Long trip will bring long game minutes for Warriors
The excitement is growing, but the list of healthy players is shrinking for the Hawaii basketball team as it prepares for its historic trip to Asia.
The Warriors had just eight players available for practice on Saturday, and will likely use only nine players for the exhibition games on the Asia trip. The team is scheduled to depart on Friday for a two-week trip that will include exhibition games in China and Japan.
Sophomore forward Trevor Wiseman has a sprained ankle, and may not be able to play in the exhibition games. He got injured during a College Basketball Summer League game last Thursday, and will need two to four weeks to recover.
Wiseman, who won the team’s Top Defensive Player award last season as a true freshman, will accompany the team on the trip.
“It’s still to be determined,” Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold said. “They say he’s at least two weeks out … ideally, if we could get him at the end of the tour that would be great. But we’re not going to push it in any way. We’re going to make sure he’s ready before he comes back.”
Sophomore forward Davis Rozitis also suffered an ankle sprain during a summer league game and has not been able to practice for the past week. However, he is expected to recover in time for the exhibition games in Asia.
“Oh, I’ll play,” Rozitis said. “I’ve been waiting all year for this.”
The other players on the travel roster for the trip are Hauns Brereton, Tyler Brown, Brandon Jawato, Zane Johnson, Bobby Miles, Pi’i Minns, Shaquille Stokes, and Joston Thomas.
“These guys are going to be pretty tired by the end of that tour,” Arnold said. “It looks like we’re playing a couple of scrimmage games, and then five or six games, and be on the road for 15 days, so we’re going to be playing a lot of ball here in the next couple of weeks.”
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WarriorInsider T-shirt Special
WarriorInsider.com has created limited special edition T-shirts in honor of the team’s trip to Asia.
We’ll try to put together a “Summer League Sale” at Manoa Valley Recreation Gym on Monday night. Fans in attendance at the summer league games can purchase the shirts for $15 each.
The image on the front of the shirt is the character for “Warrior.”
Sorry, shirts will not be available through mail requests for now.
Nice. I’ll be in for one of those shirts.
Wondering if Kawika Chu is back practicing with the team and if he will travel to China,no mention made in latest lineup, although he was previously stated as going. Is his knee now healed and ready?