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

Beach volleyball: Queen’s is where it’s at

By Brian McInnis on February 22, 2019

Queen’s Beach will be the go-to spot for Hawaii beach volleyball for the foreseeable future. UH — which began what was then called sand volleyball in 2012 — played its first-ever home dual match at Queen’s, on the edge of Waikiki across from the Honolulu Zoo. Since the opening of the T.C. Ching Athletics Complex sand courts in 2015, the SandBows have split their time at home between their on-campus facility and the actual beach. The primary upside to Queen’s is it […]

Rainbow Wahine softball takes hot start into third tournament

By Brian McInnis on February 21, 2019

The action comes fast and furious for the Hawaii softball team this week. Given the way the Rainbow Wahine have started 2019, that’s just fine for them. Heading into the third tournament of the season — this week’s Hawaii Invitational — Bob Coolen’s gang is hitting .315 as a team, with 16 home runs to opponents’ eight and a 3.78 team ERA that’s roughly half of what they’ve hung on their foes. UH’s 8-2 record is its best through 10 games […]

Rainbow Wahine basketball: Turning the corner

By Brian McInnis on February 19, 2019

UPDATE: Well, umm, the rosy outlook has changed a little bit. Here’s today’s breaking news on leading scorer and rebounder Makenna Woodfolk leaving the program due to her pregnancy. Coming up on the most important time of the season, the Hawaii women’s basketball team feels like it’s found something. Something good. UH (11-13, 7-4) is tied for second place in the Big West with five games remaining before the Big West tournament. Because of the benefit of byes in the […]

Rainbow Warriors basketball: Purchase buys record

By Brian McInnis on February 17, 2019

No one could keep a handle on Jack Purchase this time. Not Zane Johnson. Not Cal Poly. And certainly not UC Riverside. Purchase, who was content to mostly play decoy against the Poly Mustangs on Thursday, was the catapult that knocked down the wall keeping Hawaii (16-9, 7-4 Big West) from top-three standing with five games to play. UH sniped away with impunity in an 87-64 romp over the Riverside Highlanders on Saturday. Purchase scored 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting, […]

Rainbow Warrior basketball: ‘Bows win Valentine’s rock fight

By Brian McInnis on February 14, 2019

Most of the Valentine’s Day match between Hawaii and Cal Poly was a battle only a mother could love. A typical rock fight between the teams ensued basically right after tipoff Thursday night. But as has been the case in most of the Mustangs-Rainbow Warriors battles of late, the ‘Bows had more rocks in their satchel, resulting in a 75-54 Rainbow Warriors runaway. It was billed as the night that Jack Purchase would likely own the Hawaii career 3-point record […]

Rainbow Wahine basketball: Who’s got next?

By Brian McInnis on February 13, 2019

UPDATE: Courtney Middap had next; she scored 14 points and UH had one of its deepest bench efforts of the season in beating UCSB 72-49 on Wednesday night. It’s been anyone’s guess as to who will rise to the occasion on a game-to-game basis for the Hawaii women’s basketball team. That’s had a hand in some unpredictable results this season. As was mentioned in Wednesday’s print edition, a bevy of players — nine — have led the Rainbow Wahine in scoring […]

Baseball ‘Bows prepare for alums, Grand Slam

By Brian McInnis on February 8, 2019

It’s a regular refrain for coaches and athletes doing preseason interviews to celebrate “seeing someone new” or “not having to go against ourselves” once actual games are set to begin. In the case of the Hawaii baseball team this weekend, seeing someone new involves seeing someone old. The annual alumni game is 11 a.m. Saturday. Admission is free. No official roster has been issued for the alums yet, but word is knuckleballer Steven Wright of the Boston Red Sox could […]

Softball socks Georgia State to open 2019