Setbacks threatened to define all hours of a long Tuesday for the Hawaii men’s basketball team.

First, the Rainbow Warriors dropped a 62-54 decision to High Point and forked over the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic title to the Panthers in the early hours of the morning. The nationally televised game tipped off at midnight as part of ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-off Marathon.

Then, as UH (2-1) practiced Tuesday afternoon in preparation for Wednesday’s contest against Division II sister school Hawaii Hilo (1-1), freshman forward Sammis Reyes injured a hand and left the Stan Sheriff Center mid-practice to get treatment. Head coach Benjy Taylor said "I think he broke (it)" and that the player went to a hospital in the evening.

The 6-foot-6 Reyes hasn’t seen game action yet, and has barely participated in practices. He broke a pinkie toe and missed most of the preseason. Soon after head coach Gib Arnold’s firing on Oct. 28, Reyes left the team, then rejoined it a day before the 2014-15 season opener.

If the hand is broken, he could miss several weeks.

"It’s frustrating for him, more than anything," Taylor said. "He’s had some rough go of it here. Broken toe … breaks his hand. So he’s had a rough go of it. We can always give him a medical redshirt if it’s broken. Hey, as bad as things seem, it’s always never as bad as you think it is."

The Rainbow Warriors will attempt to push through with their eight-man rotation and rediscover effective ball movement against the Vulcans. UH had only five assists and shot 31.4 percent in the loss to the Panthers. As High Point closed the game out with a 20-3 run, UH put up a series of rushed shots.

"I mean, just movement of the ball," sophomore swingman Negus Webster-Chan said. "Felt like we had too much quick shots, 1-on-1s. We’re going to be getting better at passing the ball around. Benjy preached that to us this morning, and last night."

Webster-Chan was one of four UH starters who struggled. He shot 0-for-8 from the field, forward Aaron Valdes was 0-for-5, shooting guard Garrett Nevels went 2-for-8 and point guard Roderick Bobbitt was 1-for-6 before fouling out with 3:21 to play. Forward Mike Thomas scored a career-best 14 but sat most of the second half with foul trouble. Freshman guard Isaac Fleming scored 11 off the bench.

Taylor cited fatigue as a factor, but it was apparent UH didn’t have a go-to shot-maker down the stretch that morning.

"I didn’t actually feel like they shut me down," Webster-Chan said. "I just felt like my shots weren’t going in. It’s going to be those nights where you can’t make every shot, and I guess that was one of those nights. But I’m gonna bounce back on Wednesday and Friday."

UH plays Pittsburgh (headed up by former UH assistant Jamie Dixon) on Friday at Maui’s War Memorial Gym in one of the highlights of the nonconference schedule. It’s part of a stretch of eight games in 13 days for the Rainbow Warriors to open the season.

But first, Hilo will test its mettle against its bigger sibling.

"They are a very talented group," second-year Hilo coach GE Coleman said of UH. "I’m impressed with how athletic they are. They’re quick on the perimeter. A high quality, good Division I opponent for us to have the opportunity to play against."

The Vulcans split two games in a tournament in the Pacific Northwest to open their season. Junior forward Tre Johnson scored 24 against both Northwest Nazarene and D-II power Western Washington, shooting a combined 18-for-26 (69.2 percent).

"He kind of sets the tone," Coleman said. "Our front line sets the tone for the rest of our team. The more touches we can get for Tre, the better off we’ll be as a whole as a team."

UH blitzed UHH 114-63 at the Sheriff last season, and Hilo went on to go 7-19 (4-16 PacWest). But Coleman feels more confident in his group while having a full year to recruit. In July 2013 he inherited the program from Jeff Law with only four returnees on the roster.

"We hope to make a pretty big jump this year," Coleman said.