HONOLULU — At the Hawaii men’s basketball preseason tipoff fundraiser, point guard Kody Williams had something to say about the Rainbow Warriors’ fifth game of the season.
It was something to the effect of, “We’ve got something for those guys.”
UH, 4-0 on the season after an overtime win over Weber State on Sunday, has a chance to prove it against No. 10 North Carolina at 7:30 p.m. Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. The game is being televised nationally on ESPN2. For UNC (2-1), it is a stopover on the way to play in the Maui Invitational next week.
What the ‘Bows have for certain are some throwback green floral print uniforms that hearken to the days of the Fabulous Five. They will auction them off after the game.
“We’re coming in with a sense of confidence. We’re coming in with some swag,” Williams said. “I think the jerseys help with that.”
Williams, a Minnetonka, Minn., native who has his own clothing line, rated the style "10 out of 10."
Hawaii has faced Michael Jordan’s alma mater five times, including in three straight Decembers from 1992 to 1994. It’s lost all five by double figures; the closest was by 12 points in 1994 in the first year of the SSC. Carolina prevailed 83-68 when the teams met at the Sheriff in 2016, another Heels stopover to Maui.
UH coach Eran Ganot lauded the six-time national champion as “the bluest of Blue Bloods” leading up to the game.
“This is an all-encompassing moment. It’s an opportunity to show off our state,” he said.
Hawaii wing Noah Allen scored a game-high 22 points in the 2016 game during Ganot’s second season, but the No. 5 Heels doubled up UH on the backboards, 46-23. That’s what UNC did against American University in a 52-point win last Friday in Chapel Hill.
Fourth-year coach Hubert Davis, a former Tar Heels shooting guard who sank 44% of his 3-pointers in his NBA career, cares more about the glass; he wants to dominate that statistic every night.
“The No. 1 determining factor in the outcome of the game is rebounding the basketball,” he said in a weekly media session before UNC traveled to the islands on Wednesday.
The Tar Heels allowed American to take an 18-13 lead before exploding to win 107-55. Their 52-point margin of victory was their largest since the 2008-09 season.
UNC averages 95.3 points per game. Its loss was by three points to No. 1 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on Nov. 8.
Slow starts have been the common theme across all three Carolina games, something UH could look to exploit.
Center Tanner Christensen won Big West Player of the Week for his 25-point outing on 10-for-11 shooting last weekend. The ‘Bows are expecting to have forward Akira Jacobs back after he missed the Weber State game with a foot ailment, and guard Ryan Rapp made his season debut off the bench against Weber, meaning just about everyone is available to throw at the talented Heels.
All-America guard and reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year RJ Davis has not shot the ball well from the field (31.9%) but the 6-foot guard has made up for it at the line (90%). He paces UNC with 17.7 points per game but is followed closely by 6-1 Elliot Cadeau (15.7) and 6-3 Seth Trimble (15.7).
The Heels’ coaching staff is comprised exclusively of alumni. Hubert Davis spoke warmly about his trip to Hawaii his sophomore year in 1989-90, even though the Heels lost to Missouri in the championship game of the Maui Invitational, when Davis — he still remembered vividly in a media session earlier this week — went 0-for-10 from the field.
“To go to Honolulu and go to Maui, that’s something our guys have never thought about and dreamed about,” Davis said. “So, giving them opportunities for them to experience things that they’ve never experienced before is something that really brings joy to my heart. Obviously we’re out there to compete and to win and become a better basketball team.”
That’s not to say Davis and UNC are looking ahead to Maui this time.
“Our mind is fully on Hawaii. After we play them, then we’ll focus on the next game,” he said.
The game was effectively a do-over for a planned 2020 contest between UH and UNC that was nixed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ganot and then-UNC coach Roy Williams moved it back for the next time UNC would appear on Maui; the contract was signed years in advance.
An uncommon double home date for the UH men and women hoops teams includes an even rarer 11 a.m. tipoff time for the Rainbow Wahine, as they take on Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt Conference.
The UH women split their season-opening road trip to Portland and Portland State on Nov. 7 and 9.
Since that time, the UH athletic department has been embroiled in a huge controversy over UH President David Lassner’s firing of Athletic Director Craig Angelos.
“These guys want to get on the court and they want to play,” coach Laura Beeman said. “They are not distracted. They’re ready to play basketball.”
ULM (3-1) is coming off a 23-point home loss to No. 22 Alabama on Sunday.
Twelve and 13 Wahine played in the first two games as Beeman spread around minutes to a talented roster.
“Going into the season we knew we had a really good class coming in,” senior guard Kelsie Imai said. “We had some good transfers coming in. There were some conversations about how play time’s not going to be what it usually is. It’s just, you gotta give it to them. You gotta earn it. It’s effort and executing. Whoever’s on the court, they deserve to be on the court.”
Some 1,200 elementary school students are expected to be in attendance for a field trip.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.