North Carolina plays the first of four games in Hawaii on Friday night with a true road game against the Rainbow Warriors.
Afterward, the Tar Heels will play three games in three days beginning Monday against Dayton in the loaded Maui Invitational.
UNC is 2-1 while Hawaii is 4-0. The game tips at 7:30 PM HAWAII time, which is 12:30 (Friday night/Saturday morning) EST. It will air on ESPN2.
A few notes about the Ranbow Warriors:
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*This will be the sixth all-time meeting between the teams and first since 2016. The teams were originally slated to play in Honolulu in Nov. 2020 but that game was canceled due to COVID-19.
*Nine of the 15 players on Hawaii’s roster are from other countries: Japan 2; Australia 2; and 1 each from New Zealand, Lithuania, Belgium, Italy, and The Netherlands.
*Hawaii has five players 6-foot-8 or taller, but nobody taller than 6-foot-10. Starting center Tanner Christensen is 6-10 and perhaps the team’s best player averaging 17.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest. He has started 93 games in college spending two years at Idaho before the last two at Utah Tech. This is his first season at Hawaii.
*Gytis Nemeikša is a transfer from Xavier (spent one season there) and at 6-foot-8 is third on the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game plus he grabs 6.8 boards per outing.
*Eight Rainbow Warriors average 20 or more minutes per game, including Washington State transfer Ryan Rapp, who made his debut in the last game, a win over Weber State. He played 28 minutes in that contest.
*Hawaii has won 20-plus games the last two seasons. Its last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2016 when the Rainbows beat California and then lost to Maryland. They have been to the NCAAs five times, including three times this century.
*Former Tar Heel forward Justin McKoy played at Hawaii last season averaging 12.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He started all 34 contests averaging 31.0 minutes per outing.
Okay, here are 5 Things To Watch For when UNC takes on Hawaii:
The Backboards
Hawaii is a good offensive rebounding team grabbing 39.8% of its own misses compared to 35.8% by the Tar Heels. Christensen, who is 6-foot-10, and Nemeiksa have 23 offensive boards between them, thus they combine for almost six per contest.
The Rainbow Warriors are 86th nationally at plus-7.8 overall on the boards, while the Heels are 67th at plus-9.0.
Hubert Davis said earlier this week his team is trending in the right direction on the glass having out-dueled Kansas by one on the road and doubling up American last Friday. If he’s right, the Heels should have an advantage here, but it may not be easy.
Setting The Pace
Hawaii averages 81.3 points per game in part because it’s shooting 51.4% from the field, but KenPom ranks the Warriors 317th in adjusted tempo. So, it makes sense that Hawaii will try to slow down the game hoping to get the Heels a bit out of sorts and minimize their breakouts.
So, Carolina must find ways to force a quicker tempo, which will clearly play into its strengths.
RJ From The Perimeter
RJ Davis is 5-for-25 from 3-point range so far, and while it’s early and no reason to panic, Hubert Davis would certainly like to see some of those shots go down so his star player can get going.
The Heels may not need it to beat Hawaii, but to do some damage next week in the Maui Invitational, it would be best for him to have a good night shooting before facing three really tough teams in three days in that event.
Protecting The Lane
Here are some interesting and rather noteworthy statistics for Hawaii:
*It’s shooting 67.8% on layups compared to 56.5% for UNC.
*It’s averaging 15.3-for-22.5 on layups per game compared to 13-for-23 for UNC.
*It’s 13-for-14 (92.9%) on dunks compared to 10-for-13 (76.9%) for UNC.
*It’s averaging 42 points in the paint per game compared to 40.7 for UNC.
*45.5% of its points come right at the rim (layups or dunks) compared to 36.3% for UNC.
So, with these numbers in mind, the Tar Heels must do a good job of keeping the Warriors from the rim and obstructing attempts in the lane. With Hawaii just a 27.8% 3-point shooting team attempting nearly 20 a game, forcing it to win the game playing out of character should bode well for the Heels.
Legs & Internal Clock
Carolina had a direct flight to Honolulu on Wednesday. Flying out there direct or connecting will take its toll, even on young athletes. But perhaps more important is the team’s internal clock. The game tips at 7:30 Hawaii time, which is 12:30 AM on Saturday morning for the Heels.
How does this affect the team’s mojo, quickness, reaction, and overall juice?
