By WES NAKAMA
By WES NAKAMA
HONOLULU — Former University of Hawaii men’s basketball coach Larry Little died Wednesday in Las Vegas, according to a statement released by the school.
Little was the Rainbows’ coach from 1976 through 1985, tied for the fourth-longest tenure in the program’s history, and his 103 career victories ranks third all-time. UH was on NCAA probation during Little’s first two seasons, in which the Rainbows went 9-18 and 1-26.
Hawaii improved to 10-17 in Little’s third year and then went 13-14 in 1979-80, the school’s first season in the Western Athletic Conference. Little then put together three consecutive winning seasons (14-13, 17-10 and 17-11) before the Rainbows fell to 12-16 in 1983-84 and 10-18 in 1984-85.
Little’s highlights include an 83-74 victory over then-No. 6-ranked Utah in 1981. Little’s 40 WAC victories are the second-most conference wins in UH history.
Little brought in several talented and entertaining players such as Aaron Strayhorn, Clarence Dickerson, Tony Webster and Andre Morgan, along with hard-nosed workhorses like Jack Miller. Little also gave local high school products like Brad Pineau (Saint Louis), Sam Johnson (Moanalua) and Dan Hale (Punahou) an opportunity to play NCAA Division I basketball.
Little previously coached at Centenary and helped that program gain national recognition.
RAINBOW WARRIORS MEN PLAY HOST TO LONG BEACH STATE: The UH men’s basketball team returns home to the Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday to face Long Beach State in a crucial Big West Conference showdown.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be televised live statewide on OCSports and broadcast live on radio via ESPN 1420 AM (KHLO in Hilo and KKON in Kona).
The Rainbow Warriors (18-11 overall, 6-7 Big West) are coming off back-to-back losses at UC Irvine (75-60) and UC Davis (74-67). Long Beach State (13-15, 7-5) is coming off a 65-58 home loss to UC Davis.
UH played last Saturday’s game at Davis without leading scorer and rebounder Aaron Valdes (ill), starting power forward Mike Thomas (injured ankle) and top reserve Isaac Fleming (injured ankle).
Valdes is expected to play Thursday, with Thomas “hopeful” and Fleming still questionable.
Starting forward Stefan Jankovic scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds at Davis, and posted 18 points and 15 boards at Irvine. Jankovic has scored in double-figures the past four games and is now second on the team in scoring with an average of 10.8 points per game and rebounding at 4.9 rpg.
RAINBOW WAHINE ON VERGE OF BIG WEST TITLE: The UH women’s basketball team can clinch at least a share of the Big West regular season title on Thursday with a victory at Long Beach State.
The Rainbow Wahine (19-7 overall, 11-2 Big West) are coming off a 62-60 home win over UC Davis last Saturday, their 11th straight victory. Long Beach State (20-6, 7-5) is coming off an 83-66 loss at UC Davis on Feb. 19.
Senior wing Shawna-Lei Kuehu scored 12 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, dished out seven assists and had two steals and one blocked shot against UC Davis. Ashleigh Karaitiana and Megan Huff each added 11 points.
A conference title would be the first for UH since the 1997-98 season, when the Rainbow Wahine won the WAC with a 13-1 record. The current win streak is Hawaii’s longest since a 19-game run in 1997-98, which is also the last time UH earned an NCAA Tournament berth.
The current total of 19 victories is the most in a Rainbow Wahine season since the 2001-02 team went 23-8.
RAINBOW WARRIORS SPIKERS AT LONG BEACH STATE: The No. 6-ranked UH men’s volleyball team is back in Southern California to face No. 10 Long Beach State in a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches.
The Rainbow Warriors (11-3 overall, 8-2 MPSF) have won four straight matches, including a home sweep of Cal State Northridge last Friday and Sunday. Junior libero Kolby Kanetake earned MPSF Player of the Week honors after notching a total of 35 digs.
Long Beach State (8-6, 5-6) is coming off a pair of losses to Brigham Young.
RAINBOW BASEBALL TEAM ON FIRST ROAD TRIP: The UH baseball team is off to its first road trip of the season with a four-game series at Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif.
The series starts at noon Hawaii time Thursday, followed by another noon game Friday and then 11 a.m. games Saturday and Sunday.
The Rainbow Warriors are 4-5 coming of a doubleheader sweep at home against Hofstra. Pepperdine is 4-3 coming off a 6-4 loss to UC Santa Barbara.
LJ Brewster, Tyler Brashears and Kyle Von Ruden each recorded victories for UH in the five-game series against Hofstra, with senior center fielder Kaeo Aliviado becoming the first Rainbow Warrior since Jeff Van Doornum in 2010 to hit a home run in three consecutive games.
Aliviado batted. 409 in the series with a team-high eight runs batted in. First baseman Eric Ramirez and left fielder/catcher Alan Baldwin batted .438 and .400, respectively, and each drove in four runs.
RAINBOW WAHINE SOFTBALL TEAM HOSTS PEPSI MALIHINI KIPA ALOHA TOURNAMENT: The UH softball team plays host to the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament from Thursday through Sunday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
Hawaii (9-7) will open play against No. 18-ranked California (12-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by a 6 p.m. game against San Jose State (12-3) on Friday and 3:30 p.m. game vs. Longwood (2-3) on Saturday. The Rainbow Wahine will then face San Jose State again at 3 p.m. Sunday.
UH is coming off a 2-3 record in last weekend’s Bank of Hawaii Invitational, with both victories coming against Texas-El Paso and losses to No. 17 Washington and No. 19 Central Florida (twice).
Sophomore shortstop Sarina Jaramillo was named to the All-Tournament Team after batting a team-high .429 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Sophomore outfielder Ulu Matagiese hit .333 with one RBI and three runs scored, and Kanani ‘Aina Cabrales pitched in all five tournament games, going 1-2 with one save and a 1.95 earned run average, seven strikeouts and two walks in 14 and 1/3 innings.