{"id":2442,"date":"2025-01-25T09:36:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T19:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/?p=2442"},"modified":"2025-01-25T14:54:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T00:54:34","slug":"warriors-travel-to-big-west-leader-uc-irvine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/2025\/01\/25\/warriors-travel-to-big-west-leader-uc-irvine\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors travel to Big West leader UC Irvine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hawai’i center Tanner Christensen, shown here in a game earlier this season, scored 11 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in Thursday’s 68-66 loss at UC Davis. (Chris Kadooka file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Without much time for tears, the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team hopped onto a plane Friday and headed some 430 miles south to face its next challenge: Big West Conference leader UC Irvine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Warriors, who suffered a heartbreaking 68-66 loss at UC Davis on Thursday, will face the first-place Anteaters at 5 p.m. Hawai’i time on Saturday. The game will be available via livestream on ESPN+ and will be broadcast live on radio via ESPN Honolulu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Warriors are now 12-7 overall and 4-4 in league play, coming off the defeat in which they missed two potential game-tying layups in the final three seconds. UC Irvine is 17-3 and 7-1 after a stunning 84-80 loss at UC Riverside on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myles Che led the Anteaters with 20 points, Bent Leuchten added 17 points and 12 rebounds and Devin Tillis contributed 16 points and 10 boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But beyond the individuals, UH guard Kody Williams said it is UC Irvine’s team play that often sets them apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They’re just so well-connected,” Williams said. “Obviously they have great individual players, but when you watch them, they’re all on the same page, they’re all in the right spots. They make the right play, they play as a team — that’s the biggest thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They’re willing to give up a good shot for a great shot. That’s what I see when I watch them. The times that I’ve played against them, it feels like they have 10 people on the court, when it’s just five. They’re a really good team and we’re going to have our hands full.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UH coach Eran Ganot also tipped his hat to UCI’s sustained level of competitivess..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“”They’ve been consistent, and they’ve done it in different ways with different (players),” Ganot said. “And in our league, they are at the forefront of having a lot of returning faces.That’s really valuable when you have a consistently strong program. The staples are the same: they’re physical, they play tough, they rebound, they defend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There might be different ways to do things, but the staples are the same.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big West Conference Standings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UC Irvine 7-1
UC San Diego 6-2
UC Davis 6-3
UC Riverside 5-3
Cal State Northridge 5-3
UC Santa Barbara 4-4
HAWAI\u2019I 4-4<\/strong>
Cal State Bakersfield 4-4
Long Beach State 3-5
Cal State Fullerton 1-8
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 0-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Without much time for tears, the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team hopped onto a plane Friday and headed some 430 miles south to face its next challenge: Big West Conference leader UC Irvine. The Warriors, who suffered a heartbreaking 68-66 loss at UC Davis on Thursday, will face the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2442"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2461,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442\/revisions\/2461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warriorinsider.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}