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 men’s volleyball: Reserves again carry day against Queens

By Brian McInnis on February 7, 2020

Given what happened in Hawaii’s last three-day tournament, perhaps it wasn’t all too surprising what transpired on Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Charlie Wade turned to his backups, by and large, and his backups delivered against Queens on Day 1 of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Invitational in a 25-10, 25-15, 25-17 sweep. Colton Cowell, Rado Parapunov, and Patrick Gasman were among the “A side” players to have the night off. The “A-plus side” guys had the run […]

Hawaii baseball: ‘Find the Joy’ the mission as 2020 season begins

By Brian McInnis on February 6, 2020

Joy was hard to come by in 2019 for the Hawaii baseball team. Injuries and losses mounted in equal measure for the Rainbow Warriors, who came apart down the stretch to tie at the bottom of the Big West with two other teams. The 2020 Rainbow Warriors’ mission statement is to “Find the Joy” and make it last throughout the season. “The truth is for me personally, finding the joy is something I need to remind myself of,” said 19th-year […]

Hawaii football: Speed rules as Rainbow Warriors add 7 players on spring signing day

By Brian McInnis on February 5, 2020

Todd Graham was feeling the need for speed. His first signing day haul as Hawaii football head coach was a seven-player crop that featured an abundance of afterburners — three wide receivers, three defensive backs and one offensive lineman. The lineman? That would be Mililani High’s Sergio Muasau, the younger brother of UH sophomore-to-be linebacker Darius Muasau. He was the lone local product of the day. Mililani’s Sergio Muasau signs with #HawaiiFB, where he’ll join his brother Darius, who had […]

Hawaii basketball: Shooting guards Eddie Stansberry, Julissa Tago sweep Big West weekly honors

By Brian McInnis on February 3, 2020

A feel-good evening of basketball on Saturday produced some lasting effects for the Hawaii men’s and women’s basketball teams on Monday. The Rainbow Warriors and Wahine pulled off a shooting guard sweep as Eddie Stansberry and Julissa Tago were named the Big West men’s and women’s players of the week. Stansberry and Tago combined to score 41 points and go 8-for-20 on 3-pointers for their teams in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of Long Beach State (68-44 for the Wahine, who won […]

Hawaii women’s basketball: Thursday’s 94-point outburst rare in 21st century

By Brian McInnis on February 1, 2020

In the moment, you got the feeling that it was something that hadn’t been seen in some time. UH kept scoring and scoring on Thursday night against UC Irvine, to the point that the Rainbow Wahine did something not seen in nearly two decades. They cracked 90 points against a Division I team. The 94-70 outburst was the program’s highest point total since a 97-88 overtime win over SMU on March 9, 2001. It was the second time UH racked […]

Hawaii basketball: Big West moves to 20-game league schedule in 2021, keeps 8-team tournaments

By Brian McInnis on January 31, 2020

The Big West Conference is undergoing some changes this summer with the additions of Cal State Bakersfield and UC San Diego across most of its sports. In the case of basketball, one of the league’s signature sports, that meant some potentially significant future changes when those additions were announced a couple years ago. Right now, in the nine-team league, men’s and women’s hoops teams play a 16-game conference schedule, after which there is an eight-team tournament to determine the BWC’s […]

Hawaii basketball: UH players, coaches react to loss of Kobe Bryant

By Brian McInnis on January 30, 2020

Tributes from all over the world continue to pour in following the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna along with seven others in a helicopter crash on Sunday. The Hawaii basketball teams were no different. Bryant, who continued to have an influence in basketball in the years after his retirement in 2016, was an icon to many of the Rainbow Warriors and Wahine. Here is a compilation of video interviews about Bryant with UH players and […]

Hawaii baseball: Rainbow Warriors picked sixth in Big West

By Brian McInnis on January 29, 2020

The Hawaii baseball team was selected to finish sixth place in the Big West Conference in 2020, the league announced Wednesday. That matches the Rainbow Warriors’ highest preseason prediction in eight years of Big West membership. Perennial contender Cal State Fullerton was picked to win the league in a vote of the BWC’s nine head coaches. UH was also picked to finish sixth in 2019, as well. The Rainbow Warriors were 7-6 in BWC play at one point before dropping […]

Court Sense