Final preparations for Asia tour
Ready or not, the Hawaii basketball team is on its way to Asia.
The Warriors are scheduled to depart Honolulu on Friday morning, Aug. 5, for a historic trip to Asia that will include exhibition games in China and Japan. The team will return on Aug. 21, and they had just 10 days to practice for the trip.
“I don’t know,” freshman point guard Shaquille Stokes said when asked if it was enough time to be ready for a trip such as this. “But we’re going to work, of course … five practices or two practices, we’re going to work and try and get the win.”
Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold will take 10 players on the trip, and only four of them saw action with last season’s team that finished with a 19-13 record.
Two of those returnees – leading scorer Zane Johnson and top defender Trevor Wiseman – missed recent practices with ankle injuries. Both players will make the trip, but their status for the exhibition games remains in question.
“We’ll play who ever is available,” Arnold said. “One of the reasons you do a trip like this is to give your young guys, your new guys, a chance to go in there and see what they can do.”
Hawaii assistant coach Brandyn Akana made a similar preseason trip to China as an assistant coach at Brigham Young-Hawaii several years ago. He helped put together the itinerary for the Warriors for this trip.
“We got a little bit of everything on this trip,” Akana said. “We have a lot of basketball games, a lot of practicing, some tours and some free time. But for the most part, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together. As a coaching staff, as players, we want to bond … we’re going to do a lot of things and hopefully grow closer as a team and a program.”
The Warriors are scheduled to play seven exhibition games on the trip. Along the way, they will stay in five different cities in China, and two in Japan. There will also be numerous bus and train rides to visit some of the sites of both countries.
“This is not just about basketball,” Akana said. “We’re going there to learn about the culture, the history and the people of these places.”
Travel Roster
Hauns Brereton – 6-7, Jr., F
Tyler Brown – 6-7, Fr., F
Brandon Jawato – 6-4, Fr., G
Zane Johnson – 6-6, Sr., G
Bobby Miles – 6-1, So., G
Pi’i Minns – 6-4, So., G
Davis Rozitis – 7-0, So., F/C
Shaquille Stokes – 5-11, Fr., G
Joston Thomas – 6-7, Jr., F
Trevor Wiseman – 6-7, So., F
Exhibition Schedule
Aug. 8 – vs. Australia (at Hong Yuan Facility)
Aug. 9 – vs. Brazil (at Hong Yuan Facility)
Aug. 11 – vs. Shandong Huangjin (at Weifang)
Aug. 12 – vs. Shandong Huangjin (at Weifang)
Aug. 14 – vs. Qingdao Shuangxing (at Qingdao)
Aug. 16 – vs. Shenyang Panpan (at Benxi)
Aug. 20 – vs. Panasonic Trians (at Osaka, Japan)
