Warriors travel to face No. 22 Gonzaga next
The Hawaii basketball team will try not to cool off in the cold temperatures of Vancouver, Canada, this weekend.
After a season-opening 86-67 victory over Cal State Northridge early Tuesday morning, the Warriors did not have much time to celebrate. Instead, the attention was immediately turned to the next opponent – Gonzaga.
“We can go with some momentum after that win we had the other night,” senior co-captain Zane Johnson said. “And it’s a good test and challenge for us playing a nationally-ranked team in Gonzaga, and a great team at that.”
The Bulldogs are 2-0 and ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press Top 25. Saturday’s game will be played in Vancouver, where temperatures are expected to drop into the 30s this weekend.
The Warriors held practices on Wednesday and Thursday in Honolulu before departing for Vancouver on Thursday afternoon.
“You definitely have to be mentally prepared when you go on the road,” sophomore forward Trevor Wiseman said. “You can’t make that many mistakes.”
Saturday’s game is being played at a neutral site, but Gonzaga will have some advantages. For starters, Vancouver is approximately 285 miles away from Gonzaga’s home city of Spokane, Wash. Hawaii, on the other hand, will travel more than 2,700 miles to get to Vancouver.
What’s more, Gonzaga’s top two players – freshman guard Kevin Pangos and senior center Robert Sacre – are from Canada. Pangos is averaging 22 points per game, and hit nine 3-pointers in the Bulldogs’ victory over Washington State on Monday. Sacre, who is 7 feet and 260 pounds, is averaging 18.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.
“This is probably one of the only ranked teams we’ll play,” Johnson said. “I think it’s good for us. It gives us exposure nationally to go in there and play hard and show people how we play and bring some light to Hawaii.”
WarriorInsider.com will be making the trip to Vancouver to cover the game, and will provide updates and highlights.
(Photo courtesy Brandon Flores)
#beatGonzaga !
e Dayton / W. Insiders,
Any TV coverage of the game?
The game will be televised on something called Root Sports TV. It’s a Northwest Regional station that is carried by a few satellite providers. I don’t think it’s available on Oceanic, but I think Dish Network and DirecTV have that station.
If you don’t have Dish or DirecTV, you may have to find a local bar with a satellite that is willing to show it (there’s a UFC card and the UH football game also on that same day).
A big mahalo once again to Pacific Risk Solutions and the Schmidt family for sponsoring WarriorInsider’s coverage of the trip to Vancouver.
i think garrett should bug pangos all game long and hopefully vander and rozitis can get sacre in foul trouble and not the other way around..let’s see how UH plays against a good guard and good low post..i remember we kept jimmer in check last year..weather shouldn’t be a problem unless we play in a gym with an open top..we beat the zags and could easily be undefeated going into the diamond head classic..watch out!!
Some video highlights Gonzaga playing Washington State & Eastern Washington .
http://www.gozags.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=26400&&db_oem_id=26400
Dayton, the Schmidt family, skycap:
our big Mahalo!
this is it, TEAM. (for all the hard works),
if you really want recognition, respect, bragging right to begin –
prove it that you are worthy of any?!
and, next month.. show off the same thing to their former coach. (it will be easier this time around).
good luck.
Mahalo Pacific Risk Solutions and the Schmidts for allowing Dayton to chronicle the game in Vancouver. Visited there 30 years ago; beautiful city and if it’s raining (which it likely will be) there’s a huge shopping complex underground! Really cool. Have fun, Dayton. Looking forward to your reports and game video.
Hope we can get some new film from Zane’s on the road reports , on the flight ,and more in Vancouver.
The Schmidt family and Pacific Risk Solutions comes through again! Great! Go Warriors!
After watching the video clip of Kevin Pangos shooting, Washington State did not play him right as they constantly left him wide open. Plus I saw about 7 catch and shoot baskets that he made. I think he is basically that—catch and shoot. If we can force him to put the ball on the floor he will not be that effective. So that means we need a body on him at all times and don’t give him any breathing room to catch and shoot. Hope Vander can neutralize their center. Neutral court helps us too. Gonzaga is beatable.
It is an honor to support the team via Warrior Insider! I am excited for all the exposure the team is getting because of the great shots and constant updates of this site. Keep up the great work!
servante same as zane…how much wide open catch and shoot shots did he have throughout the HPU and Cal game
True hawaiifan09. But we got a lock down defender in Garret Jefferson. Plus Zane did hit some off the dribble. Much harder to defend Zane.
garrett is a good defender but i noticed he will take gambles which gets him beat(not all the time)..wiseman is another decent defender but will get beat by smaller faster guards but both have high energy…trust me zane isn’t hard to defend..he isn’t overly quick or has the best handles to breakdown a defender…at this point teams know who the only shooter is and if they keep zane in check we are in trouble..waiting on brereton to show up
surely opponents will key on the shooter.
it would be nice to see hauns and shaq breakout of their shooting woes this saturday.
another key may be to see vander kick it back out instead of trying to force it up down low.
and we are all waiting for a breakout game from a much more mature joston.
This will be a great challenge for the Warriors early in the season. I’m still waiting for Hauns and Shaq to light it up with 3’s to complement Z.
I won’t be able to watch it live but I’ll be sure to record the game on Channel 687 ROOT Sports (RTNWHD Network). By the time the game starts I’ll be on my way to Fresno State game at Aloha.
Knocking Off A Ranked team like Gonzaga this early will be great headlines for UH heading into Diamond Head Classic next month.
Go Warriors!
mikey don’t waste your time on the football team