Hawaii and BYU-Hawaii have never matched up in a situation quite like this.

The host Rainbow Warriors and visiting Seasiders, longtime sparring partners, meet today in an preseason matchup of programs that have taken some haymakers.

UH is in the midst of a heavy rebuild of its Big West championship squad of a season ago while it awaits a final ruling on its NCAA sanctions. The ’Bows have a brand-new starting five and 10 newcomers in all.

The Division II Seasiders, meanwhile, will no longer exist as an athletics program after this season.

It’s the first opportunity for both teams to play an opponent in front of a crowd, though the result doesn’t officially count.

“This group, as part of the progression, needs to get to that step,” second-year UH coach Eran Ganot said. “We gotta find our identity, both overall and offensively/defensively. We gotta get there quick. Needless to say, we got work to do.”

In 2014, a decision was made at the BYU system level to phase out sports at the Laie campus over a three-year period. It’s made remaining competitive increasingly challenging; longtime athletic director and hoops coach Ken Wagner stepped down in the offseason and former assistant Gabe Roberts took the wheel.

“I still think it’s a great opportunity for everyone involved,” Roberts said. “My hope is that somehow, something changes and it all turns around. But we’re just going to out and fight and compete as hard as we can.”

They’re trying to cobble together a buoyant roster on a sinking ship. BYUH recently lost three projected starters — two to injuries and one, point guard Justin Yamzon, to early graduation.

BYUH’s best player is sophomore guard Tanner Nelson, who averaged 8.0 points for a 15-12 team in 2015-16. Preseason All-PacWest selection Cory Lange (18.0 ppg) is out with a knee injury.

“We’re realizing that they (UH) have about as many new guys as we do,” Roberts said.

UH is still banned from the postseason of a fast-approaching campaign that begins Nov. 11 against SIU-Edwardsville.

The Rainbows have tinkered with various lineups over the last five weeks of preseason practices, but seem to have settled for a starting lineup of these players: Sheriff Drammeh at point guard, Leland Green at shooting guard, Noah Allen at small forward, and Jack Purchase and Gibson Johnson as dual power forwards. True freshman point guard Matt Owies has also regularly played with the first team.

Drammeh, a wiry sophomore, is the most notable active returnee (1.7 ppg) from last year, when he played on the wing and was best known for taking charges.

“We’re just going to go out there and give it all we got,” the converted point guard said. “We’re going to go out there and fight. That’s what we need to do to win every game.”

The UH coaches recently challenged the team to show more toughness in practices.

Green, out of Redondo Union (Calif.) High, has been the biggest surprise of the preseason. The soft-spoken true freshman impressed the coaches with his work ethic and reliability.

“Can’t wait to get out there on the floor and see what the team’s made of,” Green said.