Riley Wallace will admittedly give the edge to Dick Davey on the golf course.

On the basketball court? That's a different story.

At least Wallace hopes to continue holding the edge today when his University of Hawai'i men's basketball team plays Davey's Santa Clara Broncos.

The game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. (Hawai'i time) at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.

"He's a good friend of mine, and I go to his golf tournament every year," Wallace said of Davey. "But that doesn't mean anything in the (basketball) game. He runs a lot of stuff, and his teams always play hard. It'll be a tough game, just like it always is against his teams."

Today's game is the final stop on a four-game, 11-day road trip for the Rainbow Warriors, who went 2-1 in the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout last week, and have been in San Jose, Calif., since Sunday.

Hawai'i is 4-2 overall. The Broncos are 3-2 after a 71-53 victory over San Jose State on Monday.

"We only have one day to prepare, which makes it tough for us," Davey said. "And it looks like Hawai'i is playing pretty good basketball now. They run so many different sets in their offense, I would feel much better if we had a month to get ready instead of one day."

In any case, the Broncos could be the biggest team the 'Bows face all season.

Hawai'i has had the height advantage in nearly every game this season, but that won't be the case today.

Santa Clara is expected to start two 6-foot-11 players in the low post — senior power forward Sean Denison, and 305-pound sophomore center John Bryant.

Denison is the top player for the Broncos, averaging 16.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Bryant is contributing 7.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

What's more, Santa Clara has big backups in 7-foot, 275-pound Josh Higgins and 6-8, 225-pound Tristan Parham. Higgins scored 16 points on 8-of-8 shooting in the victory over San Jose State.

"We're big, but I've never felt that size wins games," Davey said. "It's nice to have a few big guys who can play, but you need your size to play to win."

Hawai'i will counter with 6-8 power forward Ahmet Gueye and 6-11 center Stephen Verwers to start. Todd Follmer, a 7-foot, 225-pound sophomore, and P.J. Owsley, a 6-8, 240-pound junior, will be used in reserve.

"I think our big guys run the floor better, so we'll need all of them to contribute if we want to out-run (Santa Clara)," Wallace said. "It'll probably be an active game, so we need to make sure we stay out of foul trouble."

Hawai'i will have a significant size advantage on the perimeter. The 'Bows start 6-5 Matt Gibson and 6-6 Matt Lojeski at guards, and 6-6 Bobby Nash at small forward. The Broncos are expected to start 5-10 Danny Pariseau and 5-11 Brody Angley at guards, and 6-7 Mitch Henke at small forward.

"We match up well on the interior, but we're very little on the outside compared to Hawai'i," Davey said. "So we'll have to see how that plays out."

Today's game is the end of an unintentional "WAC week" for Santa Clara. On Saturday, the Broncos lost, 78-70, to Western Athletic Conference favorite Nevada. San Jose State and Hawai'i are also in the WAC, so today will be Santa Clara's third game in five days against a WAC team.

"We didn't plan it that way," Davey said. "That's just how the schedule worked out."

Today's game is also a "return" from last season, when Santa Clara traveled to Honolulu. The 'Bows won last season's game, 67-57, at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawai'i and Santa Clara have already played a common opponent this season. The 'Bows lost to Cal, 72-56, in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout; Santa Clara lost at Cal, 73-48.

Wallace is in his 20th season as head coach at Hawai'i, and Davey is in his 15th as head coach of the Broncos. Wallace is 3-0 against Davey's Broncos, although today is their first matchup in Santa Clara.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.