Last week's road trip to Boise State and Idaho was an interesting one for vastly different reasons for Hawaii senior point guard Hiram Thompson and freshman forward Trevor Wiseman.

Thompson suffered an elbow-induced gash just above his eye in the opening minute of the 73-66 win at Boise State. He got six stitches mid-game and returned to play 16 minutes. Then in the 75-61 loss at Idaho, he started but played only 8 minutes because he felt sick both in the first half and at halftime. Miah Ostrowski shouldered a greater workload both times, playing 37 and 28 minutes, respectively.

The stitches remained today, running straight down from his forehead through his right eyebrow. The tri-captain said he'd be getting them out tomorrow (Thursday) prior to the team's scheduled late-night practice.

"It was a tough road trip for me but I'm feeling better now," Thompson said prior to an individual workout session today. "The cut's healed up, the swelling's down. ... (at first) I couldn't really see out of that eye. I'm feeling pretty much back to normal now.

"I wasn't feeling too good the next couple days after that. I tried to give it a go (against UI), but I wasn't all there. Not really sure (if it was related to the gash), bad headache and not feeling good. I don't know what it was from, but feel better now."

He rated it "on the lower side" of the numerous physical ailments he's overcome in his UH career.

"There's been a lot,"  he said.

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Wiseman missed the Boise State game on Thursday because the UH coaches felt he couldn't afford to miss any more class time. They flew him up after the last of his classes on Friday and he met the team the morning of its game in Moscow, Idaho, on Saturday.

He felt bad about missing time for a self-inflicted reason. It was the first game he missed all season for 13-10 (4-7 WAC) UH.

"It's hard for me ... not being able to travel to one of my games in the second semester, it's really hard for me," Wiseman said. "I'm coping with it, I think. Try harder to do better in my classes. That's pretty much it."

Team video coordinator John Spruance escorted Wiseman up.

"It wasn't that bad, but I think it was bad, not being with my teammates," Wiseman said. "(The Boise win) is a relief. I think it is. Zane (Johnson) wasn't there neither (due to concussion-like symptoms), so it was hard. I didn't know how they were going to adapt to that. But I think they did well."

Several Rainbows played heavier minutes than normal in the BSU win, so Wiseman tried to pick up the team with his trademark energy in the Idaho game. He had five rebounds, two points, two assists, a steal and a block in 19 minutes.

"I think everyone was tired, everyone looked tired," he said. "I wanted to go in there and give some energy. I think I did that, but it wasn't enough for us to win the game."

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Tomorrow's practice is much later than usual for the second time this season because of an evening return from a recruiting trip by coach Gib Arnold.

Hey all, particularly Rainbow Wahine basketball fans, our apologies about the delay on the online postings of UH women's game stories today (of UH's win over Idaho) and on Tuesday (of its loss to Nevada).

The stories appeared as normal in the print version of the paper, but there was an error in both cases on getting the story posted online along with the day's other stories, as some of you noted.

It was a big week for the Wahine, with wins yesterday and Wednesday. I was disappointed in the letdowns and hope we can avoid them in the future.

Huge victory tonight by Gib Arnold's Rainbow Warriors in Boise, Idaho.

A program that reached a 13-game WAC road losing streak earlier this season (going back to 2008-09) now has a genuine WAC road winning streak to call its own.

But UH (13-9, 4-6 WAC) can't afford to let up. While four WAC wins exceeds last season's three, there isn't much separating the middle of the WAC pack from the bottom right now. The Rainbow Warriors remained in sixth place, and bottom-half teams San Jose State and Fresno State both won in overtime tonight against top-half teams Idaho and New Mexico State, reinforcing the parity of the league — excepting Utah State at the top at 10-0.

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UH  shot 58 percent in defeating the Broncos 73-66 despite missing junior guard Zane Johnson with concussion-like symptoms and freshman forward Trevor Wiseman for academics. Both cases were admittedly surprising; Johnson was held out of contact in practices after the Utah State game (when he took a Tai Wesley elbow to the head) but I think the sense was among the coaches (and Zane) that Johnson would be cleared by gameday. In Wiseman's case, it was a true surprise that he didn't make the first part of the trip.

But Johnson's 14.6 points per game and Wiseman's hustle weren't missed, as senior forward Bill Amis rumbled for 22 on 9-for-12 shooting and several other Rainbow Warriors added solid complementary efforts.

Junior guard Miah Ostrowski came up huge again — saying that is becoming a habit — with 12 points and eight assists. He spelled Hiram Thompson after just the first minute when Thompson's nose was bloodied by a wayward elbow to the face.

In the postgame on KKEA, 1420-AM with play-by-play man Bobby Curran, Arnold sounded optimistic that he'd have both Johnson and Wiseman back available to play on Saturday at Idaho.