In the days following the Hawaii basketball program’s loftiest offensive performance in nearly 40 years, coach Gib Arnold kept the Rainbow Warriors grounded in defense.

Coming off a 114-point outburst against Hawaii Hilo last Thursday, the Rainbows have dedicated much of their practice time to defense while preparing to face opponents with divergent styles in their pre- and post-Thanksgiving matchups.

"It’s always defense when it comes down to practice," said senior guard Brandon Spearman.

Up first is an up-tempo New Orleans team. The Rainbows expect a more deliberate pace from Montana on Friday.

"UNO is more get-it-out-and-push and they’ll press a little bit and Montana is a really good halfcourt team … they run a million different sets," Arnold said. "Two tough teams to prepare for because they’re very different."

Hawaii boosted its shooting numbers with last week’s rout of the Division II Vulcans and entered the week first among Big West Conference teams and 23rd nationally in scoring offense at 89 points per game.

On the other end of the floor, UH’s opponents have shot 46.1 percent from the field, though just 28.1 percent from 3-point range. In UH’s last two games against Division I competition, New Mexico State and Missouri shot just under 58 percent while scoring 95 and 92 points respectively.

"I feel good about our offense. We’ll continue to work on that, but the most improvement can be made defensively," Arnold said. "So we’ve spent the majority of our time working on our defensive transition and our actions out of our multiple defenses. That’ll continue to be an emphasis.

"Since the Missouri game, about 80 percent of our practices have been defensive oriented."

Arnold said the team continues to adjust to rules changes. Officials are blowing quicker whistles on handchecks on the perimeter and are making it tougher to draw charges down low. While the initial reaction would be to limit contact, Arnold would like to see the ‘Bows ebb in the other direction a bit.

"I still think we need to get a little more physical," Arnold said. "We’ve kind of backed off on that and we haven’t been fouling a lot, but I still think even though the rules have changed we still need to be a little more physical. We need to find that nice balance between fouling and just playing physical.

"Early on we fouled too much; now we don’t probably foul enough. I like to err on the side of being more aggressive actually."

The Rainbows have pushed the pace offensively, with four starters averaging double-digit scoring, led by Christian Standhardinger’s 18 points per game.

New Orleans counters with 6-foot-7 forward Cory Dixon. Through three games, the senior has been by far the Privateers’ most active offensive weapon, averaging 19.7 points and 10 rebounds. He also leads the team with 11 assists and is 21-for-32 from the free-throw line. None of his teammates has attempted more than nine foul shots.

"Really aggressive, very athletic, one of the better bigs we’ll play all year," Arnold said. "He’s gonna be a handful. Christian, Isaac (Fotu), Mike Thomas, they’re going to have to find a way to get him off the boards and limit his touches, because if he gets it he’s a real aggressive player and can really score it."

Dixon scored a career-high 23 points in New Orleans’ 100-80 home loss to Boise State last Saturday. The Privateers lost at LSU Nov. 19.