Cal State Northridge has no postseason to play for, and no seniors to honor.

Yet, expecting the Matadors to roll over and concede defeat to Hawaii in today’s regular-season hoops finale would be unwise.

"If I knew it was my last game of the season, I would give everything I got," UH junior forward Christian Standhardinger said. "I’m sure they’re the same way. That’s why we can’t underestimate them."

Fifth-place UH (17-12, 10-7 Big West) needs a win at the 1,600-seat Matadome to secure the best possible seeding to the eight-team Big West tournament next week in Anaheim, Calif. However, it will still be anyone’s guess who they’ll match up with — Pacific, Cal Poly, UC Irvine or UC Davis — until the rest of the muddled league wraps up play Saturday night.

UH is looking at anyplace between the third and sixth seeds. It could even finish in a tie for second place in the final standings (though it would lose that tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed).

Northridge (13-17, 4-13) can do no better than ninth place.

UH is without two players, and maybe three for this one. Senior point guard Jace Tavita had a minor surgical procedure on Tuesday to align his dislocated left pinkie. The Big West assists leader (5.6 per game) is considered "probable" to play as of Wednesday night.

"He had a little swelling … wasn’t able to do everything (in practice)," UH coach Gib Arnold said. "Had some soreness. But we’ll know for sure tomorrow."

Freshman reserve Ozren Pavlovic did not make the road trip, further reducing the team’s depth, with Brandon Spearman still out with a sprained ankle. Arnold cited academics and did not refer to it as a suspension.

"Pretty straightforward team rules that we don’t miss class," Arnold said. "He missed a couple, so rather than missing more on a road trip, I thought it was best that he stay home this week and concentrate on his academics. Get his academics in order and put academics first. I fully expect him to be back with the team on Monday."

Arnold stayed on his team in practices leading up to the program’s first game at Northridge since 1960.

"This is their last game of the year. They’ve got 40 more minutes to play college basketball," Arnold said. "You play a team like that, they can be dangerous. I definitely expect them to play a little loose and have nothing to lose."

The Matadors’ record has been hard to reconcile with its 9-3 mark entering conference play, and they’ll be an outsider from the BWC tournament for the second straight year.

Northridge, the youngest team in the country by years of college experience, dropped a tight 74-71 decision in Honolulu in the conference opener for both teams on Dec. 29. Then, Northridge went into a tailspin, losing its next six conference games.

"We were playing very well at the beginning of the year. Just came off a real great one at Utah," 17-year Matadors coach Bobby Braswell said. "Came into Hawaii and lost a close game that could have gone either way, we felt. We came home and really just laid an egg against Riverside.

"When you haven’t been through this before, any adversity, which our group hadn’t been through as a young team, you start to question yourselves a little bit. The biggest thing for us was the lack of experience."

Northridge hasn’t lacked for scoring. Sophomore wing Stephan Hicks is seventh in the league at 16.1 points per game, and sophomore forward Stephen Maxwell is 11th at 14.3 per game.

The Matadors have lost their past six following a three-game winning streak.

"The guys have continued to play hard," Braswell said. "I have no complaints about that."

Northridge grabbed 16 offensive rebounds in the first matchup. Hicks was a handful, scoring 25 on 10-for-17 shooting.

UH was outrebounded 30-28 in its senior night loss to Cal Poly last Saturday. The ‘Bows have been outboarded in three of the past five games.

The Matadors are missing one of their biggest bodies for this game in 6-7, 275-pound freshman center Brandon Perry (6.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg), Braswell said.

UH emphasized getting a body on offensive players in its recent practices, particularly by post players Standhardinger, Vander Joaquim and Isaac Fotu.

"They’re quick, really good jumpers," Arnold said of the Matadors. "We’ve got to make sure we don’t give them any second chances."

Standhardinger’s production has dipped of late (6.5 points, 5.0 rebounds in past two), but he still leads the team at 15.6 points per game. Bench scoring has dried up to 4.0 ppg over that span.

"We want to get the win for our self-confidence and to fine-tune our game for this tournament, because now is the most important part of the season to make you or break you," Standhardinger said. "And I think we will be ready."