‘Bows begin WAC Tournament today vs. San Jose State

After losing his first five conference games as head coach, Gib Arnold has good reason to think his ‘Bows can make plenty of noise in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, which opens today in Las Vegas.

Coming in as one of the hottest teams in the WAC, Hawai‘i (18-11, 8-8 WAC) put together a 9-3 run to close out the regular season, including a road win over the conference’s No. 2 seed, Boise State, and a home win over No. 3 seed New Mexico State.

As the No. 5 seed in the bracket, the ‘Bows start things up today with the tournament’s opening game, a matchup with No. 8 San Jose State (15-14, 5-11) at 12 p.m. PT (10 a.m. HT, radio: ESPN 1420 AM).

Hawai‘i won both meetings with SJSU during the season, a 67-61 home win on Jan. 22 and a 77-71 road win just six days ago.

Having been picked to finish last in the WAC by both the media and coaches before the season, the ‘Bows head into Vegas without reason to fear any team in their path. Even top-seeded Utah State, which went 15-1 in the conference, needed two overtimes to escape the Stan Sheriff Center with an 89-84 win on Jan. 29.

The inside-outside play has been the catalyst for its second-half success with Second Team All-WAC selectee Bill Amis (15.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg) and center Vander Joaquim (9.4 ppg, 8.2 rpg) patrolling the paint, while WAC Player of the Week Zane Johnson (15.8 ppg, 94 3-pointers) and Jeremiah Ostrowski (6.8 assists per in last five games) keep teams occupied on the perimeter.

Defensively today, the ‘Bows will have their sights set on guard Adrian Oliver, a First Team All-WAC performer who leads the WAC in scoring at 24.3 ppg, ranking third in the nation. Oliver scored just 10 points in the teams’ first meeting, and had 18 on 4-of-15 shooting in their most recent tilt.

The first of two games today, UH-SJSU will be followed by No. 6 Nevada (13-17, 8-8) vs. No. 7 Fresno State (14-16, 6-10) at 2:30 p.m. PT.