PORTLAND, Ore. — A resurgent season for the University of Hawai'i men's basketball team ended with a 97-78 loss to Arkansas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore.
The Rainbow Warriors closed the 2025-26 season at 24-9 in a nine-win improvement over last year. The win total marked the highest since
Eran Ganot's debut season as head coach in 2015-16 and the 'Bows capped the season by making the program's sixth appearance in the Big Dance and first in 10 years after capturing the Big West championship in UH's final season of membership.
Fourth-seeded Arkansas (27-8), winners of its last six, advanced to the second round to face No. 12 seed High Point, which upset No. 5 seed Wisconsin in the day's earlier game.
Dre Bullock led the Rainbow Warriors with 21 points and eight rebounds to close out his UH career.
Isaac Johnson connected on three three-pointers and finished with 15 points while playing through foul trouble for much of the game.
Isaac Finlinson added 12 points and
Isaiah Kerr contributed 11 off the bench.
Harry Rouhliadeff completed his four-year career with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and seven boards.
After a frigid start from long range, UH finished with 10 made three-pointers in 30 attempts beyond the arc.
First-team All-American and freshman phenom Darius Acuff led Arkansas with a game-high 24 points to lead five Razorbacks in double figures. Meleek Thomas finished with 21 and Malique Ewin posted a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Arkansas' 97 points were the most by a UH opponent this year. The Razorbacks shot 54.2 percent from the field and outscored the 'Bows 64-40 in the paint with a bevy of alley-oops and driving layups. Arkansas built a 41-31 advantage on the boards and a 20-11 margin in second-chance points.
UH entered the game as the No. 13 seed in the region and started the game ice cold, missing its first seven shots and 11 of its first 13, including 0-for-7 on three pointers. After Arkansas opened up a 26-7 lead, Johnson scored on a dunk and hit UH's first three-pointer to ignite a 9-0 run. The 'Bows closed to 10 at the 9:46 mark of the half when Bullock drove for a dunk.
After missing their first eight three-point attempts, the 'Bows found their range and hit three in a row with Finlinson connecting twice.
Hunter Erickson hit a corner three-pointer and scored on a layup to keep the margin at 10 with 2:42 left. But Arkansas bolted away again with an 8-0 run highlighted by three dunks and led 54-36 going into halftime.
The Razorbacks shot 61 percent from the field and scored 34 points in the paint in the first half.
UH opened the second half on an 11-4 run and cut the deficit to 56-47 on a Bullock breakaway dunk. Arkansas scored the next six points to pull away again and Acuff scored seven straight points for the Razorbacks to push the margin to 20.
UH would get no closer than 15 the rest of the way and the 'Bows starters went to the bench in the final moments to an ovation from the UH supporters in the Moda Center.
The game marked the final UH appearances for a senior class of Rouhliadeff, Johnson, Bullock, Erickson, Gytis Nemeiksa and
Yacine Toumi. It was also the 'Bows' final game as a Big West member before moving to the Mountain West next season.
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