HONOLULU — Fans planning to catch a glimpse of the Hawaii men’s basketball team on its home court in the pre-conference portion of the 2022-23 schedule would do well to save a few key dates.

Specifically, dates for tournaments at the start and end of the nonconference slate, because the Rainbow Warriors will appear at the Stan Sheriff Center just once in between.

What You Need To Know

  • The Hawaii men's basketball team will open the 2022-23 season on Nov. 11 against Mississippi Valley State in the Outrigger Rainbow Classic, the first of seven nonconference games in the Stan Sheriff Center

  • UH will also play three nonconference games on the North Shore of Oahu at BYU-Hawaii's Cannon Activities Center, and take a nonconference road trip to Las Vegas to face UNLV

  • The 20-game Big West Conference season begins at home on Dec. 29 against UC Davis

  • The Rainbow Warriors strongest competition, as per usual, figures to come in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Dec. 22, 23 and 25

Per the official schedule released this week, UH opens in usual fashion with the Outrigger Rainbow Classic Nov. 11, 12 and 14, with Mississippi Valley State, Eastern Washington and Yale coming to town for the round-robin tournament.

The nonconference season ends in similarly traditional fashion with the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Dec. 22, 23 and 25. UH knows it will open with Pepperdine there.

The only other game at the Sheriff Center, until Big West Conference play on Dec. 29, is first-time opponent Saint Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 11.

Although the ‘Bows will vacate the SSC for nearly a month (a 26-day stretch without a game there, to be exact), they’ve staked out plenty of time on the North Shore of Oahu. In addition to the previously announced North Shore Classic at Brigham Young University-Hawaii on Nov. 25 and 26, UH added a game at the Cannon Activities Center with Hawaii Pacific University on Nov. 19. The HPU game is akin to the “Hawaii exemption” contests UH played around the state in the Gib Arnold era — there were neutral-site games on Hawaii Island, Maui, Molokai and Kauai during those years — to add a game even if UH was already at the maximum count of contests.

Eighth-year coach Eran Ganot will take his team to the mainland once in nonconference play, to Las Vegas to face UNLV at the nearby Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev. The 5,500-seat DLC is the site of the Big West tournament March 7-11.

Independent of site, UNLV, with a KenPom rating of 90 in 2021-22, is, on paper, the toughest opponent UH will see until the Diamond Head Classic. Former UH guard Justin Webster is a senior for the Runnin' Rebels.

The 2022-23 season is the second that UH has had fewer nonconference games overall since the Big West Conference elected to go to a 20-game regular season, up from 16, upon the addition of Cal State Bakersfield and UC San Diego.

Big West play begins at home against UC Davis on Dec. 29. Defending regular-season champ Long Beach State comes to town Jan. 14 and defending tournament champion Cal State Fullerton arrives Feb. 11.

Starting this season, games against UC San Diego will count on teams’ conference records, changing the policy to match what is used for women’s basketball, although the Tritons are still only in their third of four years of Division I transition and are still not eligible for the Big West tournament.

In the 2023-24 season, the league will drop to an 18-game season so as to “participate in a potential nonconference wildcard scheduling initiative” in February that year, the conference announced in June.

Here are last season’s KenPom overall team ratings, out of 358 Division I programs, for UH’s nonconference opponents for the upcoming season. As a point of reference, Hawaii was roughly in the middle at 169 in 2021-22 for its 17-11 season.

  • Nov. 11: Mississippi Valley State (Southwestern Athletic, KenPom 355)
  • Nov. 13: Eastern Washington (Big Sky, KenPom 217)
  • Nov. 14: Yale (Ivy League, KenPom 147)
  • Nov. 19: vs. Hawaii Pacific (PacWest, KenPom N/A)
  • Nov. 25: vs. Sacramento State (Big Sky, KenPom 317)
  • Nov. 26: vs. Southern Utah (Western Athletic, KenPom 162) OR vs. Texas State (Sun Belt, KenPom 136)
  • Dec. 7: at UNLV (Mountain West, KenPom 90)
  • Dec. 11: Saint Francis (Pa.), (Northeast, KenPom 325)
  • Dec. 22: Pepperdine (West Coast, KenPom 279)
  • Dec. 23: George Washington (Atlantic 10, KenPom 226) OR Washington State (Pac-12, KenPom 44)
  • Dec. 25: TBD among Iona (KenPom 89); SMU (Kenpom 62); Seattle (KenPom 139); or Utah State (KenPom 60)

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.