‘Bows’ schedule ‘good as it could be’

Opportunities for wins could be many in Eran Ganot’s first season as Hawaii basketball coach.

UH released a 29-game schedule on Friday, featuring 19 dates at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Highlights include a nonconference road game at Texas Tech on Nov. 28 and some tough competition in the annual Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Dec. 22-25. UH is also still working on a return to the Big Island to play Hawaii Hilo on Dec. 19, but it wasn’t quite finalized as of Friday.

Ganot inherited most of the nucleus of last season’s 22-win team led by interim coach Benjy Taylor. That core, which reached the Big West tournament championship game, will be favored to take most of their 11 nonconference home games, many of which are against lesser-known opposition that struggled last season.

"Nineteen games at the Stan Sheriff Center, I think that’s important for our fan base, and important for our student-athletes," Ganot said. "I think it’s important to have a balanced schedule, but I don’t think this was the year where we had as much control. Moving forward, I expect it to be more balanced, but it did accomplish what we wanted."

Ganot said having adequate off days between games was important for his players, and achieving that was one reason for a relatively late schedule release.

Following a Nov. 5 exhibition vs. Chaminade, the Rainbow Warriors open the season on Nov. 13 against Montana State in the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic, the second time in six years UH arranged its debut against the Bobcats of the Big Sky Conference. Montana State went 7-23 last season.

Some of the schedule was already completed by Taylor’s staff. Elements of it were rearranged.

"I think scheduling is always challenging, and when you try to embark on that in April (it’s tough)," Ganot said. "One of the things moving forward, we’re going to get ahead of things. That’s how we want to do it. But you still have to do what you believe is best for your program. So … you might make it a combination of where it was at and what we needed to do to make it as good as it could be given the situation."

If the UH Hilo game can be finalized, it will mark the second time in five years UH will travel to the Vulcans’ home island to play its sister school in Kona. UH intends to keep up its recent trend of playing two Division II teams in the regular season; it plays Hawaii Pacific in a Dec. 12 game.

Other recent traditions have been upheld, as well. As previously announced, UH will again play in the late-night ESPN College Hoops Tip-off Marathon — the Rainbows haven’t missed one in eight years of the event — this time against former WAC foe Nevada on Nov. 16. And the Diamond Head should again feature the best teams to come through the Sheriff. UH opens it against Northern Iowa (31-4 last year) and will face two more from a pool of Oklahoma, Washington State, Harvard, New Mexico, BYU and Auburn.

Coastal Carolina, the Big South tournament champion last season (24-10), was a late addition to the schedule and bolsters the strength of the Rainbow Classic. UH meets the Chanticleers on Nov. 15.

Other nonconference opponents that will pass through the Sheriff are Nicholls State (Nov. 22); Arkansas-Pine Bluff — yes, for the fourth time in six years — (Dec. 2); Mississippi Valley State (Dec. 29); and Howard (Jan. 2).

UH was signed up for the Las Vegas Invitational during Thanksgiving week when Ganot became coach, but, citing team academics, he decided to drop out of those games, which included contests at California and at San Diego State.

Texas Tech of the Big 12, coached by Tubby Smith, emerged as the notable stand-alone road opponent. The meeting in Lubbock will be the first overall between the schools.

"I know playing a Big 12 team on the road is difficult, especially one coached by Tubby Smith," Ganot said. "We’ll have our hands full with that, but we got out of the Vegas event and it was still important for us to find a road game. It puts you in hostile territory to prepare your team, and I think this will help us do that."

UH opens Big West Conference play at home this year with Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara coming to town on Jan. 6 and 9. The Rainbows will finish the 16-game league slate on the road, at UC Davis and Long Beach State on March 3 and 5, just before heading to the Big West tournament.

"The Big West is a conference on the rise and will undoubtedly pose a challenge for us," Ganot said.