Warrior Insider

Unless NASA wants to start donating jets, there really is no way around the travel issues that accompany the Hawai’i athletic teams.

The Warrior basketball team will be making its sixth road trip of the season this week, with Western Athletic Conference games at Utah State on Thursday, then at Idaho on Saturday.

After splitting its recent two-game homestand, Hawai’i is 11-8 overall and tied for third place in the WAC at 3-2. Utah State, which has won or tied for the WAC regular season title in each of the last four seasons, is 10-10 overall and 2-3 in the conference. Idaho is 10-9 and 3-2.

The Warriors will then return to Honolulu on Sunday, only to depart again four days later for another WAC road game at San Jose State on February 4.

“I’m getting used to it, but I don’t know if you can get used to it,” said junior forward Hauns Brereton, who is in his first season at Hawai’i. “That five hour travel from Honolulu to California, it’s the same – five hours every time.”

For some players, such as sophomore Davis Rozitis, each flight can feel different. At 7 feet tall, Rozitis is the tallest player on the team, so his seat assignment is crucial to an enjoyable flight.

He prefers sitting in exit rows because of the extra legroom, but it doesn’t always work out that way. On a full flight two weeks ago, he somehow ended up in a seat next to 6-foot-10 teammate Vander Joaquim … and they got placed in the middle seats of the row, with average-sized people on each side of them.

“I wanted to ask the lady sitting next to me if she wanted to switch seats, but she already looked angry so I didn’t say anything,” Rozitis said.

The isolation of Hawai’i also makes it essential for the Warriors to remember to pack every important item – or pay the price. Sophomore guard Bobby Miles said he forgot the charger for his laptop computer and had to pay $25 to buy a new one so that he could complete his class assignments.

There is also the issue of finding “warm clothes” that they normally wouldn’t wear in Hawai’i. For this week’s trip, Brereton said he will have to pack “a couple jackets and my beanie.”

And he said he’ll have to spend a few extra bucks on another essential road item – lip balm. “The most important thing this trip is ChapStick,” he said. “If your lips hurt, it’s all bad.”

(WarriorInsider.com file photo courtesy Brandon Flores)