Warrior Insider

The Hawaii basketball team arrived safely in China after another long day of travel on Sunday.

The Warriors departed Tokyo, Japan, early on Sunday morning, and then endured a four-hour flight to Guangzhou, China. That was followed by a two-hour bus ride to the team hotel in DongGuan.

“We are in China – we officially touched ground here in China,” said assistant coach Brandyn Akana, who planned the travel itinerary. “It was a great idea to spend the night in Narita (to rest), but we’re here now and everybody’s excited.”

A couple of the players discovered that normal rules do not always apply in a country like China. Armed security personnel at the immigration checkpoint in the Guangzhou airport stopped sophomore forward Davis Rozitis. A security officer asked him if he was taking pictures, which is not allowed in that area of the airport.

Rozitis nervously replied that he did not take any photographs, and the security team walked away.

“Hey, I heard all the stories about Chinese prisons,” Rozitis said later. “I wasn’t about to go to prison for something I didn’t do.”

It was actually teammate Tyler Brown who snapped a shot with his camera, although the security team did not question him.

“It is true,” Brown said. “I thought it would be a cool picture to get the Chinese immigration (sign) … we were a little scared there, we saw two cops.”

Other highlights from the team’s first day in China:

* After a brief rest in the hotel, the team walked through downtown Duong, which is similar to New York City – with blocks and blocks of shops, restaurants and street vendors.

Junior Hauns Brereton – the only player on the team who can speak Mandarin Chinese – bought some fresh mango from a street vendor.

“It was only seven yuang (which equates to around one dollar) and she gave me a whole bag, so it was worth it,” Brereton said.

* The team ate dinner together at – what else – a Chinese restaurant. We will have more details on this in a future post.

* The team took a 90-minute bus ride to watch teammate Vander Joaquim play for the Angola national team in a tournament in Guangzhou, China. Russia beat Angola, but Joaquim had a solid game with nine points. We will also have more details on this in a future post.

The Warriors are scheduled to play their first exhibition game of the trip on Monday afternoon (China time) against a team from Australia.

“I’m kind of tired. It’s been a long trip so far,” freshman Brandon Jawato said. “But I can’t wait to get on the basketball court.”