Warrior Insider

Head coach Eran Ganot described January 9 as “one of the great days for me as a head coach” at the University of Hawai’i, and the Big West Conference opening win over Cal State Fullerton was only half of the reason why.

Gym 2 – the Rainbow Warriors’ primary practice gym since 1981 – received an official blessing on January 9 after a renovation project was completed in December.

The project prevented the Warriors from practicing in Gym 2 during the preseason and into the first two months of this season. But the wait was definitely worth it.

“I’ve been here for five years, so I had a lot of practices in the hot Gym 1, Gym 2, Klum … and to see the school and state come together to provide something like that for us as a basketball program is something I’m very appreciative of,” senior guard Brocke Stepteau said.

The most noticeable change is the addition of air conditioning. “It’s beautiful,” senior forward Jack Purchase said. “You walk in and get hit with a cool breeze of air. It definitely helps. You used to walk into Gym 2 and it was hot and muggy. You don’t want to use it as an excuse, but it definitely affects you in the long run.”

There are several other additions, including two more baskets for shooting (bringing the total to eight within Gym 2), additional scoreboards on the walls, shot clocks on four of the backboards, mounted cameras as part of a video system that records practices, speakers with Bluetooth capabilities, and new lighting.

Stepteau said Gym 2 received rave reviews from one of his best friends who plays for nationally-ranked TCU, which was allowed to use Gym 2 when it was here for the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in late December.

“He was like, ‘man, y’alls practice gym is nicer than ours’ and if he said that, TCU is a Big 12 program so they have great facilities,” Stepteau said.

 The UH basketball team shares Gym 2 with the UH women’s basketball team, and the UH men’s and women’s volleyball teams. Gym 1 is another practice gym that is sometimes used by the Warriors, and that gym is next on the schedule to receive an upgrade.

“I think it’s the best practice facility in the Big West now,” Purchase said of Gym 2. “Now that they’re doing Gym 1 as well, I think we’re definitely going to have the best facilities in the whole Big West. We have the Stan (Sherif Center) which is definitely the best arena to play in, and the practice gyms coming along will put us at the top.”