At 6 feet 9, Hawaii center Bernardo da Silva has a 7-2 wing span.

Now as a fifth-year senior with the most seniority as a Rainbow Warrior, da Silva is having a far-reaching impact as a co-captain.

“It’s fun,” da Silva said of role as mentor and leader. “I feel I have to think of ways to help my teammates, and find out how they’re feeling. As a captain, you can create deeper bonds with your teammates.”

On the court, da Silva has improved his overall game. While always a skilled shot-blocker, through the years, da Silva has been effective on defending ball screens, using quick footwork to step into lanes or draw fouls on aggressive picks.

Through the middle of last season, da Silva too often would hesitate on offense when he received a pass in the low post. This season, he has been turpentine in the paint, catching passes in the lane and either making a scoring move — hooks and baby jumpers are his speciality — or throwing out to a shooter on the perimeter.

“I try to make the right play,” da Silva said.

With the guards and wings launching 3s, that has thinned the low post for da Silva. He has connected on a team-best 58.5% of his shots in the paint. When UH hit 14 3-point shots against Central Arkansas, head coach Eran Ganot also praised da Silva’s 15 points and 11 rebounds, including six off the offensive glass.

“I like when the guards shoot like that,” da Silva said. “It opens up for not only them but for everybody else. I feel like my teammates being able to hit outside shots kind of helped me open up in the paint. They were able to find me in a couple high-low looks. I’m just trying to make myself available.”

Da Silva, who grew up in Brazil, moved to Utah in the summer of 2016 to attend Wasatch Academy. “I had to learn English when I moved to the U.S.,” he said.

He took an ESL class at Wasatch. At his host family’s home, he watched “Friends,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and “How to Get Away with Murder.”

“Honestly, I only watched the shows to study English,” he said. “I didn’t pay attention to the characters. I watched it for the language. I would watch TV shows in Portuguese with the subtitles in English. I learned from that.”

Soon after enrolling at UH in 2019, he was introduced to Hawaii’s ways. “I worked out with Samuta (Avea) a lot,” da Silva said of the former ’Bow. “He helped with understanding our system and the island to be a student-athlete in Hawaii. He helped me a lot with that.”

Although da Silva would have had several opportunities, he never considered leaving UH.

“I love Hawaii,” he said. “I love the people in Hawaii. I love how I’m embraced here. I want to be remembered here, and make something big here, and win games here. That’s what’s motivated me to here. And also I like my friends and teammates.”

NCAA BASKETBALL

At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center

Hawaii (6-1) vs. Hawaii Pacific (5-2)

>> When: 5 p.m. Sunday

>> TV: Spectrum Sports

>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM