The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team will make a "big" change tomorrow.

Junior P.J. Owsley is expected to make his first start of the season tomorrow when the Rainbow Warriors host Northwestern State in a non-conference game at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"I think it's everybody's goal to start," said Owsley, a 6-foot-8 forward. "I know it's been my goal since I first came on this campus. But I still have to show the coaches that I can keep it. I have to produce and prove that I deserve to be starting."

Owsley will start in place of 6-11 junior Stephen Verwers, who started the first eight games of the season at center. Owsley is considered a better shooter, but Verwers is the better defender.

"It's a different look — I'm smaller than Stephen," Owsley said. "But we're both going to have to do our part to help the team win."

Verwers is averaging 2.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Owsley averaged 5.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game as a reserve in the first eight games.

"We're hoping P.J. can give us a little more offense," Hawai'i coach Riley Wallace said. "In the games we lost, we haven't been scoring. So we need to find points somewhere."

Hawai'i is 4-4 and on a two-game losing streak. When the 'Bows score 70 or more points, they are 4-0; when they score fewer than 60 points, they are 0-4.

In essence, Owsley and Verwers are swapping roles. Verwers ikely will be the first "big man" off the bench tomorrow.

"I know why I'm not starting, and I've been working hard on my shots all week," Verwers said. "I feel like the only thing missing in my game is scoring. I don't know if you can call it a slump because I don't shoot that much. It's more of a mentality. I just have to be more aggressive offensively."

Through the first eight games, Verwers 7 of 19 from the field (36.8 percent), while averaging 19.6 minutes per game.

"Stephen tends to get in foul trouble early (in the games) and that throws things off," Wallace said.

Owsley is 16 of 36 from the field (44.4 percent) while averaging 16.1 minutes per game.

"I know I don't score that much, but I feel like I can hit some jumpers here and there," Owsley said. "That's been my role (off the bench), so I'm going to try and do the same thing."

Wallace said: "They're both used to playing a lot, and that's not going to change."

Owsley will start alongside 6-8 senior Ahmet Gueye in the low post. Gueye leads the 'Bows in rebounding with 7.5 per game.

"Who starts is not a big thing," Gueye said. "We all have to be ready to come in and contribute at any time."

Todd Follmer, a 7-foot sophomore, could also see action off the bench tomorrow. He did not play in Hawai'i's 61-58 loss to UNLV last Tuesday.

"He had a bad week of practice that week, and so he didn't play," Wallace said. "He has some concentration problems. But he looks like he's back this week, and so if he stays positive, we'll use him if the situation is right."

The other Hawai'i starters are expected to remain intact — Matt Gibson at point guard, Matt Lojeski at shooting guard, and Bobby Nash at small forward.

DEMONS STILL BUZZING OVER BUZZER-BEATER

Northwestern State made national headlines and highlights last season when it upset Iowa, 64-63, on a buzzer-beating shot in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The publicity has worked for and against the Demons this season.

On the plus side, the athletic department received a $100,000 check from Pontiac after the game-winning shot was voted as the "Game Changing Performance Award" for the entire NCAA Tournament.

What's more, the city of Natchitoches, La. — home of the Northwestern State campus — can't seem to get enough of the Demons.

"We had 3,721 people at our first game of the year against Utah State," NSU coach Mike McConathy said. "That might be hard to equate to (Hawai'i). But we have an arena that seats 3,600, and there are only 20,000 people in the whole town, so it's big for us.

"People are still talking about it, and it's fun for us because the people from Natchitoches are identifying themselves with this team now."

The only problem is that opponents are identifying the Demons as well.

"We're certainly not going to sneak up on anybody anymore," McConathy said.

Northwestern State went 26-8 last season, but is off to a 5-4 start this season. However, three of the losses have come on the road against Oklahoma State, Louisville and Marquette.

"We can't get people to come to Natchitoches to play us, so we have to go on the road," McConathy said. "We've played pretty stiff competition ... I feel like that puts our players in a position where they feel like they can compete against anybody. We did the same thing last year and it really helped us at the end."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.