The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors hope some break time will do their collective body good.

Coming off a rapid-fire stretch of 10 games to open the season, UH enjoyed a light week of practice while it prepared for final exams, and beyond that, Friday’s matchup for Division II neighbor Chaminade at the Blaisdell Arena.

UH (7-3) did some light shooting and installed some new sets early in the week, then took Thursday and Friday off before going full practice on Saturday. Taylor planned to practice in auxiliary Gym 2 at the Manoa lower campus on Sunday morning, but heavy condensation on the court caused him to cancel it and shift it to Monday morning.

"Just couldn’t get any footing in there," Taylor said. "When it rains, it’s virtually impossible to practice (there)."

He said UH’s other gyms weren’t an option that day. Not that the players were necessarily complaining.

"Getting time off is always good for us," said UH’s leading scorer and rebounder Aaron Valdes on Saturday. "Especially with all the games we played already in that (opening) stretch. But I think a lot of us are glad to get out there and play again, even if it is Chaminade. But we’re excited."

Taylor said the days off from practice — planned or not — were important for the team to catch up on academics.

"I feel really good about where we’re at going into finals (Monday)," he said. "You can’t have any academic casualties, so that was very important that we made some headway there. So we did that. In terms of basketball, I felt we got better this week. We got in the gym and got a bunch of shots up and kept our legs. It was important to get some rest."

Shortly after Chaminade, UH must prepare for the home highlight of the nonconference schedule, the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Dec. 22, 23 and 25.

The ‘Bows are encouraged by their progress, even after a 90-70 loss to BYU in Salt Lake City in their last game on Dec 6.

Valdes scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds against the Cougars, helping keep UH in it for the first 30 minutes before the ‘Bows fell behind late.

Valdes, a 6-foot-5 redshirt sophomore, is up to 16.2 points and 7.4 rebounds this season, up from 3.2 ppg and 2.0 rpg as a freshman reserve. Among Big West Conference players, he is fifth in scoring and fourth in boards.

He’s done most of that without having plays run for him.

"I think as a team we’ve accomplished a lot, being 7-3. I think a lot of people had us pegged at like 3-7, opposite record," Valdes said. "We’re just trying to show everybody what we can do. I’m just trying to show everybody what I can do, too. Benjy’s giving me a lot of confidence being out there."

Swingman Negus Webster-Chan missed the BYU game after spraining his right ankle during pregame warm-ups. He’s rehabbed extensively since and is questionable for Chaminade.