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 basketball: Pivotal Saturday matchups for Rainbow Warriors, Wahine

By Brian McInnis on January 11, 2020

UPDATE II: The UH basketball teams went 0-2 against the defending Big West champions on Saturday, as the Rainbow Warriors fell 74-60 at UC Irvine — their fifth straight loss to the Anteaters and seventh in the last eight meetings. UH spotted the hosts an 11-0 lead, rallied back to lead briefly, fell behind by 14 at halftime, and got within four by finally succumbing. UPDATE: The Rainbow Wahine basketball team fell behind by 21 going into the fourth, rallied within […]

Hawaii men’s volleyball: Old King Kekaulike teammates Colton Cowell, Don Thompson share a moment

By Brian McInnis on January 9, 2020

It probably should’ve been a kill. It sure looked like it was about to be one from press row. Then Colton Cowell dove headlong over the courtside barrier and popped the shanked ball back into play. UH managed to toss it back over the net on the third touch and somehow wound up winning the point. The player Cowell and Hawaii deprived of a kill? That would be Cowell’s old King Kekaulike High School teammate, Don Thompson, now an Emmanuel […]

Hawaii football: Khoury Bethley named to Associated Press All-Bowl team

By Brian McInnis on January 9, 2020

Hawaii sophomore safety Khoury Bethley was named to the Associated Press’ All-Bowl team, a collection of players that included every FBS postseason game except the upcoming College Football Playoff national championship between LSU and Clemson. LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winner, headlined the list of 31 players spanning the 39 games played. Bethley, who recorded 10 solo tackles and two interceptions — including the game-clincher — in the 38-34 win over BYU in the SoFi Hawaii Bowl, was […]

Hawaii women’s basketball: Amy Atwell has Australia on mind as Big West play begins

By Brian McInnis on January 8, 2020

Amy Atwell was of two minds as the Hawaii women’s basketball team embarked on its first Big West road trip of the season. Much of the fourth-year junior’s thoughts were of the here and now, of her 6-7 Rainbow Wahine taking on Cal State Northridge (5-9) in their opener at 5 p.m. Thursday. But Atwell also couldn’t also help but be thousands of miles away mentally, back to her homeland of Australia, which continues to be scorched by out-of-control wildfires, […]

Hawaii men’s basketball: Big West rankings as league play begins

By Brian McInnis on January 8, 2020

It’s Jan. 8, and it’s about time the Big West Conference finally got underway with official league games. Coming into Wednesday, the BWC is the last of 32 NCAA Division I conferences to not have played a conference game. Well, that ends with UC Santa Barbara (11-4) visiting Cal Poly (3-11) and Long Beach State (5-11) driving over to Cal State Northridge (5-11) tonight. UH (9-5) gets underway at Cal State Fullerton (5-10) at 5 p.m. (HST) on Thursday. #HawaiiMBB […]

Hawaii men’s volleyball: Patrick Gasman proud of young guns after second sweep of Charleston

By Brian McInnis on January 4, 2020

Patrick Gasman beamed like a proud uncle. The Hawaii senior middle blocker had a good night, sure. Five kills on .400 hitting and three block assists in a second straight sweep of Charleston, 25-18, 25-16, 25-17 on Saturday. But that wasn’t the reason for the big grin. It had more to do with the procession of first-timers that had just graced the Stan Sheriff Center court for the 2-0 Rainbow Warriors. “It’s really good to get a lot of guys […]

VIDEO: Hawaii men’s volleyball new setter Jakob Thelle plays up to expectations in season opener

By Brian McInnis on January 3, 2020

For the record, it’s pronounced “Ya-kob Tell-a.” Sophomore Jakob Thelle, who was a freshman reserve for the Hawaii men’s volleyball team in the Rainbow Warriors’ run to the NCAA national championship game in 2019, introduced himself to fans in a more direct way on Friday night as UH’s new starting setter. But even after a 25-19, 25-16, 25-16 season-opening sweep of Charleston, teammates and UH staff couldn’t resist calling out to the sophomore with the English pronunciation of his name, […]

Hawaii men’s volleyball: How have Rainbow Warriors fared opening season as No. 1?