The last time they met, Utah State men's basketball coach Stew Morrill wore a green aloha shirt in Hawai'i coach Riley Wallace's honor and gave him a parting retirement gift.

At least Morrill assumed the 58-50 win on Feb. 14 was good-bye until the two schools found themselves matched for Thursday's opening round of the Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament in Las Cruces, N.M.

"You never know where the tournament is going to lead and you've got to play somebody again, but we pretty much thought we were done with each other," Morrill said at his press conference yesterday.

Morrill and Wallace opposed each other in the old WAC while Morrill was at Colorado State, and a strong bond, on and off the court, has evolved. Still, Wallace said he doesn't expect any gifts this time. And, he doesn't expect to see that shirt again — "Unless he (Morrill) thinks it is his lucky shirt now."

Wallace, though, said he "kinda had an idea it might come out like this. I thought we both might be like third, fourth or fifth and we could see each other again."

Hawai'i (18-12, 8-8 WAC) is the fifth seed and Utah State (21-10, 9-7 WAC) is the fourth seed.

In fact, with an eye towards matchups, the 'Bows were hoping to draw Utah State, Wallace admitted.

"I kinda like the matchup between us more than some others we could have had," Wallace said. "We're mirror teams going at each other and it is pretty evenly matched" with each team getting an eight-point victory on its home court this year.

Morrill said, "I've always said it is hard to play friends, especially in this situation where it is do-or-die in terms of potentially his last game."

With their record, Wallace said the Aggies "probably have an NIT bid locked up even if they don't win the thing. So, we probably need to win more than they do because we still have to do some work (to get to an NIT bid)."

UH arrived in Las Cruces late Sunday and had a 2-hour practice yesterday at an area high school. Utah State is scheduled to arrive today.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.