 5.7 and rebounds per game, and is coming off a 30-point performance in CSUN’s 72-70 road upset of first-place UC Irvine on Wednesday.

Darius Brown II, a 6-1 sophomore, is contributing 10.2 points, 3.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game.

In the first game between the Warriors and Matadors, CSUN had a 65-48 lead with less than 11 minutes remaining, but Hawai’i rallied to victory.

Hawai’i has a 3-6 record in road games this season, but it has had recent success in Northridge. The Warriors have won five consecutive games in The Matadome, a streak dating to 2015.

HAWAI’I (17-12, 8-7 Big West) at CSUN (14-17, 9-6 Big West)
When: Saturday, March 7, 2020
Time: 7:00 p.m. PST/5:00 p.m. HT
Where: The Matadome (2,500) – Northridge, Calif.
Television: ESPN3.
Streaming Video: WatchESPN.com/ESPN App
Radio: ESPN Honolulu (1420 AM/92.7 FM), KRKH (Maui), KPUA (Hawai’i Island), and KTOH (Kaua’i).
Audio Webcast: ESPNHonolulu.com/Sideline Hawai’i App.
Live Stats: GoMatadors.com
Coaches: Head coach Eran Ganot is in his fifth season at UH (86-55). Mark Gottfried is in his second season at CSUN (27-38) and 21st season overall (428-279).
Series Information: UH leads, 15-6.

Saturday’s Games
Hawai’i at CSUN
UC Davis at UC Riverside
Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara
Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton