Men’s Basketball Opens Big West Play At Long Beach State – University of Hawai’i at Manoa Athletics

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team opens Big West play with a road matinee against Long Beach State on Saturday, Dec. 7.  Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. PT/11 a.m. HT at the Walter Pyramid.  The early conference start is part of “Bold Week,” intended to add early-season intrigue while eliminating three-game weeks during the 2025 regular-season schedule.
  

HEAD COACH ERAN GANOTOverall record: 164-106 (11th season)
At Hawai’i: 161-104 (10th season)

ALL-TIME SERIES RECORDOverall: LBSU leads, 20-18
In Long Beach: LBSU leads, 12-4
Streak: UH, 1

GAME STORY LINES

• This will be the Rainbow Warriors’ second road game this year following a 78-72 loss at Grand Canyon on Tuesday. UH nearly erased an 18-point deficit, led by Gytis Nemeikša‘s 24 points.
• UH is averaging 32.9 points per game off the bench, accounting for 43 percent of the team’s scoring output. The 32.9 bench points points per game ranks 28th nationally.
• Nemeikša (14.0 ppg) and Marcus Greene (10.4) have fueled the bench play as two of UH’s top three scorers overall this year.
• Long Beach State ended an eight-game skid with a 73-56 win at Cal State Fullerton in the Big West opener for both teams on Thursday night.
• The Beach are led by first-year head coach Chris Acker who was an assistant under UH head coach Eran Ganot for two seasons (2015-17). Former UH associate head coach John Montgomery (2015-2024) is also now part of the LBSU staff.
• Hawai’i was picked 7th in the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll, while Long Beach State was selected 8th.
• UH enters its 13th season in the Big West. The ‘Bows have won one regular-season title (2015-16) and have never finished the regular-season with a losing record. 
• The ‘Bows are 7-5 all-time in Big West openers. UH has won its first Big West road game of the year each of the last six times, with its last loss coming in 2018 at Long Beach State (89-81).
• Following its game at LBSU, UH returns to non-conference play with a home contest vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Dec. 14), the first of six straight games at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
   

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