‘Tis the season for … a Big West Conference game in early December?!?
That oddity is reality this year, as the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team opens league play Saturday at Long Beach State.
Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. Hawai’i time and the game will be televised live on Spectrum Sportsnet Channel 218, and broadcast live on radio via ESPN Honolulu 1420AM.
In past years the Warriors (4-2) did not begin Big West Conference play until the first week of January, or the last weekend of December at the earliest. But the league has implemented what it calls “Bold Week,” which is intended to add early season intrigue while eliminating three-game weeks in the 2024-25 conference season.
“Bold Week” has added meaning for UH, which is coming off Tuesday’s 78-72 loss at Grand Canyon, in front of 7,004 rabid fans. The crowd will be much smaller at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, but similarly loud and passionate.
“Just to add to this road trip — two hostile environments, two tough road games for us, two teams we have great respect for,” Warriors coach Eran Ganot said. “Long Beach has had some new faces, like a lot of us in this league. They’ve had a tough schedule, and they certainly have the talent to put it all together. Obviously we have great respect for their coaching staff.”
That respect comes from great familiarity — first year Beach head coach Chris Acker was an assistant under Ganot for two seasons (2015-2017), and one of Acker’s assistants, John Montgomery, was on Ganot’s staff for nine seasons (2015-2024).
Long Beach State is off to a rough start at 2-8, but is coming off a 73-56 victory at Cal State Fullerton on Thursday. Four players scored in double figures, led by senior guard Devin Askew (16 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals) and freshman guard Kam Martin (11 points, two assists). Junior guard TJ Wainwright and graduate senior post Austin Johnson each added 10 points.
“Long Beach State is a really great program, it’s a tough road experience for a lot of teams over the years,” Ganot said. “You can see their potential. When you talk about Askew and Wainwright in the backcourt, those are two point-of-attack guys who can create a lot of problems for people, because they can do all those things — they can shoot it, they can attack the paint, play off ball screens, they’re elite in transition, they can make tough shots … And then they have a flurry of front court players that they can throw at you. They have size and athleticism.”
Hawai’i has presented its own share of challenges for opponents, especially with play off the bench. Forward Gytis Nemeiksa entered Tuesday’s game and produced 24 points, including 17 in the second half to help cut an 18-point deficit to just one point (58-57) with 7:20 to play. Guard Marcus Greene added 17 points in a reserve role, with 13 coming after halftime.
“We challenged him, and it was great to see him respond on both ends in the second half,” Ganot said of Greene. “He figured it out — we can get in the paint if we got some shooting around you. I thought our guys made some really good decisions in the second half when they got in the paint, that got us that (19-2) run.”