The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team earned its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2016 on Sunday, and the Warriors learned their Big Dance partner in the opening round will be Southeast Conference champion Arkansas.
UH (24-8) is the No. 14 seed in the West Region, while the Razorbacks (26-8) are No. 3.
The game will tipoff at 10:25 a.m. Thursday in the Moda Center in Portland, Ore. , and be nationally televised live on TBS, and broadcast via radio on ESPN Honolulu 1500AM/Westwood One.
Perennial power Arkansas (26-8) won the SEC Tournament and are ranked No. 14 in this week’s AP Top 25 and No. 15 in the Coaches Poll. The Razorbacks feature electrifying freshman Darius Acuff, Jr., who was named to the AP All-America First Team on Tuesday and is regarded by some as the best point guard in the country.
They are coached by Hall of Famer John Calipari, who guided Kentucky to an NCAA title in 2012 and has been one of college basketball’s most recognizable figures since the early 1990’s. He is tied for fourth place with Roy Williams on the list of all-time career wins, with 903.
The only three above him are Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino.
This will be UH’s sixth NCAA Tournament appearance, with the others coming in 1972, 1994, 2001, 2002 and 2016 — with its only victory coming in the first round against Cal in that last appearance.
“Emotional,” Warriors coach Eran Ganot said, when asked what it’s been like since beating longtime nemesis UC Irvine, 71-64, for the Big West Conference championship in Henderson, Nev., late Saturday night. “I’ve said before there’s nothing like 10 years ago, that special moment to do something that had never been done before. Making the tournament for the first time in 14 years, and winning.”
Hawai’i learned of its seed, opponent and destination at a watch party Sunday afternoon in the Triple 7 Brewery at the Main Street Station Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
They were scheduled to leave Las Vegas for Portland on Tuesday afternoon, and have a short open practice at 9:30 a.m. Hawai’i time on the court in the Moda Center, which is located in downtown Portland and is the home of the Portland Trail Blazers.