Gameday: Cal State Fullerton

The Hawaii basketball team should be back at full strength tonight, for the first time since the Big West Conference season opener against Cal Poly.

Guard Isaac Fleming gave the affirmative during warmups that he will play tonight. How much remains to be seen; he hasn’t practiced much at all besides some light shooting action in recent days.

UH (19-3, 8-1) is a 16-point favorite. Regardless of the spread, it needs to win tonight to maintain its grip on first. Long Beach State (8-3) continues to roll, winning at UC Davis today. And UC Irvine is on its way to routing CSUN, which would make the Anteaters 8-2.

Fullerton provided a very tough test at Titan Gym last month — UH needed a couple of desperate plays to get the game to overtime, which they did, thanks to Stefan Jankovic’s heady foul on a poor free-throw shooter followed by a long 3-pointer. They are a team depleted by midseason roster attrition and injuries, but still boast three guards who can fill it up in Tre’ Coggins, Malcolm Brooks and Khalil Ahmad. Ahmad, a freshman, has been particularly reliable for CSF in conference play.

As of about a half hour before tipoff, 1,300 tickets remained, per AD David Matlin. So it’s not looking like a sellout, but should be a very strong crowd against nonetheless.

It is TV & Movie Character Night. Jamie Smith said some things to look out for will be some Jurassic Park action, and appearances by Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Men In Black.

Cast and crew of the show Hawaii 5-O (not the UH bench mob) will toss T-shirts into the stands at halftime.