To begin preparing for this Saturday’s game against the Beach, some Hawaii basketball players hit the beach.

After returning on Sunday from a 1-1 road trip, forward Kamaka Hepa said, “me and a couple other guys … went right to the beach and relaxed. That was a nice little reset for us to kind of get our minds away from the game a little bit so we could hit this week really hard.”

With a midweek bye, the Rainbow Warriors play host to Long Beach State on Saturday in the first of four games in eight days. Because of a condensed time frame to accommodate 20 Big West games, the ’Bows will have a similar four-game-in-eight-day stretch in February.

“I don’t think it’s ideal, but I also know … (it’s) a unique calendar year,” UH coach Eran Ganot said.

What Ganot termed as the “grind” of league play has been helped with the ’Bows serving as hosts to three preconference tournaments. Ganot also emphasized this approach: “the whole deal has been about mindset for our guys. You’re either going to complain about it or embrace it and get ready for the journey.”

On Monday, the ’Bows evaluated Saturday’s overtime loss to Cal State Fullerton — their first setback after opening Big West play with three victories. The ’Bows turned the ball over 22 times (leading to 19 Fullerton points), and committed 30 fouls that enabled the Titans to hit 33 of 41 free throws. In a video review session on Monday, each of the 22 turnovers was analyzed.

“We addressed the elephant in the room,” Ganot said. “That’s helped us over the years. We don’t hide from it. Everybody on our team is very mature, professional about it. This wasn’t on one guy. It was across the board.”

Adjusting to the new class schedules with this week’s start of the spring semester, the ’Bows used Tuesday as their non-practice day. Practices leading to the game against the Beach will focus on reducing turnovers, limiting fouls while defending aggressively, and denying deep drives.

Hepa, who can guard the wings or the post, said the emphasis will be on point-of-attack defense. “What we stressed a lot watching the film was being able to stay in front of our guys … because we do have a great wall on defense, which is kind of our help defense. Just taking more pride in one-on-one defense will kind of clean up those fouls.”

While the ’Bows limited 3-point shooting — 27.3% by UC San Diego, 15.4% by Fullerton — during the two-game road trip, they often were burned on close-range shots off drives. Fullerton scored 38 paint points.

“There was some slippage,” Ganot said of shots over the ’Bows’ outstretched hands. “It’s a matter of inches sometimes. The guys weren’t far off (in affecting shots) but a little off enough for a good offensive player to feel a little more comfortable in taking his time in the paint. And that’s where we were exposed — that and the turnovers and the ability to keep them off the (free-throw) line.”

Because of flooding in California, Long Beach State’s game against Cal Poly was moved from tonight to Thursday night. That will shorten the Beach’s turnaround time — and preparation — for Saturday’s game in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

“You have so much respect for where you’re at and the people you’re competing against,” Ganot said of the Big West, of which 10 of the 11 members are based in California.”You obviously hope everything goes all right there. … I think everybody is doing a good job keeping everybody safe.”