Warrior Insider

Ready or not, the University of Hawai’i basketball team will open its 2016-17 season by hosting Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Warriors and Cougars will open the season with a unique 9:00 p.m. start time, due to another college basketball doubleheader earlier at the Sheriff Center. The game, which is part of the three-day Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic, will be televised live in Hawai’i on OCSports (Oceanic channels 16 and 1016).

Fans attending the game are encouraged to wear green shirts for the “Green Out” game.

Hawai’i is coming off its best season in program history, but a well-documented turnover of players has resulted in virtually a brand new team this season. The active roster of 14 players includes 10 newcomers, and zero starters retuning from last season.

In an exhibition victory over BYU-Hawai’i last week, the Warriors went with a starting lineup of sophomore Sheriff Drammeh at point guard, freshman Leland Green at shooting guard, senior transfer Noah Allen at small forward, redshirt sophomore Jack Purchase at power forward, and junior transfer Gibson Johnson at center.

Drammeh, who scored a team-high 19 points in the exhibition victory, averaged just 1.7 points per game as a freshman reserve player last season. He is the team’s leading returning scorer.

Among the reserves who received significant playing time in the exhibition were freshman point guard Matt Owies, junior transfer guard Larry Lewis Jr., redshirt sophomore guard Zach Buscher and freshman center Ido Flaisher.

Those nine players will likely form the main rotation again against an SIU-Edwardsville team that finished with a 6-22 record last season.

The Cougars, who were picked to finish at the bottom of their division in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll, lost a home exhibition game to NCAA Division II McKendree, 91-84, last week.

SIU-Edwardsville does have a few key returnees, including Burak Eslik, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who averaged 14.0 points per game last season. He made seven 3-pointers and scored 40 points in a game against Morehead State last season.

Following Friday’s season-opener, the Warriors will continue round-robin play in the Rainbow Classic with games against Texas State (5:00 p.m., November 13) and Florida Atlantic (11:15 p.m., November 14).

CLICK HERE to read a season preview on the UH guards from www.hawaiiathletics.com

CLICK HERE to read a season preview on the UH post players from www.hawaiiathletics.com

OUTRIGGER RESORTS RAINBOW CLASSIC
Who: Hawai’i (0-0) vs. SIU Edwardsville (0-0)
When: Friday, Nov. 11, 9:00 p.m. (Hawai’i time)
Where: Stan Sheriff Center (10,300)
Television: Live on OCSports – Channels 16 (SD) and 1016 (HD).
Streaming Video: BigWest.tv
Radio: Live on ESPN 1420 AM.
Audio Webcast: ESPN1420am.com
Live Stats: HawaiiAthletics.com
Ticket Information: $30 (lower level); $18-$20 (upper level-adult); $16-$18 (upper level-senior citizen); $5-$7 (upper level-youth, ages 4-high school); UH Manoa students free with validated ID. Parking $6.
Promotions: Outrigger Resorts is the tournament sponsor and will distribute 1,000 spirit flags. Also, Outrigger will award up to $2,000 during the popular “Shoot for Loot” halftime contest. The team will unveil the latest addition in the rafters for last season’s NCAA Tournament 2nd round appearance during pre-game on Friday. Friday’s game is a “Green Out”, and fans are asked to wear UH-branded green, attire.