Game Day Essentials: Game #10 at Hawai'i

Hawai'i Info

Head Coach: Eran Ganot (10th Season)
Location: Honolulu, Hawai'i

Official Name: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Conference: Big West
Nickname: Rainbow Warriors

Mascot: None

Line: Nebraska by 9

Rotation Depth: 10
Last time out: Beat Charlotte

Nota bene:  

• Nebraska is 2-7 all-time vs Hawai'i with their only wins coming on Dec 2nd and 3rd of 1976. 
• All games Nebraska has played vs Hawai'i have been in Honolulu including an 84-83 season ending loss in the NIT
• Hawai'i coach Eran Ganot was an assistant under Randy Bennett at St. Mary's from 2010-2015 and runs many of the same defensive principles as Bennett 
• Fred Hoiberg is 4-0 as a coach in Hawai'i, 2-1 as a player.
• 6'10" Hawai'i sophomore Forward Akira Jacobs was Keisei Tominaga's teammate on the 2024 Japanese Olympic Team
• This marks the Huskers’ seventh trip to the islands for a tournament and the first since the 2014 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic
• Fred Hoiberg led Iowa St to the championship of the 2013 Diamond Head Classic.  There is an infamous report that Iowa St made the team sleep in a ballroom before their flight home to save money.

Hawai'i Roster

Roster/infirmary report

2    Guard    Ahron Ulis     6-3    190 lbs    Senior (Could be out with an ankle)

Possible starters for Nebraska

3    Guard    Brice Williams     6-7    214 lbs    Senior

4    Forward    Juwan Gary     6-6    226 lbs    Senior

24    Guard    Rollie Worster     6-5    210 lbs    Senior

34    Center    Braxton Meah     7-1    264 lbs    Senior

9    Forward    Berke Büyüktuncel     6-10    244 lbs    Sophomore (Might be out with an ankle)

Bench

0    Guard    Connor Essegian     6-4    190 lbs    Junior

1    Guard    Sam Hoiberg     6-0    185 lbs    Junior

23    Forward    Andrew Morgan     6-10    242 lbs    Senior 

31    Guard    Cale Jacobsen     6-4    195 lbs    Sophomore

12    Guard    Gavin Griffiths     6-7    193 lbs    Sophomore

5    Forward    Braden Frager     6-7    220 lbs    Freshman
8    Guard    Jeffrey Grace III     6-3    200 lbs    Junior
20    Forward    Justin Bolis     6-8    225 lbs    Sophomore
25    Guard    Nick Janowski     6-4    208 lbs    Freshman

35    Forward    Henry Burt     6-7    222 lbs    Sophomore

Out for year
51    Forward    Rienk Mast     6-10    260 lbs    Senior

Tourney Schedule

The Skinny: 

Typically I like to wait until injury reports are out to release this writeup, so things will be a brief today. Nebraska might be down Berke and Ulis tonight.

Hawai'i is a tough team that runs a Randy Bennett like defense.  Thus they'll man up and run you off the 3pt line, forcing you to beat their post players one on one or else take mid-range shots.  Nebraska can work in this environment and Hawai'i gives up a lot of points at the FT line.

Offensively, the Rainbow Warriors are looking to bring everything into the paint.  By default Nebraska is set up to stop this and it's really about how well they can guard without fouling as Hawai'i scores a ton of points at the FT line.  Otherwise, it will be about preventing second chance points as Hawai'i's posts excel on the glass at both ends.

It would be surprising to see Nebraska take Hawai'i out of this one quickly. Nebraska is the better team but if they get into the wrong side of a ref show in Hawaii they sure could drop this one.

Prediction: Nebraska 76 - Hawai'i 68