HENDERSON, Nev. — The No. 3 seed University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team faces No. 2 UC Davis in the Hercules Tires Big West Championship semifinals on Friday, March 15. Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m. PT/5:30 p.m. HT at The Dollar Loan Center. UH defeated No. 7 CSUN, 75-68, in the quarterfinals, while UC Davis enjoyed a double-bye into the semifinals.
Big West Semifinals – No. 3 Hawai’i (20-13, 11-9 Big West) vs. No. 2 UC Davis (19-12, 14-6 Big West) | ||||
Opponent | Date | Time | No. 2 UC Davis | Friday, March 15 | 8:30 p.m. PT/5:30 p.m. HT | |||
Location | Henderson, Nev. – The Dollar Loan Center | |||
Television | ESPN2 | |||
Live Stream | ESPN (Subscription required) | |||
Radio | ESPN Honolulu / Sideline Hawaii App | |||
Live Stats | StatBroadcast.com | |||
Game Notes | Hawai’i | |||
Social Media | @HawaiiMBB | #HawaiiMBB | @HawaiiBasketball | Facebook | |||
Tournament Website | BigWest.org |
HEAD COACH ERAN GANOTOverall record: 159-103 (10th season)
At Hawai’i: 156-101 (9th season)
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORD vs. UC DAVISOverall: UH leads, 14-10
In the BWC: UH, 1-0
Overall Streak: UCD, 1
GAME STORY LINES
- Following a 75-68 win over No. 7 seed CSUN, the Rainbow Warriors advance to the BWC semifinals where they will meet No. 2 seed UC Davis.
- The teams split the regular-season series with each team picking up double-digits wins at home.
- This will be just the second BWC meeting between the teams. UH upset the top-seeded Aggies, 68-58, in the 2015 semifinals as a No. 5 seed.
- The Rainbow Warriors have won four straight contests, one shy of its season-high. The victory over CSUN on Thursday assured UH its second straight 20-win season.
- The ‘Bows aim to make the tournament finals for the third time overall and the first time since their 2016 title run.
- After starting BW play at 2-6, UH won nine of its last 12 games to finish 11-9. The ‘Bows have yet to have a losing conference mark in 12 years in the Big West.
- A win over UC Davis would give UH its fifth straight win, which would tie a season-long streak. It would also give the ‘Bows their ninth win in the last 11 contests.
- With its win over CSUN on Thursday, UH notched its second consecutive 20-win season. The last time UH had consecutive 20-win seasons was during a three-year run from 2014-16.
- UH has gone 8-2 since suffering a season-worst 25-point loss at UC Irvine on Feb. 3.
- In those last 10 games UH has shot 48% from the floor, 41% on 3-pointers and 76% from the free throw line..
- Defensively during that stretch, UH is holding opponents to just 25% shooting on threes.
- UH’s opponents are taking three-point attempts at a 25.4% rate, the lowest in the nation, per KenPom.
- UH opponents have assisted on just 37.1% of its field goals, the second-lowest rate according to kenpom.com.
- UH has built double-digit leads in eight of its last nine games. UH won seven of those seven contests, only squandering an 11-point advantage in the first half at UC Santa Barbara.
- Bernardo da Silva became the 18th player to score 1000 points in his UH career when he surpassed it at the 7:39 mark of the second half versus CSUN.
UH IN THE BIG WEST TOURNAMENT
- UH is in its 11th appearance in the Big West Tournament.
- The ‘Bows are 7-9 (.438) all-time.
- UH has one tournament title (2016).
- UH has reached the finals twice (’15, ’16).
- UH was knocked out in the quarterfinals in its seven other appearances (13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23) and reached the semifinals in 2022 and ’24.
- This is the second time UH is the No. 3 seed in the Big West Tournament (2-1).
- The ‘Bows are 5-3 overall as a higher seed in the Big West Tournament and 2-6 as the lower seed
#HawaiiMBB
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