Warrior Insider

When the University of Hawai’i basketball program points toward the future, Matt Owies is a player often mentioned as a point of emphasis.

Owies, a 6-foot point guard from Australia, was one of the first recruits targeted by Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot and his staff a year ago. Now enrolled as a true freshman at UH, Owies is in the mix for playing time.

“It’s been really competitive, everyone’s vying for a position to play,” he said. “When people start competing like we are, it sort of brings up the intensity levels.”

Owies brought with him a reputation as a tough-nosed, pass-first point guard, and he is looking to utilize that style to his advantage this preseason.

“I pride myself on my leadership, especially getting everyone in floor positions and finding people open,” he said. “If it happens to be, I can go and score, but I really take pride in setting up my teammates to score.”

Owies said his adjustment to Hawai’i has been aided by teammate and fellow Australian Jack Purchase. They both played for the Melbourne Tigers basketball club while growing up in Australia, and Purchase was a redshirt player for Hawai’i last season.

“I’ve known ‘Purch’ since I was about 10 or 12 years old,” Owies said. “It’s been really good to come in and have that connection with someone right away … it made my adaption over here a lot easier.”

However, Owies was on his own for the first few days of summer classes, and he admitted being a bit overwhelmed at the size of the Manoa campus.

“It took me about three or four days to find where all my classes were and to be able to go there within the time limit,” he said. “I had nine months off back home before coming here for school so I wasn’t used to it. It was sort of a shock coming here being straight back to (school). But they do a really good job of making sure we’re on top of all our work and our quizzes, so it’s been really good.”

As for his adjustment to some of the local cuisine, Owies said he has already developed a fondness for acai bowls.

“We don’t have those (in Australia) and I basically have one a day,” he said. “They’re my favorite; they’re great.”