Basketball season is here: Warriors vs. HPU on Friday
The equivalent of a sneak preview for the 2011-12 Hawaii basketball team is set for Friday night, November 11, at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Warriors will host Hawaii Pacific University in an exhibition game that will start around 7 p.m. (a UH women’s game will start at 5 p.m., and the men’s game will follow).
The Warriors will open the regular season on Monday night, so the exhibition against HPU will serve as a chance for head coach Gib Arnold and his staff to experiment with various lineups and schemes.
“I think I speak for the staff and obviously the team that we’re pretty anxious to play,” Arnold said. “It’s time to see if we learned anything in this preseason and this practice time.”
Hawaii finished 19-13 last season in Arnold’s first year as head coach. Included in those victories was a 72-50 romp of HPU (it counted as an official game last season, but will not count this season).
“We’re taking this seriously and we want to play the best we can,” Arnold said. “But we’re not expecting it to be a beautiful, fluid game. I’m sure there’s going to be some sloppy play because it is still early. We’re just going to try to play the best we can, offensively and defensively.”
The Warriors return six players from last season, including senior guard Zane Johnson and junior center Vander Joaquim. They were both selected to the Preseason All-WAC Team by the conference coaches. Johnson scored 18 points in the win over HPU last season, while Joaquim scored 10.
“The team is looking good so far,” Joaquim said. “I feel like this team is going to be much better than last year, and we’re going to continue to work hard and prove people wrong.”
Three other returnees started games at one time or another last season: junior Joston Thomas and sophomores Bobby Miles and Trevor Wiseman.
“I think we’re way better than last year — we’re more versatile,” Wiseman said. “Last year we were more a pick-and-pop team. This year we’re more run-and-gun.”
Several new players are also expected to contribute this season, including true freshman point guard Shaquille Stokes and junior college transfers Hauns Brereton and Garrett Jefferson. Also, sophomore forward Davis Rozitis, who redshirted last season, has been in the mix for a starting spot.
Arnold said he will use several different lineups, and the starting five will be a game-time decision.
GAME FACTS
Who: Hawaii vs. Hawaii Pacific
When: Friday, November 11, 7 p.m.
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
Tickets: General admission — $7 adults, $5 senior citizens, $3 students
TV: Live on Oceanic pay-per-view (free re-telecast on November 12 at 10 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. on OC-12)
Radio: Live on ESPN 1420 AM
Should be interesting to see the experimental lineups. Go Warriors!
any lineup will look good against this d3..i mean d2 team
former recruit prospects c.j. blackwell and godwin okonji will be on display at 5:30 today against ucla on channel 20..they play for loyola marymount..also not until next year nick stover will be playing for them…too bad we didn’t get our basketball program into the West Coast Conference..for those who care lol
Thanks hawaiifan09, I’m going to check that out after seeing that UNC game. Hopefully the kids will cooperate.
NIck Stover would have been an interesting player for us, but there is a guy named DuVaughn Maxwell who could be a beast for us.While he is a JC guy who could come in with only two years remaining, he could be big for us.
i call Garrett Jefferson to be this year’s Trevor Wiseman. I think he played well defensively and played with great energy! Great gut-check win tonight!