Ruston, La., is not exactly a tourist destination.

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team is there for a purpose.

"We are committed to getting a road win here," Hawai'i head coach Bob Nash said. "It's a long way from home, it's the start of a long trip, but if we can win this game, it gives us some momentum."

The Rainbow Warriors will play a Western Athletic Conference game at Louisiana Tech today. It is scheduled to start at 3:05 p.m. (Hawai'i time), and will be broadcast on ESPN 1420 AM.

Hawai'i is 11-16 overall and on a four-game losing streak. The 'Bows are in fifth place in the WAC at 7-7.

LaTech is 4-23 overall and in last place in the nine-team WAC at 1-13.

"We can't look at their record," Nash said. "Every team we play from here on out is going to be tough, especially at their place."

The 'Bows have been in Ruston since Tuesday. They have had two practices there to prepare for today's game.

"We're taking advantage of the time we have here," Nash said. "We had two good practices to refine some of our stuff. It's going to be a tough game because of the match-ups, so we're treating it like a big game."

The 'Bows and Bulldogs are both considered undermanned and undersized.

Hawai'i will have 10 active players for today's game, including point guard Matt Gibson.

He sat out the team's practice in Honolulu on Monday because of a sore left knee, but has participated in drills in Ruston. Gibson leads the team with 16.8 points and 5.2 assists per game.

"We haven't done a lot of hard running — it was more working on our offense," Nash said. "Matt has been in there. He looked fine (yesterday)."

LaTech has nine active players, and only two are considered low-post players (6-foot-8 Brandon Mims and 6-7 Adrian Rogers). Like Hawai'i, the Bulldogs usually start four perimeter players.

"The difference is they have guards that are penetrators, and we have guards that are shooters," Nash said. "They're a quicker team, so they could give us some problems."

Hawai'i's four "guards" are 6-5 Gibson, 6-5 Riley Luettgerodt, 6-5 Jared Dillinger and 6-7 Bobby Nash.

"We're bigger than them at every spot, so we have to utilize our size," Nash said. "If we have to post up some of our guards, we'll do that. We'll do what ever it takes to try and get this win."

The Bulldogs are led by Kyle Gibson, a 6-4 shooting guard. He is averaging team-highs of 16.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

Nash said the 'Bows have worked on offensive patience in the last two practices.

"We haven't been setting good screens and we haven't been using the (shot) clock the way we should," he said. "If we do that, it leads to good shots."

LaTech is averaging a WAC-low 59.5 points per game; Hawai'i is averaging 70.5.

"We want to slow it down, but keep it at our pace," Nash said. "We don't want them to set the pace."

Interestingly, Hawai'i and LaTech are the only WAC teams not playing for seedings for next week's WAC Tournament. Hawai'i is set at No. 5; LaTech is stuck at No. 9.

"That doesn't mean we don't need to win," Nash said.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.