HONOLULU — As Juan Munoz stepped off the court and made his way down the line of the Hawaii bench, a series of coaches and teammates dapped him up. He lastly encountered strength and conditioning coach Tanner Hull, who enveloped the guard in a bear hug.
Only in that moment did Munoz realize the significance: After two years of false starts, he’d finally completed his first official college basketball game as a Rainbow Warrior.
“It was special,” Munoz said following Tuesday night’s 82-66 victory over Division II sibling Hawaii Hilo in front of 1,796 (3,827 tickets issued). “It didn’t really hit me until I got subbed out the last time. I just thought today was just another game. But it’s been my first one for a while so it was pretty special. I just want to thank Coach (Eran) Ganot for giving me an opportunity to be out there and playing with my brothers.
“Just happy to be out there.”
It was a long time coming. Munoz, a 6-foot sharpshooter who came to UH after spending five seasons at Longwood, is embarking on his eighth year of college basketball — made possible due to a combination of a redshirt year, multiple injury hardship years and a COVID year.
At both Longwood and UH, he endured a series of injuries that would make any athlete contemplate retirement. There were ACL problems in both places. Last year, he showcased his outside touch in a flurry during an exhibition against Hilo, only to be undone by an Achilles tear that cost him yet another year.
Munoz went through UH’s 2022-23 senior ceremony in the spring, but kept the door ajar for one last chance at a fulfilling finale to his college career.
The 34-point preseason loss to Saint Mary’s on Oct. 20 showed that Munoz, who appeared limited and tentative against the Gaels’ talented backcourt, wasn’t quite ready yet. Fortunately, UH had more than three weeks to prepare for its official opener.
Against Hilo, Ganot said that it would only be human nature for Munoz to have lingering thoughts of what transpired the year before against the same opponent. But he played free in his 14 minutes on the floor, scoring nine points with three rebounds, three assists and two turnovers, primarily with the second unit as he spelled starter JoVon McClanahan.
The guard splashed an open wing 3 in the first half as his first UH bucket.
He finished with a game-best plus-19 plus/minus rating in his first official action since he scored 21 in a loss to Pepperdine in the College Basketball Invitational to cap Longwood's 2020-21 season.
UH’s touted newcomer this season, North Carolina transfer Justin McKoy, arrived in large part due to the coaxing of his childhood friend from the Tar Heel State. McKoy, who replaced Kamaka Hepa as UH's starting power forward, was proud to make his debut alongside Munoz’s.
“His story is inspiring. I feel like, I don’t want to be disrespectful when I say this — when he got hurt, I got hurt,” McKoy said after scoring a team-high 15 with six rebounds. “Like dang, that’s my guy. I want to see him succeed as bad as I want to succeed. Talking all last season, checking in with him. To see this game, to see him finish a game — I didn’t think about it either because (I was) so locked into the game. Afterwards I’m like, man, he finished it, he played well. … He sees the court so well. He’s such a good shooter. He’s a tough person to guard. I love playing with him. Excited to play with him the rest of the season too.”
Ganot acknowledged that he’ll have to place Munoz in his own category when he considers how to hone a rotation. McClanahan, Noel Coleman, Yale transfer Matthue Cotton, North Carolina transfer Justin McKoy and Bernardo da Silva comprised Tuesday’s all-senior starting five.
The rotation reserves were Munoz, New Zealand freshman Tom Beattie, sophomore forward Harry Rouhliadeff and sophomore center Mor Seck. Guards Kody Williams and Ryan Rapp and forward Akira Jacobs, the first player in program history from Japan, received stints in the final minutes.
Coleman, UH’s leading scorer the last two years, put in 10 points. One of the biggest revelations was Beattie, a 6-4 freshman guard from New Zealand, who was fearless in putting in 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Seck had a few dunks among his 4-for-4 outing for nine points and Rouhliadeff was effective as a stretch 4 with eight points and five rebounds.
Cotton was scoreless in assuming the wing spot formerly held by six-year player Samuta Avea. Hepa is playing pro in Poland while Avea is in the Netherlands.
The next experiment will take place Thursday, when UH hosts Niagara (0-2) of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Purple Eagles, who only lost by seven at Notre Dame in their opener last week, were a very late addition to the schedule to make up for the loss of the Rainbow Classic. With the four-team tournament a no-go this year due to a scheduling snafu, UH was the last team of 362 in NCAA Division I to make its 2023-24 debut, more than a week after most of the country opened up play.
Given his history, Munoz will have his minutes closely watched for the time being.
“That’s one of the dynamics we’re trying to navigate right now. You’re trying to build your rotation and then you have someone in a different world in that regard,” Ganot said.
Tuesday's showing against UH's Division II sibling featured plenty of good and bad. Ganot said his staff will attempt to address some breakdowns in transition, in ball control and shot selection that were revealed by the Vulcans (3-2), who looked to push tempo throughout in their unofficial sixth game of the year (it counted officially for UH, but as an exhibition for UHH as a D-II team).
UH led by 13 at halftime and by as many as 23 on a Munoz-led 8-0 run before Kaniela Aiona’s Vulcans trimmed the gap to 11 late. Guard Charles Elzie III led UHH with 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting.
Former five-year UH forward Zoar Nedd started for the Vulcans and was 1-for-6, all on 3-pointers, for three points. The Kapolei High graduate is getting an opportunity to start and play meaningful minutes that he didn’t as a walk-on at UH, and got some cheers from the crowd upon his introduction and he greeted familiar faces afterward.
“It was cool to be a part of that,” Aiona said. “He’s a good young man. … People here love him. People in Hilo are getting to know him and love him. Cool storyline, game within a game tonight regardless of what he scored or how he shot the ball. He always does a good job because he’s a mature player and teammate and tries to do the right thing. He makes us better regardless of whether the ball’s going in or not.”
Said Ganot, “It’s hard to see him on the other side. We have so much love … and respect for him. We were making sure he didn’t get those 3s and then … skip the ball to get those guys engaged.
“He’ll have a great year and so will they.”
The late Hilo coach Jimmy Yagi, who died in June at age 88, had a front-row seat in the form of a cardboard cutout behind the Vulcans' bench.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.