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

Football Throwbacks: San Diego State

By Brian McInnis on November 24, 2018

You can’t do a Hawaii-San Diego State “Football Throwbacks” entry without acknowledging the existence of one Marshall William Faulk. So, sorry Rainbow Warriors fans, this week’s submission might be painful — much like the UH-SDSU series as a whole. The Aztecs, who absolutely dominated the Rainbows in the 1990s WAC (winning nine straight from 1990 to 1998), have also gotten the better of the ‘Bows in the Mountain West, having won all six meetings there thanks to a seemingly nonstop procession […]

‘Bows impress, move onto next challenge

By Brian McInnis on November 23, 2018

Hawaii got its team Thanksgiving meal out of the way early. The Rainbow Warriors ate together the eve of the holiday and were too busy for actual festivities on Thursday, but they found reason to be thankful — a 90-79 upset of Utah in the opening round of the Wooden Legacy at Cal State Fullerton. This was a pretty sizable upset. The Pac-12 team was favored by nine points and with about 10 minutes left, the Runnin’ Utes trailed by […]

Now the fun begins

By Brian McInnis on November 19, 2018

A neutral observer could have reasonably expected the Hawaii basketball team to go 3-1, perhaps even 4-0, through its first four games. The Rainbow Warriors (3-1) did just that with Sunday night’s 85-68 defeat of visiting Northern Arizona. Their only setback to this point was a 68-51 loss to North Texas. But that one was concerning, as UH looked a step or two slow against the most athletic team they’ve faced thus far. Well, now we find out if that […]

Football Throwbacks: UNLV

By Brian McInnis on November 17, 2018

There’s a lot on the line on senior night tonight against UNLV. A winning regular season, a Hawaii Bowl berth, and a general sense of accomplishment for the Rainbow Warriors are all at stake for a team that’s lost four straight. UH leads the all-time series against UNLV 15-12, but the Rebels have taken the meeting the last three years. Back on Sept. 29, 1984, UH was also sliding into its home date with Vegas. Dick Tomey’s team was 0-3, […]

Wahine high on big signing class

By Brian McInnis on November 15, 2018

The Hawaii women’s basketball team bolstered its ranks considerably with the 2019 early signing period. Four of the players were mentioned on Warrior World previously. Those four are all incoming freshmen. They are: >> Nae Nae Calhoun, a 5-4 point guard out of JW North (Calif.) High >> Olivia Davies, a 5-9 combo guard out of Wasilla (Alaska) High >> MaKayla Edwards, a 5-10 guard/forward out of Salesian College (Calif.) Prep >> Kasey Neubert, a 6-0 forward out of Highlands […]

Soccer signs 7

By Brian McInnis on November 14, 2018

It was a productive signing day for Michele Nagamine and the Hawaii soccer team. The Rainbow Wahine added seven players, including one local prospect, for the 2019 season. All were officially announced on the national signing day Wednesday. It’s a defender-heavy class, at least going by their listed positions. UH just lost seniors Raisa Strom-Okimoto (F/M) and Sarah Lau (M) from a 9-7-1 (4-4 Big West) season that saw the fifth-place Wahine narrowly miss out on their first Big West […]

‘Bows get ‘punked’ by North Texas

By Brian McInnis on November 11, 2018

There was a connection to be drawn between the moth that flitted freely about the Stan Sheriff Court, with public address man Billy V in hot pursuit, and Hawaii attempting to chase down the dynamic North Texas team that darted off to a big lead on Sunday. Billy V eventually caught the moth, but Hawaii never came close to running down North Texas. The Rainbow Warriors absorbed a 68-51 beatdown in the de facto championship game of the Outrigger Resorts […]

Humboldt beginnings for UH bigs

By Brian McInnis on November 10, 2018

The bench was emptied and the behemoths stepped forth with giant strides. Hawaii, for the first time this young season, played all three of its 7-foot freshmen on Saturday night. Two of them — Mate Colina and Dawson Carper — appeared before the game was decided, while the third, Owen Hulland, got his first action of the 2018-19 season in the final few minutes of UH’s 90-54 blowout of Division II Humboldt State to improve to 2-0. “They played tremendously,” guard […]

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