The last time the UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii basketball teams met in Honolulu — Jan. 13, 2018 — the day began with an infamous false missile alert.

The real scare came that night, when the Rainbow Warriors held on for a 76-75 victory despite Gauchos guard Max Heidegger scoring 19 of his 22 points in the second half.

For today’s 8 p.m. game between the Big West teams in the Stan Sheriff Center, UH coach Eran Ganot has emphasized the need for grand finales. That occurred on Thursday night, when the ’Bows finished strong in a 74-57 victory over Long Beach State.

UH has won seven of the past nine games to improve to 13-7 overall and start the Big West season 4-2. In 20 games, they have outscored opponents by a total of 20 points from the four-minute mark in regulation. But they have been outscored 11 times and played even once in that time period.

“We’ve always taken pride in finishing games,” Ganot said. “We’ve done a great job here over the years in performing in overtime, performing in late-game situations. Sometimes they don’t go your way. We had a couple recently.”

The ’Bows opened Big West play with a 16-9 closing run against Cal State Fullerton. But that was the last time they outscored an opponent down the stretch until the 6-2 finish against Long Beach State.

“It was good to get back to finishing games out,” Ganot said. “We talk a lot about the parity, and the dynamic players and coaches in this league. You have to keep performing for 40 minutes because there are weapons out there.”

The Gauchos enter with little rest. After losing in overtime to UC Irvine in a game that started an hour later than usual to accommodate national television, the Gauchos traveled to Hawaii on Friday. They were scheduled to practice that night in UH’s Gym II.

The Gauchos (15-5, 4-2) lead the league in scoring (74.9 points per game), defense (64.8) and rebounding margin (plus-7.4). Heidegger, their top scorer a year ago, has struggled to find his aim after missing the first nine games because of an ailment. Heidegger is averaging 7.3 points on 24.3 percent shooting. The Gauchos are receiving production from Ar’mond Davis, a 6-foot-6 graduate transfer from Alabama who is averaging a team-high 14.3 points; Devearl Ramsey (11.9), who began his career at Nevada; and 6-9 freshman Amadou Sow (6.3 rebounds).

“They’re one of the top teams in our league the past couple years,” Ganot said. “The concern is they’re balanced. A lot of good teams are balanced. They’re the same. They’re balanced in scoring, and they’re balanced in key areas. They defend. They’re the best rebounding team in our league. They’ve got a good inside-outside attack. With all those things, they present a good challenge.”