Rainbow Warriors ring in New Year with road demolition of UC Riverside

Statement showing to start 2026.

The University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team turned in the most impressive road effort in program history on Thursday, ripping off an 88-45 win over UC Riverside to open up the new year behind a season-best 13 made 3-pointers. Isaac Johnson led all scorers with 18 points, adding six rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes of action for UH.

All 10 Rainbow Warriors that saw action scored, including freshman guard Hunter Carter’s first collegiate made field goal with 4:18 left in regulation. Gytis Nemeikša provided a major spark off the bench, finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds as he recorded his eighth game of 10+ points this season for Hawai’i.

Ike Finlinson was the third player to score in double figures for UH, chipping in 10 points and five rebounds in 14 minutes of work off the pine.

Hawai’i raced out of the blocks with the first 10 points of the day as Johnson drained a pair of early 3-pointers. The lead quicky grew to 20-6 for UH with just over 13 minutes left in the opening half after Dre Bullock ripped off a scoring burst, capping it off with a right-handed explosion at the rim.

The Highlanders brought it back to an 11-point game with 5:41 left before halftime, but two more made triples and a pair of free throws by the visiting Rainbow Warriors just ahead of the break sent UH into the locker room up, 45-27. Hawai’i drained 8-of-16 attempts from long range over the opening 20 minutes and dominated the glass, 23-11.

Johnson and Hunter Erickson took turns ripping through the UCR defense when play resumed, pushing the Hawai’i advantage out over 20 less than five minutes into the second half. The lead grew to 30 a few minutes later as Finlinson found the touch from distance, calling in the clean-up crew with more than 10 minutes remaining in UH’s first road conference game of the season.

The Rainbow Warrior avalanche continued raining into the final minutes as the lead expanded over 40 after Carter’s first career bucket and an acrobatic jam by AJ Economou. Finlinson cleaned up one last miss to put himself over double figures in the final minute, wrapping up the 88-45 win for Hawai’i’s seventh straight victory.

The 43-point margin was Hawai’i’s largest Big West victory ever, surpassing a vacated 31-point win over UC Riverside from 2014 and a 29-point win over Cal Poly from 2024. It also passed an 88-58 win over Air Force from 1990 as the largest margin of victory on the road in UH program history.

Dre Bullock and Isaiah Kerr each ended up with nine points for UH while Aaron Hunkin-Claytor added eight points and six assists in the win. Harry Rouhliadeff and Hunter Erickson each had seven points for the Rainbow Warriors as all 10 players scored.

Hawai’i returns to action on Saturday as they visit defending conference champion UC San Diego. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. HT. The Tritons fell on the road at Cal Poly on Thursday night, 67-65.