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

Hawaii women’s basketball: Unfinished business as 2019-20 full practices begin

By Brian McInnis on September 25, 2019

March memories were bitter and sweet at the same time for Myrrah Joseph. The UH women’s basketball forward tasted the composite all offseason. Coming as close as the Rainbow Wahine did without making the NCAA tournament will do that. Upstart UH was about a quarter away from stunning heavily favored UC Davis in the Big West championship game at the Honda Center before losing the lead and the game, 58-50. The Rainbow Wahine got to unleash that feeling in the […]

Hawaii men’s basketball: Junior college recruiting issues persist

By Brian McInnis on September 25, 2019

The recruitment of junior college standouts was once the go-to, a preferred method of securing talent for the Hawaii men’s basketball program. Think Bob Nash, Trevor Ruffin, Tony Maroney, A.C. Carter, Michael Kuebler and Matt Lojeski. More recently, Bill Amis, Vander Joaquim, Garrett Nevels and Roderick Bobbitt came out of JUCOs to become productive players. Recruiting JUCOs often comes with its own set of positives and negatives. JUCO players often offer an immediate infusion of ready-to-play talent, but usually only […]

Hawaii football: Rolovich wants Warriors to turn over a new leaf for Nevada

By Brian McInnis on September 24, 2019

“Several” didn’t cut it for Nick Rolovich. The Hawaii football coach stopped a reporter who was in the process of pointing out the 3-1 Rainbow Warriors had succeeded so far despite several turnovers. “More than several,” Rolovich said after Tuesday’s practice on the artificial turf of the TC Ching Athletic Complex. UH has a turnover margin of minus-12, worst in FBS football — 130th of 130 teams. New Mexico State, the second-worst team, is minus-9 in turnover margin. UH’s 15 […]

Hawaii soccer: Wahine take lumps, feel ready for Big West

By Brian McInnis on September 23, 2019

Anything and everything the Hawaii soccer team could’ve wanted in terms of challenges was offered in its nonconference season. Three ranked Pac-12 opponents. A distant road trip. Lineup shuffles on a game-to-game and minute-to-minute basis. With only the eight-game Big West season left to come, will the Rainbow Wahine (2-6-1), picked to finish seventh, make their lumps count? The BWC opener is against Cal State Northridge at home on Oct. 3. “We’re absolutely ready for the Big West,” coach Michele […]

VIDEO: Fourth-quarter timeline of Hawaii football’s win over Central Arkansas

By Brian McInnis on September 21, 2019

It was by no means pretty, and it didn’t come down to a last play or two like the first two home games of the season, but Hawaii did what it had to in the fourth quarter to hold off FCS opponent Central Arkansas on Saturday night. The 35-16 victory made it 17 straight wins over FCS opponents dating back to 2001. >> HAWAII VS. CENTRAL ARKANSAS PHOTO GALLERY The Bears made things interesting after UH scored the first 28 […]

Hawaii Football Throwbacks: FCS teams

By Brian McInnis on September 21, 2019

Hawaii pits its 16-game winning streak against FCS opponents against unbeaten Central Arkansas at Aloha Stadium today. Unlike last year’s Hawaii Football Throwbacks entry on FCS teams, there is actually a past meeting to potentially look at in this series — UH came back to beat UCA 25-20 to open the 2009 season. But, that being only 10 years ago, we’re focusing on a different game against an FCS foe today. How about the one that launched the winning streak? After […]

Hawaii football: Linebacker Kana‘i Picanco reaping what he’s sown

By Brian McInnis on September 20, 2019

Kana‘i Picanco had dirt bikes to ride, cattle to raise, and corn, squash and flower crops to harvest. Football? He had more important thing to do in rural Kahaluu. “My dad them were farmers and stuff, you know, when they were young. That’s how they grew up. They grew up that way, we grew up that way too,” said Picanco, the youngest of six siblings. “It wasn’t like my first choice to play football when I was younger, because I […]

Hawaii women’s volleyball: History of rare Wahine pre-conference road trips