Before taking on the loaded field at next week’s Maui Invitational, No. 10 North Carolina visits Hawaii on Friday in Honolulu.
The Tar Heels (2-1) are among the main attractions at the eight-team event in Maui, which also includes two-time reigning national champion UConn. Before North Carolina begins the tournament Monday against another 2024 NCAA Tournament team, Dayton, the Tar Heels contend with an undefeated Hawaii team on the island of Oahu.
“Getting on that time zone is important for us,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said before making the trek to Hawaii. The matchup with the Rainbow Warriors tips off at 7:30 p.m. local time, which is a 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning tip on Eastern Time.
Davis hopes for a similar outcome to the 2016-17 season when he was an assistant to North Carolina coach Roy Williams. The Tar Heels won 83-68 at Hawaii that year before rolling to the Maui Invitational crown and ultimately winning the program’s sixth national championship.
The 2024-25 Tar Heels again harbor aspirations of cutting down the nets both in Maui and at the Final Four with a roster built around All-American RJ Davis and freshman phenom turned standout sophomore Elliot Cadeau.
The backcourt tandem paces an explosive offense that has produced at least 89 points in each of its first three games.
Hawaii (4-0), meanwhile, has yet to allow more than 69 points in any of its first four outings. The Warriors feature a new-look lineup compared to a season ago when they won 20 games for a second consecutive campaign.
The group is not lacking for experience, however.
Big man Tanner Christensen, averaging a team-leading 17.5 points per game along with 6.5 rebounds, came to Hawaii from Utah Tech and Idaho, with 93 career starts. Christensen was named Big West Conference Player of the Week on Monday following a 25-point performance in Sunday’s 73-68 overtime win versus Weber State.
Christensen’s frontcourt mate, Gytis Nemeiksa, played significant minutes last season at Xavier. He is averaging 11.3 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game this season.
Their strong interior play is a shift from coach Eran Ganot’s previous teams that at times relied on 3-point shooting. Hawaii is shooting 51.4 percent overall but just 27.8 percent from deep.
“I know people can easily say teams or players live and die by the (3-pointer) just because it’s an easy way to go to, but that’s never been us,” Ganot told the “Marching to Madness” podcast this week. “I’m encouraged that we can find ways to have some success, especially late in games.”
The Rainbow Warriors limited Weber State to 22.2 percent shooting (4 of 18) from behind the arc. None of their first four opponents made more than six 3-pointers.
Solving the Hawaii defense is part of the overall learning experience Davis said he hopes North Carolina takes away from its visit to the islands.
“We’ve shown signs of playing great defense and being efficient on the offensive side end. It’s about starting there and staying at that level,” the coach said. “Those are things not just about the next week or week-and-a-half, but for the whole year.”
