Hawaii basketball teams have Big West openers called off

The University of Hawaii men’s and women’s basketball teams’ Big West Conference opening series against Cal Poly will not be played as scheduled due to COVID-19 concerns in the Mustangs’ program.

The Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine were scheduled to face Cal Poly in a two-game series Sunday and Monday. The UH men were to play host to the Mustangs at SimpliFi Arena. The Wahine were set to travel to San Luis Obispo, Calif., for the conference opening games.

The Big West website lists the UH-Cal Poly men’s games as canceled along with the Cal State Northridge-Cal State Fullerton and UC Davis-CSU Bakersfield series.

The BWC women’s schedule notes the UH-Cal Poly games as “postponed.” The UC Davis-CSU Bakersfield women’s series is also listed as canceled.

Due to the pandemic, the conference altered this season’s league schedule with teams playing on consecutive days at the same site. Traditionally, teams would play home-and-home series in the conference season.

The UH teams were limited to two nonconference games against local Division II opponents. The Rainbow Warriors went 2-0 against Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii-Hilo. The Rainbow Wahine lost to HPU and defeated UH-Hilo.

UH’s next games are scheduled for Jan. 8 and 9 against UC Riverside, the men on the road and the women at home.