The Hawaii basketball team’s final road trip of the season does not come with an expiration date.
The Rainbow Warriors departed Tuesday in advance of road games Thursday against UC Davis and Saturday against Cal State Fullerton. The single-elimination Big West tournament, which awards the winner a berth in the NCAA Tournament, begins next week in Anaheim, Calif.
“I packed all my clothes,” UH forward Jack Purchase said. “I hope to stay (on the road) more than two weeks. That’s what we talked about in practice. It wasn’t, ‘pack for two weeks.’ It was pack for more than that.”
The ’Bows will remain on the mainland until whenever they are eliminated — the Big West tournament or beyond.
With two regular-season games remaining, the ’Bows are wishful despite being in a three-way tie for fourth place with a 7-7 Big West record. In 2017, No. 2 seed UC Davis beat No. 1 UC Irvine in the title game to earn the Big West’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Last year, fourth-seeded Cal State Fullerton won the tournament and accompanying NCAA berth.
“As much as I love seeing (the Hawaii media) and as much as we love Hawaii, and we do, we’d like to be playing (on the road) for a long time,” UH coach Eran Ganot said before Tuesday’s departure. “We’d like to extend our season. It starts with playing better and performing on this road trip.”
Guard Brocke Stepteau was a freshman reserve in 2016, when the ’Bows finished the regular season with two road games, won the Big West tournament, then beat California in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Spokane, Wash.
“Best time of my life,” recalled Stepteau, now a senior starter and team captain. “I tell the guys about that trip all the time.”
That NCAA appearance was in Ganot’s first season as UH head coach. “We had a 21-day road trip,” Ganot recalled. “If we beat Maryland (in the second round) it would have been a 28-day trip. Usually from afar, it’s tough for people. But I don’t think anybody was happier to be on the road so long because of the magnitude of what we were going through.”
Drew Buggs, who grew up in Long Beach, Calif., had committed to UH before that 2016 run. Through Twitter, he learned the ’Bows would be watching the 2016 NCAA Tournament’s selection show in a restaurant in Anaheim. Buggs showed up at the restaurant to celebrate with his future teammates. “That was really inspiring,” Buggs said.
As for this trip, Buggs said: “I packed heavy. We’re coming in with a mind-set we want to come in here and get these wins and play well in the conference tournament and hopefully keep playing.”
BIG WEST BASKETBALL
>> Who: Hawaii (16-12, 7-7 BWC) at UC Davis (11-17, 7-7 BWC)
>> When: Thursday, 5 p.m.
>> Where: The Pavillion, Davis, Calif.
>> TV: None
>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
>> Internet: BigWest.tv
