Thursday, March 6th, 8:00 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Thomas Assembly Center (8,000) -- Ruston, Louisiana. Television: Local. Home Record: Hawaii 9-9, LaTech 3-9. Away Record: Hawaii 2-7, LaTech 0-12. Neutral Record: Hawaii 0-0, LaTech 1-2. Conference Record: Hawaii 7-7, LaTech 1-13. Series Record: Louisiana Tech leads, 9-5.

GAME NOTES: Making their final regular-season road trip to the mainland, the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors tangle with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in Western Athletic Conference action tonight at the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston. Even though both teams still have another game to play this weekend, their spots in the upcoming WAC Tournament in Las Cruces, New Mexico have been pretty much carved in stone, with Hawaii coming out as the fifth seed and LaTech hanging on at the bottom as the ninth seed. The Warriors are riding a season- worst four-game slide at the moment, having fallen to both Idaho and Boise State at the Stan Sheriff Center last week. Prior to that it was setbacks to UC Riverside and Fresno State in the Golden State. As for the Bulldogs, a team still without a road win in 2007-08, they were trounced on Saturday evening in an 87-57 setback versus Nevada in Reno. The loss was the fifth in a row and the 14th in 15 games for the group. With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, Louisiana Tech leads by a count of 9-5.

Even though the Broncos were playing without Matt Nelson on the inside, Hawaii still couldn't get enough of a push in the paint to send Boise State packing on Saturday night. One of four players to score in double figures for the Warriors, Riley Luettgerodt tallied a team-best 20 points, cleared six rebounds and handed out five assists, while Matt Gibson tallied 17 points before fouling out. Jared Dillinger and Bobby Nash accounted for 10 points apiece. Nash now needs just three points to reach 1,000 for his career, which would make him the 14th player in school history to accomplish the feat. Nash is currently second on the scoring list for the Warriors this season with his 14.3 ppg, even though he is shooting just 38.3 percent from the floor. Gibson (16.8 ppg) has been much more than just a scorer for the unit with his team- best 114 assists, 42 steals and 3.3 rpg. Unfortunately, even though the Warriors operate with a three-guard offense, the guys are still having a hard time closing on the opposition out on the perimeter, with opposing shooters hitting 39.3 percent of their three-point tries.

Shooting just 9-of-31 from the field, including 1-of-8 behind the three-point line, in the first half the Bulldogs never gave themselves a chance against Nevada over the weekend in what became an ugly 30-point decision in Reno. Kyle Gibson accounted for 19 points for the visitors with his 5-of-13 shooting effort from the floor, but that was the end of the good news for the squad as it allowed the Wolf Pack to knock down an incredible 66 percent from the field in the outing. Gibson, the leading scorer in four of the last five games for the Bulldogs, has managed to generate 16.1 ppg over the course of 27 starts, even though it is clear that he's the first scoring option for the team and defenses have planned for him. Unfortunately, with such a short list of secondary options, Gibson and the Bulldogs find themselves scoring a mere 59.5 ppg this season, a number that has them last in the WAC by far. Add to that the second-worst scoring defense (72.1 ppg) and it is easy to see why LaTech rarely gives itself even the slimmest of chances to end up in the win column.

Hawaii has never been one to flourish on the mainland, but in this case it would be impossible to pick against Nash, Gibson and the rest of the Warriors, considering how poorly the LaTech offense has performed.

Predicted Outcome

Hawaii 73, Louisiana Tech 64