The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team kicked off six weeks of fall practice on Tuesday afternoon as they prepare for a 2025-26 season-opening trip to Oregon on November 4.
"We don't ever take this for granted. It's like your first day of school as a kid. The first day, it goes quick. So don't take it for granted. I'm really fired up," head coach
Eran Ganot said.
After being limited to just four hours of practice a week with the coaching staff during the preseason program, Ganot and the team were visibly excited to return to a full practice schedule as the first full practice kicked off in energetic fashion.
"We've had an intense, really good summer with our guys, but you only get four hours a week of basketball," Ganot said. "Today's a big celebration because, we're six weeks away from our opener at Oregon and (the coaches) get more access to (the players). We're back up to 20 hours a week, and we're excited about that."
The Rainbow Warriors are looking to bounce back from a down year in 2024-25, finishing below .500 (15-16) for the first time since 2016-17 (14-16).
"You always talked about, you don't need extra motivation. Your genuine natural motivation should be enough. But certainly, if you can ever add fuel to the fire as much as you can, we'll do that," Ganot said. "Our guys are motivated, especially the four guys who were here."
Hawai'i will look to returning players Gytis Nemeikša, (team-leading 12.3 ppg last year),
Harry Rouhliadeff,
Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, and
AJ Economou to lead a Rainbow Warriors squad consisting mostly of newcomers.
"The challenges with the landscape of college athletics are there, but we'll embrace it. We got a lot of new faces," Ganot said about the roster turnover. "We got four returners, which isn't a lot, but they have gotten better, then we've incorporated nine other guys who are off to a good start. So there's excitement too. It's always about the pros and cons of everything. We don't have as many familiar faces, but there's an excitement to the new and the unknown, and the experimenting we'll be doing as we get to know this team better."
The 'Bows dipped into the transfer portal to rebuild the roster, adding eight transfer players in
Hunter Erickson (Utah),
Tanner Cuff (Evansville),
Dre Bullock (South Dakota),
Isaac Finlinson (Snow College),
Isaiah Kerr (Chico State),
Jalen Myers (Norfolk State),
Yacine Toumi (Seton Hall) and
Isaac Johnson (Utah State). UH also added freshman
Hunter Carter out of Rosemary Anderson Prep in Portland, Ore.
"You can't see their true talents until they're comfortable. They're learning a new system, but they're also learning about each other. This game is about chemistry," Ganot said. "We've brought in an impactful group. We have bigs who can shoot it, we have some guards, including
Tanner Cuff, who can post up. So there'll be some inverting, some different styles you'll see. We just want to make sure we don't skip steps and get better every day. What matters right now is making sure we have a good fall."
UH will head to Eugene, Ore. to take on the Oregon Ducks in a rare road-season opener on Nov. 4. The last time the 'Bows opened the regular season on the road was in 2006. Hawai'i will then host East Texas A&M on Nov. 9 in the home opener at the newly named Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
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