Warrior Insider

The Hawaii basketball team is hoping the experience of its last road trip will be worth a lot more than the end result.

The Warriors went 0-2 last week, dropping games at Cal Poly and Brigham Young. In the process, they spent seven days together on the trip, and head coach Gib Arnold said it helped the team bond and prepare for future road trips.

“We’re not down, we did some really good things on the road,” Arnold said. “I learned that we can win on the road. We didn’t do it this week, but we’re looking forward to going back.”

Freshman guard Bo Barnes noted that “you get to know the team a little better” on the road because of all the time spent together.

The Warriors also got to experience different atmospheres, from the “high school-like” gym at Cal Poly, to the NBA’s EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, where the BYU game was played.

“The (visitors) locker room we were in, the (Dallas) Mavericks were in there the night before, so it was pretty cool just to be able to go there and know you’re playing on an NBA court,” Barnes said.

They also got to play in front of a loud road crowd for the BYU game, which should help prepare them for atmospheres at places like Utah State and Nevada. The BYU crowd especially got on sophomore forward Joston Thomas.

“Joston, do you have a girlfriend? Is it Joston or Justin,” is what Thomas said the BYU fans were yelling at him. “I don’t know what was up with that. I like it though. I feed off the crowd, whether it’s home or away.”

The Warriors, who are now 5-2, will host Hawaii Pacific on Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

(Photo by Brandon Flores)