On a close to annual basis, the University of Hawaii at Hilo travels to Oahu in the preseason to play men’s and women’s basketball exhibitions against bigger sibling UH-Manoa at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The tradition is flipped this weekend as the Division II Vulcans will play host to the Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo.
It is a rare opportunity for Hawaii Island hoops fans to take in the intra-state rivalries. The Rainbow Warriors and Vulcans meet at 7 p.m. Friday night, while the UHH and UH women will play at 2 p.m. Sunday.
It is a special occasion for Wahine fifth-year senior guard Kelsie Imai, a Waiakea High School graduate who has waited patiently for this moment.
“We’ve talked about this for a couple years now,” Imai, a Pahoa native, told Honolulu media at the start of full practices in late September. “I would always bug Alex (associate head coach Delanian), ‘when are you going to take me home? I want to play against Hilo in Hilo.’ So, I’m super excited to play in front of my family, especially my grandparents; they haven’t seen me play since high school in person.
“I’m just excited to give back to the keiki in Hilo and be that light.”
Neither game will not be televised or live streamed, but ESPN Honolulu will carry a radio call of both. In between the games, there will be a free keiki clinic for boys and girls at Pana‘ewa Park Gym on Saturday afternoon.
The UH men were last on the Big Island for a Dec. 16, 2011 game against Hilo at Kealakehe High School in Kona. Manoa was last in Hilo in November 2001 for the Big Island Invitational Tournament to play Mercer, Colorado State and Wisconsin.
The UH women last appeared at the Civic Auditorium in 2010 for the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Shootout, a pair of losses to UCLA and East Carolina.
Bill O’Rear, a former Vulcan player and former sports editor of the Hawaii Tribune-Herald who now lives in San Diego, told Spectrum News that more meetings between UH and UHH would be a welcome sight for Big Island hoops fans.
“The opportunity … is a blessing that should become an annual event,” O’Rear said in a message. “It’s a time for both programs to showcase what their NCAA Division I and II programs offer and gives fans from around the state a unique experience to cheer on all the teams. A win-win for college basketball in Hawaii.
“It’s also extra special that the games are being played at tradition-rich Hilo Civic,” he added, “an aging facility that has hosted so many of the most exciting UH-Hilo games over the years against D-I powerhouses and state rivals Chaminade, Hawaii Pacific and BYU-Hawaii as well as many Big Island high school championship games during those memorable decades.”
It is the first time that 13-year coach Laura Beeman has taken her team off-island for a preseason exhibition.
Beeman said her team, a Big West preseason favorite which features 10 returnees from a Big West regular-season championship season, expects an enthusiastic effort from coach David Kaneshiro's group on its home court. UH was to spend Friday night with the Imai family.
“(Kelsie) is probably more excited than what she shared, but I think when she gets off the plane Friday she’s going to be bouncing from spot to spot,” Beeman said this week. “When you can bring someone home it’s amazing.”
Imai is not the only UH player with family there. Point guard Lily Wahinekapu, a Kaneohe native, has family in Kona on her mother’s side.
“Can’t wait to be over there and connect with kids over there,” Wahinekapu said, “and be in a different environment.”
The Oahu fan base will not get a look at either UH hoops team before the season’s start, Nov. 8 at home for the UH men and Nov. 7 on the road for the women.
UH officially announced Thursday its basketball exhibition doubleheader against Chaminade at Kamehameha-Maui on Nov. 2, after Spectrum News’ earlier report. The games will be free admission at 2 and 5 p.m. and UH will put on a free keiki clinic Nov. 1 at Lahainaluna High’s gym.
“It’s one of those unique years when we’re taking our guys off island for some of those exhibitions-slash-scrimmages,” Rainbow Warriors coach Eran Ganot said at the Rainbow Madness intro event last week.
The UH men, who lost their top six scorers from 2023-24 and were picked to finish seventh in the Big West, open the season Nov. 8 against NAIA Life Pacific.
“We gotta certainly have a little more urgency to get comfortable, quick, since we do have a game (soon),” Ganot said.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.