Cal State Northridge played right into Hawaii’s hands.

The Rainbow Warriors’ relentless ball pressure yielded a bounty of turnovers — a program-record-tying 20 steals harvested among 28 CSUN giveaways — as UH evened its Big West Conference record in an 83-68 rout of the Matadors on Saturday.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,513 had plenty to cheer for as forward Aaron Valdes slammed home a career-high 34 points on 13-for-18 shooting, including two second-half 3s to jolt a two-point halftime lead into a rout.

Point guard Roderick Bobbitt stole eight balls, Valdes had five swipes and backup guard Quincy Smith added four to match UH’s steals mark against Tennessee Tech in 1988.

Numerous balls were tipped and taken, some eventually collected amid chaos, others picked right from the pockets of CSUN guards. Long bounce passes were intercepted amid UH’s 1-2-2 pressing zone. It was a dominant display of disruption from the highest-stealing team in the league, and a much-needed one on the heels of an overtime home loss to Cal Poly on Wednesday.

"Our pressure is not a fluke. Our hands and our foot speed is not a fluke," UH coach Benjy Taylor said. "Everyone’s going to be susceptible to that. Whether they turned it over or took a quick shot.

"I got some guys with some great, natural instincts. All I’m doing is cutting them loose and letting them make plays."

UH (13-5, 1-1 Big West) came out with early energy not seen against the Mustangs, though it trailed several times in a back-and-forth few minutes. It has a week to prepare for its first league road game, at UC Riverside on Saturday.

"It’s big for us," said Valdes, who had three first-half alley-oop dunks. "Losing that first game’s tough, especially in overtime. But we came out strong and I think we have good momentum going into these next few games."

Valdes set a career best for the third time in his sophomore season. He had 28 in the opener vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff and 31 against Hawaii Hilo.

His consecutive 3s made it 55-48 with 13:37 to play. His third 3-point hit in five attempts, at the 11:38 mark, put UH up double digits for good.

"Tonight was the best he’s played," Taylor said. "He’s had two really good days of practices."

The ‘Bows swarmed throughout, but played mostly under control in the chaos, shooting 50 percent and dishing a season-high-tying 21 assists against only nine turnovers. Bobbitt had 10 assists, tying his UH best, in atoning for some critical late mistakes in the Poly loss.

Many of his assists came in transition off the press, as UH had a 35-7 advantage in points off turnovers.

"That was a goal we had coming into the game, just wanting to get after them," Bobbitt said. "We knew their ballhandler would get shaky with some pressure on the ball … it opened the lead up for us a lot."

CSUN (4-13, 0-2) and coach Reggie Theus got the better of UH in the 2014 Big West tournament first round, but the fire and playmaking the Matadors showed at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., was not to be found so far from home.

Theus was cordial afterward but expressed disgust in his team’s play.

"It really came down to the turnovers," Theus said. "Our guys just played soft and (UH) did what they had to do. They beat up on our guys."

Despite that, CSUN point guard Landon Drew had a career-high 10 assists. Forward Stephen Maxwell led the visitors with 20 points. But season-leading scorer Stephan Hicks was held to 14 points on 4-for-13 shooting.

UH senior shooting guard Garrett Nevels missed his second straight game while recovering from right hand surgery. Freshman Isaac Fleming, who started for Nevels and struggled in Wednesday’s 61-57 overtime loss to Cal Poly, went back to the bench while sophomore center Stefan Jovanovic entered the starting lineup.

Fleming actually played better as a reserve with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. And sophomore forward Stefan Jankovic had his best game as a ‘Bow, tallying 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting off the bench.

"I know Janks can do that every night. He hesitates at times," Bobbitt said. "You could see today, the 3 he hit was fluid. … Me personally, I tell him, ‘Don’t hesitate.’ "

UH forced 16 turnovers in the first half, but led by just two as CSUN shot 56.5 percent from the field.

An exciting, back-and-forth first half featured 14 lead changes. Valdes dunked it four times in the first half, including a fast-break flush from Fleming in the final minute started by a Valdes steal. UH took a 39-37 lead into the break.

Saturday

Hawaii 83, CSUN 68

UC Santa Barbara 50, Cal Poly 45

UC Irvine 69, UC Riverside 55

UC Davis 73, Long Beach State 67, OT

Thursday

UC Davis at UC Riverside

Cal Poly at Long Beach State

CSUN at UC Santa Barbara

UC Irvine at CS Fullerton

Saturday

Hawaii at UC Riverside, 6:30 p.m.

Cal Poly at CSUN

UC Santa Barbara at Long Beach State

UC Davis at CS Fullerton

Key — min: minutes played; fg-a: field goals made-attempted; ft-a: free throws made-attempted; rb: rebounds; pf: personal fouls; pts: total points.

Halftime — Hawaii 39, CSUN 37

3-point goals — CSUN 5-14 (Hicks 2, Efferson 2, Hale-Edmerson). Hawaii 4-19 (Valdes 3, Jankovic). Steals — CSUN 4 (Elliott 3, Hale-Edmersn). Hawaii 20 (Bobbitt 8, Valdes 5, Smith 4, Fleming 2, Thomas). Turnovers — CSUN 28 (Elliott 6, Drew 5, Parks 5, Hicks 4, Hale-Edmerson 3, Maxwell 2, Webb, Efferson). Hawaii 9 (Bobbitt 4, Valdes 2, Fleming 2, Jovanovic). Assists — CSUN 17 (Drew 10, Parks 3, Elliott 2, Hale-Edmerson, Webb). Hawaii 21 (Bobbitt 10, Thomas 4, Fleming 4, Webster-Chan, Jovanovic, Smith). Blocked shots — CSUN 2 (Elliott, Parks). Hawaii 4 (Thomas 2, Jovanovic, Valdes). Technical fouls — Hawaii 2 (Bobbitt, Flemming). Officials — Kurt Walker, Donald McAllister, Jeff Ketchu. A –5,513.