Hawaii Warrior World

Formerly about Rainbow Warriors basketball, but now covering all University of Hawaii sports.

About the blog host

Brian McInnis has covered sports on Oahu full time since 2007, when he joined the Honolulu Star-Bulletin staff as a general reporter. He was the UH basketball beat writer from the 2008-09 season through 2017-18. Follow him on twitter @Brian_McInnis

Latest news

Diamond Head Classic time

By Brian McInnis on December 21, 2012

For the first time, the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic field equals, if not surpasses, what the EA Sports Maui Invitational fielded in the same season. In the fourth HADHC, No. 4 Arizona and No. 18 San Diego State headline a very strong field. Hawaii will probably have to get past Miami (receiving votes) in the first round on Saturday to have a shot at one or both of the ranked teams, but you never know for sure. Ole Miss, […]

The Molokai life

By Brian McInnis on December 15, 2012

Greetings from the Friendly Isle. After a bumpy ride in a tiny Cessna prop plane and some stumbling around on dark streets upon landing, your humble correspondent is settled in and ready to cover some hoops on Molokai. Tipoff between UH (4-3) and Chaminade (3-6) is tonight at 7:30 p.m. No TV or video streaming for this one, so you’ll have to tune in to KKEA, 1420-AM to catch it. UH arrived safely Friday night and headed straight to Molokai […]

Pepperdine fallout // Fotu gets a surprise

By Brian McInnis on December 11, 2012

Everyone had a chance to cleanse their palate from that Hawaii loss to Pepperdine on Saturday? I can’t hold it against you if you haven’t yet … things got downright sour at the Stan Sheriff. Thirty-three percent shooting from the field and 50 percent at the foul line will do that do you. Especially when you clank 11 in the second half (in 20 FT attempts) to hamstring your comeback effort. UH had Monday completely off from weights, films, and […]

Arnold, Taylor's Pepperdine history

By Brian McInnis on December 8, 2012

Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold and associate head coach Benjy Taylor go back a little bit with UH’s opponent tonight, Pepperdine of the West Coast Conference. Arnold “cut his assistant coaching teeth” there, in his words, from 1999 to 2003. Taylor assisted there alongside him for the 2000-01 season. Pepperdine won more games during that span than at any other four-year period in school history. The Waves made the NCAA Tournament twice while Arnold was there, in 2000 and 2002. […]

Gettin' shots up

By Brian McInnis on December 4, 2012

It was unmistakably clear what the focus of Monday’s team practice was for the Hawaii men’s basketball team. After a limited amount of team drills, Gib Arnold had his players shoot on the two standard Stan Sheriff Center rims, plus two portable baskets rolled in and placed facing one sideline. It’s a setup not usually seen except in UH’s summer kids clinics. “I asked them if they could do that, and (arena manager) Rich Sheriff was good enough to set it […]

UNLV game rewind

By Brian McInnis on December 2, 2012

Playing at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center was going to be a tall order no matter what. But digging a 26-point hole in the first half — and 22 at halftime — made things no easier for the Hawaii men’s basketball team on Saturday. Despite that, give the ‘Bows credit for coming out the way they did in the second half. They got to within eight points on two occasions before the No. 24 Rebels closed it out. They were […]

Stokes arrested

By Brian McInnis on November 30, 2012

Hawaii hoops fans got some pretty shocking news from the Big Apple on Friday morning. Former Rainbow Warriors point guard Shaquille Stokes, and three other Hofstra teammates, were arrested for an alleged series of burglaries on the Hofstra campus. Stokes, now a sophomore, had emerged as a key member of the Pride, averaging 10 points and 2.6 assists per game. The former New York City player of the year out of storied Lincoln High was charged with multiple second-degree burglaries […]

UH opponents update Part I

By Brian McInnis on November 26, 2012

We’re a handful of games into the 2012-13 men’s basketball season now, so it’s a good time to take stock of where nonconference teams on Hawaii’s schedule stack up. Part II, Big West teams, will come later this week. RPI ratings are from RealtimeRPI.com, out of 347 teams, after games played on Monday, Nov. 26. Hawaii stands at 221 with its 4-1 record. You’ll see why the RPI is comparatively low when you see those of the opponents faced so […]

Court Sense