Warriors remain in contention after wild week in the Big West
After a wild week in the Big West Conference, the University of Hawai’i basketball team is one of seven teams still in legitimate contention for first place with four weeks remaining in the regular season.
The Rainbow Warriors earned a road split last week – loss at UC Davis followed by a win at Cal Poly – to bring its records to 17-7 overall and 8-4 in the conference. Hawai’i is in a three-way tie for third place with UC Riverside and Long Beach State.
The Warriors are just 1.5 games behind first-place UC Santa Barbara (9-2 BWC record), but also just 1.5 games ahead of seventh-place Cal State Fullerton (7-6). Yes, the top seven teams in the current standings all have conference records above .500, and the seventh place team is just three games behind first place.
The race got tight last week after six of the top seven contenders suffered at least one loss. Most notable was UC Santa Barbara’s upset loss at lowly CSUN on Saturday. UCSB entered the game with a 9-1 conference record, while CSUN was 1-10.
UC Irvine (8-3) remained in second place despite a road loss at Long Beach State. UC Riverside started the week with an 8-2 record but lost twice to drop into a tie for third with Hawai’i and the Beach.
The Warriors are at home for two games this week – UC San Diego on Thursday, then Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.
Hawai’i has eight regular-season games remaining, including five against the teams that are in the top seven of the standings.
Thursday’s Games
UC Davis at UC Riverside
CSUN at CSU Bakersfield
Cal Poly at UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara at Long Beach State
UC San Diego at Hawai’i
Saturday’s Games
Cal Poly at CSUN
Long Beach State at CSU Bakersfield
UC Davis at UC Santa Barbara
UC Riverside at UC Irvine
Cal State Fullerton at Hawai’i
