SPOKANE, WASH. >> When external factors threatened to drive Hawaii apart over the past two years, the Rainbow Warriors bunched together to survive.

Now how will UH’s NCAA Tournament first-round opponent, fourth seed California, respond in the face of an adverse week? With its best, or with a national bracket bust?

First came the scandal with Golden Bears assistant coach Yann Hufnagel on Monday. Hufnagel was fired by head coach Cuonzo Martin amid allegations of Hufnagel’s sexual harassment of a female reporter.

Then there was the untimely broken hand injury Wednesday to Golden Bears point guard Tyrone Wallace, a former Pac-12 first-team player who leads Cal in points (15.3) and assists (4.4) per game. The senior got his right hand stuck in a teammate’s shirt, Martin said. It was the same hand, but a different broken bone that caused Wallace to miss five games in January.

“It’s been a rough week for the team and everything,” Cal wing Jabari Bird said at the Golden Bears’ media session Thursday. “But we have had up and downs throughout the entire year, so it’s nothing new for us. The main thing is putting it behind us and focusing on tomorrow’s game.”

Sam Singer, a 6-foot-4 junior, has been named the starter in Wallace’s stead. Singer averaged 4.1 points and 5.0 assists in starting eight games for Wallace, over which the Bears (23-10) went 6-2 and were still able to position themselves for third in the competitive Pac-12.

“Big-time confidence in Sam,” guard Jordan Mathews said. “He goes hard, he can pass. We saw it earlier in the year when Tyrone broke his hand the first time. Sam took the reins from there and there was very little drop-off.”

Cal sought to swiftly move past the Hufnagel incident after the assistant’s dismissal. However, Martin himself has since come under scrutiny for what he privately knew of the harassment allegations, and when, questions that dogged him into Thursday’s session.

“I don’t want to deal with that right now, because we’re playing in the NCAA Tournament,” the second-year Cal coach said. “I think if you have any questions about that you can talk to (a team spokesman) and we can deal with that later. And that’s a university issue. But right now, the biggest concern for me is our basketball team and the NCAA Tournament.”

Asked about 13th-seeded Hawaii, Martin took the opportunity to compare his team’s situation to the adversity faced by UH — recent coaching changes, an NCAA investigation and postseason ban for 2017, among other sanctions.

“Talking about change, they probably went through some level of adversity with coaching changes and stuff they dealt with,” Martin said. “So they will be ready, they have seen a lot.

“But they stuck together as a unit, so it says a lot about their program and their team.”

However, Martin, who took Tennessee to the Sweet 16 in 2014, said the Bears didn’t need to draw inspiration from UH (27-5), saying “for us … it’s a bump in the road. We continue to push forward, because this is good times right now … you work hard to get to this point.”

Cal will be without one of its top opponent scouters in Hufnagel, and a primary playmaker in Wallace. But the Bears’ roster still brims with talent and explosiveness.

Martin said he will count on McDonald’s All-Americans Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown to shoulder an increased load.

“Their level of play and what they bring to the table demands more than one guy to defend them, if they’re playing well,” he said. “So if that happens, other guys can get shots, they can make plays for other guys.”