The University of Hawaii men's basketball team's journey to Phoenix turned out to be less than grand as they succumbed to Grand Canyon University 78-72 on Tuesday; a spirited rally in the second half was not enough to overcome a tumultuous start and a turnover-laden first half, as reported by KHON2.
In what could be a preview of future matchups in the Mountain West configuration, the Rainbow Warriors came out flat, letting the Antelopes bolt to an 8-0 lead and despite a buzzy environment that UH Coach Eran Ganot likened to the toughest arenas like Gonzaga and BYU, they could not claw their way back to lead at any point during the contest; Ganot expressed his displeasure with the opening, yet he praised the team's tenacity in the second half, "that was some of our best stretch of basketball (of the season) in the second half, proud of our guys' fight," Ganot said in a statement obtained by Spectrum News.
UH's bench outscored GCU's reserves impressively, 49-14, largely thanks to the herculean effort of forward Gytis Nemeiksa, who netted a career-high 24 points off the bench, according to KHON2, but this silver lining was tarnished by the fact that Hawaii committed 13 turnovers in the first half alone, which fueled Grand Canyon's 16-point halftime lead.
The 'Bows did not go quietly into the Arizona night as they shredded the nets in the second stanza, hitting 58.1% from the field compared to a paltry 32% in the first half but victories are not just about rallies and near-comebacks: they're about execution, consistency, and yeah, not handing the ball, and the game essentially, over to your opponent, which UH did by coughing up the ball a whopping twenty times contributing to a 22-7 Grand Canyon points off turnover disparity, per details from a Spectrum News interview.
Next up for Hawaii is a clash with Long Beach State in California on Saturday, and as KHON2 notes, it will be a pivot for the Rainbow Warriors to translate lessons from this loss into a much-needed victory as the season progresses, especially given the looming changes in the conference landscape with the upcoming migration to the Mountain West in the '26-'27 season.
