2015-16 schedule is announced
The 2015-16 schedule for the University of Hawai’i basketball team was announced on Friday afternoon. The schedule features at least 28 regular-season games prior to the Big West Conference Tournament (a game against UH-Hilo on the Big Island may be added).
Eighteen of the 28 regular-season games will be played at home in the Stan Sheriff Center, including the three games in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic during Christmas week.
The Warriors will play a home exhibition game against Chaminade on November 5, and then the official season opener will at home against Montana State on November 13.
CLICK HERE to view the complete schedule
Here is the official announcement from UH Athletics:
HONOLULU – The University of Hawai’i released its 2015-16 men’s basketball schedule that features 19 home games at the Stan Sheriff Center. This year’s non-conference schedule is highlighted by an ESPN Tip-off Marathon game against Nevada at the 51st Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic and the seventh annual Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, one of the nation’s premier college basketball tournaments.
“We are pleased to announce our 2015-16 schedule highlighted by 19 home games in front of the great fans of Hawai’i at one of the best venues in the country, the Stan Sheriff Center,” said UH Head Coach Eran Ganot. “We are grateful to our wonderful sponsors Outrigger Resorts and Hawaiian Airlines, and the continued coverage by ESPN. The Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic also showcases quality opponents, and the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic gives us an opportunity to play some of the nation’s top teams.”
The Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic officially opens UH’s 2015-16 season. The ‘Bows will tip the season off Nov. 13 against Montana State in a round-robin tournament which also includes back-to-back Big South champion Coastal Carolina. Coastal battled but eventfully fell in the NCAA first round last season to a Wisconsin team that advanced to the national championship game. The classic concludes on Nov. 16 when the ‘Bows take on Nevada in a late night affair as part of ESPN’s Tip-Off Marathon broadcast on ESPN2. Tip-off for the nationally televised game is set for 11:00 p.m.
After hosting Nicholls State the following weekend at the Stan Sheriff Center, UH heads to Lubbock, Tex. and a matchup with Texas Tech. The game marks the second time in three seasons the ‘Bows will play a road game against a Big 12 opponent.
“Playing Texas Tech presents a great opportunity to play in a tough environment,” added Ganot. “Tubby Smith is one of the great coaches in college basketball and playing a Big 12 opponent will be both challenging and exciting.”
The holidays and top-notch basketball action go hand in hand in Hawai’i. The ‘Bows will play host at the seventh annual Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Dec. 22-23, 25) held at the Stan Sheriff Center. Four of the participating teams appeared in the 2015 NCAA Tournament – BYU, Oklahoma, Northern Iowa and Harvard. Also in the eight-team field are Auburn, New Mexico, Washington State and host Hawai’i. The ‘Bows will open with Northern Iowa who advanced to the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. The ESPN family of networks will broadcast every game of the Classic.
The ‘Bows will close out 2015 with home games against Mississippi Valley State and Howard.
UH commences its fourth season in the Big West Conference with a 16-game league schedule. The ‘Bows open league play at home vs. Cal Poly (Jan. 6) and UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 9) before heading out for their first conference road trip. Ganot praised the quality of the league and the tough road ahead for the ‘Bows. “The Big West is a conference on the rise, with terrific coaches, and will undoubtedly pose a challenge for us.”
The Big West schedule is also highlighted by home games against 2014-15 regular season champion UC Davis (Jan. 23) and Big West Tournament winner UC Irvine (Feb. 11). The ‘Bows delivered an impressive showing against UC Davis, handing the Aggies one of their only two league losses in a game UH led by as many as 24 points. Hawai’i closes the Big West regular season on the road versus Long Beach State on March 5 before heading to Anaheim, Calif. for the Big West Tournament.
UH finished last season 22-13 and returns 11 players from a team that advanced all the way to the Big West Tournament final. This will be the final season for seniors Quincy Smith, Sai Tummala and Roderick Bobbitt who last season earned conference defensive player of the year honors and became just the fourth Big West player to notch 100 steals in a season.
“We look forward to seeing all our fans at the Stan Sheriff Center for our opener on Nov. 13!” added Ganot.
Despite the cupcake schedule it’s actually a smart move winning cures all bandwagons don’t care about opponent they just look a record and if they see Hawaii undefeated they will come
Sort of reminds me of 2007 Hawaii football team that went undefeated weak schedule but best season ever
The Good News: The Bowz should have no problem winning nearly all of their non conference games.
The Bad News: The Schedule…some SOS!
Like the White House, they actually waited until after hours on a Friday Night to post it.
No wonder why Ganot did not want to talk about it.
No wonder why the began season ticket sales before it was posted.
Speaking of Wonder – The Wonder Blunder that lost $200K had an investigation and heads rolled. When you lose $175K by purposely withdrawing from the Las Vegas Invitational, which was about the offer for a one year’s pay to Benjy and you take away any chance to ever being invited back, take away the chance to play Top 25 talent…some heads need to roll!!! On top of that, they did not live up to any of their excuses why they withdrew.
WHO IS RUNNING THE ZOO AT UH? IF THERE IS NOT INVESTIGAGTION, THEN THAT TELLS ALL.
Good material for Ferd Lewis to write up. I’d like to hear Portnoy and Wheeler’s unbiased comments.
BTW – Who wrote the marketing of the schedule, no doubt the head of the Math Department.
There are only 28 Regular Season Games…not 29. Since when does an exhibition game count as a regular season game?
Backbeat, the staradvertiser lists a game with Hilo : Dec. 19 — Hawaii Hilo (tentative, at Kona).
I’m sorry, but the Texas Tech quote is laughable at best. I agree with everyone else, who is writing this stuff? It seems like someone in the Athletic Office thinks we know nothing about basketball with this press release. End of the day, this is a winnable schedule before Big West play. To lose more than 1 game in the preseason will be unacceptable.
Now I can really see why UH didn’t want to let anybody know the schedule before selling season tickets like all other schools do. I am very disappointed after hearing all the talk about Matlin’s contacts to basketball coaches through his experience as Diamond Head Classic director. He said he was going to upgrade the schedule immediately and even said he was talking to ACC schools to replace the hole from the Las Vegas tournament. So much for that.
No. No Bowoverhoes. Winning doesn’t cure all.
Not a good comment. Not a good comment at all.
No different then when Gib , or Benjy were coaching, however, Gib had wins over Irvine at Irvine, and beat St Marys and a ranked Xavier team in DHC. Benjy beat Pitt, had 2 out 3 wins on that horrendous, sojourn to Florida last November, and beat UC Davis 2 out of 3 times?
Yeah, agree with All your posts above.. doesn’t matter whom the coach, same ole schedule, And you Think Season Tickets will sky rocket? I don’t think so.. first time in long, time.. Interest for me, no matter whom coach waning rapidly.
Matlin, Ganot, Bley Vroman, Lassner, Committee that hired Ganot.. BOR.. JP, Jackson Wheels, they got what they wanted.. Nothing, much.. sheesh.
Winning deep into the NCAA tournament would indeed cure all.
We will have to wait and see.
Go Bows !
You guys miss the whole point of UHAthletics, it’s about school. Why you tink Matlin and Gang pulled out of the LV tourney?
It’s not about the W’s, SOS, etc. but of developing young adults for the real world academically, mentally, physically, etc.
Good to have a macho guy around in an endangering situation!?
The schedule is somewhat similar in strength to Gib’s first year in 2010 but weaker with Hilo this season. 29 games with 13 non-conference (WAC) including Central Arkansas, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Cal-Poly, BYU-Provo, HPU, Chicago St and UC-Davis.
RBC had Montana St, Cal St Fullerton and Central Michigan. DHC had Florida St, Utah and Mississippi St. UH blasted Utah, 68-55 .
Really, what are they doing. Dropping out of the Vegas tournament the road games against good competition replaced with this. Making for a worse schedule with probabilities of more notches to the win column instead of the loss column? My guess is that having anything less than last year, the administration does not want. It would make the administration subject to a lot of ridicule doing what they did and are doing. The finalization of the meeting with the NCAA will bring evidence to this.
No excuses for scheduling better for 2016-2017. Late start this year but not for next season Matlin and Ganot need to work it hard and upscale the schools we will be facing. RPI needs to get a lot higher.
IMO: Winning cures everything. Regardless of schedule, win first, everything else will take care of itself. Just asking, if you were a coach, what would your top priorities be for your team? Because you ain’t going get everything in the first year. Developing a winning identity would be one of my top priorities, since it is within my control…what say you all?? I wanna see this team win no matter who they play this year, it’ll be a good kick off for the future.
Ganot didn’t set a majority of this seasons schedule. Blame the previous staff.
Pulling out of the Vegas tourney for academic reasons is understandable if you knew some of the issues a few of the players had with academics last season. Again, blame the previous staff.
The real price will be winning our conference. Having a weak schedule doesn’t help to the run up but it is the players who will have the final say. Hoping for a good season and better schedule next year.
parkpill: UH admin and Powers, they cleaned house of Gib and Benjy, every trace except maybe Jamie..
Ganot had a FEW Pukas to fill.. pulling out of Vegas, well for class time, yeah, okay..
175, or 125K dollar penaly pay out to get out of contract,
Ganot. say, will fill with SOME NAME TEAMS to Draw fans to SSC
Arkansas Pine Bluff, Howard, Miss Valley State, hey those smaller schools have some athletes.. and quick jumpers, shooters, defenders.. they could beat UH at home at SSC.. with 3800 in the house..
parkpill, you can blame for the next 100 years what Benjy Gib did, however.. This, WHEN Ferd who was very critical of Gib Benjy, starts an article.. This WILL NOT PLEASE THE FANBASE.. Ganot’s schedule.. he is finally telling it like it is.. Ganot.. Will Not be very popular, with YOU KNOW WHO? The Basketball Boosters.. their hopes were sky high.. for Better non conference home games, the UCLAs, USCs, Syracuse, Wake Forrests, Norte Dames to fill those pukas.. Ganot DID NOT.. and it is awful.. talk about, NOT being a High Profile scheduler.. He sounded like he could ask just about any west coast, or mid west team to come down for a few games.. Ganot Cannot.
It is very sad.
just watch on TV.. if they play Benjy style Ball. not Eran/ Riley fles, San Antonio pick and pop
parkpill, who you always say? blame the ONE AT THE TOP right? of MBB program that is GANOT.. so blame goes to him, he finalized this contract.. the HPU, Chaminade, and UH Hilo.., well they want that in state thing.. that is okay, but the other, weather vane schools , same ole same..
Not Benjy staff, Ganot staff.. They at The Top Right? They will get the blame or credit.. right? Aurtie.. Not for Ganot.. Riley even had better non conference schedules
So how you gonna know how good a team you are by beating cupcakes? All you need to do is lose to one of those teams and there goes your RPI. And you’ll never rebound out of it cause no one will take you serious after that. This was the year that we needed to come out of our nest and challenge some power teams. But it looks like that won’t happen. This is strike one for the administration. No worries. You got two more. Just like Herman did. But at least try to swing the bat because that’s what it’s used for.
I see the logic in not playing any tough opponents in the pre-season, especially when a new coach is brought in. As others have mentioned, it’s more important to get wins and for the team to adapt to a new style of play. All that is achieved playing against lesser opponents. Not saying the trip to Texas will be an easy one though.
The key to winning is building confidence although the schedule isn’t the strongest the players will benefit late in the season.
Just win baby.
I agree its soft schedule like Kobe would say Charmin haha but the team can’t over look any opponent and that’s on the coach if the players fall asleep and don’t sleep on Coastal Carolina. They are in the same conference as High Point Big South. people forget High Point beat Hawaii last year. Coastal Carolina made the dance last season.
Nevada use to beat our okole back in the WAC 2004-2008 days with Ramon Sessions and Nick Fazekas
Texas Tech. I think Tubby Smith will have a team this year. so that won’t be a gimme either.
For the first schedule under Ganot, I’ll give him a pass. Matlin and Ganot need to step it up thereafter. I think I made a good decision not to renew the seasons tickets for this coming season. I’ll just watch TV or the radio.
I agree that season tickets will be a tough sell from here on out. UH administration can thank themselves for that.
There are still a couple of best case scenarios I can think of that could bring sellouts. The first one is if UH is undefeated going into Diamond Head Classic and then they beat Northern Iowa on the first night. I think that would make UH 10-0 at that point and they would probably play national ranked Oklahoma the next night. IF that happens, I think it will be close to a sellout for the Oklahoma game.
Then, IF UH can upset Oklahoma, I think it could be close to another sellout for the championship game (especially if its against BYU) even though on Christmas Day.
Then, IF UH wins that championship game and stay undefeated into Big West, just about every Saturday night game in conference will be close to sellout … or at least until they start losing some games on the road, which will happen.
LOL, at least this schedule can make us dream about going for undefeated season until Big West starts!
UH fanz,
You can’t fill the schedule with power teams in 4 months. Most teams already had their schedules set. To me, previous staff is partly to blame for not having this years schedule filled.
So you’re going to give grief to Ganot for not keeping his recruit academically eligible, yet Benjy gets a pass for the academic problems some members of the team had last season?? The problems last season were the reason they pulled out of the Vegas tourney this season.
Hypocrisy at it’s finest! Looks like a lot of the problems you’re griping about today were partly brought about by the previous staff. Haha
Parklill, easy to blame the old regime, but Ganot could not even get his star recruit to pass one summer class at a JC, so obviously he has issues with academics as well. I feel all the blame for the schedule is on Matlin. Let’s cut Ganot (and the old regime) some slack with the schedule.
That decision to pay to get out of the Las Vegas Tournament is looking like a huge scar on Matlin’s head right now. Ferd Lewis now saying it was $120,000 buyout!!! This don’t include the $85,000 that UH was getting from the tournament. That is $205,000 mistake, and road game at Texas Tech and home games against Nicholls State, Arkansas Pine Bluff and HPU not gonna cut it.
Using the “academics” excuse sounds good, but not really. The students these days can stay in touch so easy with the teachers through email, texting, or other online ways. Also, what does this say about the academic advisors who travel with the team? Are they not capable of helping out a dozen or so basketball players on a one-week trip?
I am trying to stay positive but so frustrating, especially after so much big talk about upgrading the schedule immediately and being in touch with ACC schools. This is sounding like a mini-version of Frazier already (I hope not!). I wasn’t expecting a top 25 schedule, but was not expecting it to be this bad either.
You know what stinks?
We fans, alumnus , donors, students, new and old fans..
COMPLETELY DECEIVED AND MISLED BY
UH admin, lassner, bley vroman, matlin, paterson, beeman and her mbb hc search committee..
WE THOUGHT THEY BROUGHT IN SUPERMEN IN MATLIN AND GANOT..
NOT..
SHIBAI..
season tickets should be refunded since obviously boosters and fans duped into thinking 2 or 3 marquee name high or high mid major teams would be on ssc home schedule..
Such deceit, hypocrites..attack Gib and Benjy oust them and turn around and make schedule so eran can win 20 games get 4th year extension if he stiil here next season..
Pilau
Well all the moreso, hope Gib and Benjy get justice and knock UH admin on their okoles..pono.
And not fantasy soon will happen..you can dump on people for so long and stretch truth or make owmn truths..however,,spit hitting UH ADMIN SOON..
HC dream job not dream schedule, worse than Gib Benjy’s schedule
Lose key top assistant to dII School
Bryce cannot earn AS community college degree
And no, absolutle no current big from australia available for this year
I love Gib and Benjy’s guys, no respect for eran, deceit and his bosses
Pilau
Still hope team does well
Bigdaddy..the whole point? Not retain Benjy? Eran better person, coach , recruiter and scheduler
That is a load of bull sugar
So , you continue to debbie downer the new coach even before he coaches his first game ,complete his first season . hMMMM , but that’s normal coming from the nonFanz only with the bi polar disorder.