Hawaii draws Arkansas in 2026 NCAA Tournament opening round

HONOLULU – Déjà vu dancing.

After winning the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Championship title over UC Irvine on Saturday night, the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team comfortably watched on and waited to hear their name called on Selection Sunday.

Just like the program’s appearance from a decade prior, the Rainbow Warriors received a spot on the 13-seed line for the 2026 edition of the NCAA Tournament. Unlike the 2016 run, UH will need to traverse through the West Region quadrant this time around as they take on fourth-seeded Arkansas (26-8) on Thursday, March 19 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.

“It’s been my dream ever since I was a little kid,” Hawai’i senior forward Harry Rouhliadeff said about watching the Rainbow Warriors get revealed on the bracket. “It was really surreal … Seeing Hawai’i up there, I was so proud and just so proud of our team, too.”

Hawai’i downed UC Irvine in the final conference matchup between the bitter rivals in Henderson, winning the Big West’s automatic bid for the fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

The Razorbacks won the SEC Tournament earlier on Sunday, taking down Vanderbilt by 11 for the program’s first conference tournament championship since 2000. Star freshman G Darius Acuff Jr. won tournament MVP honors after posting a 30-point, 11-assist double-double in the title game for Arkansas.

“We’re playing a really good program, a program and staff that we have a lot of respect for and a quick turnaround,” Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot said immediately after the bracket was revealed.

Much like UH’s 2016 matchup against Jaylen Brown and the Cal Bears, Arkansas features future NBA talent and plenty of size and skill.

The Razorbacks boast four different double-digit scorers, led by Acuff Jr.’s 22.7 points per night. The freshman has tallied 10+ points in every single contest for the SEC tournament champs and has scored 30 or more in five different games in his lone collegiate season.

The SEC tournament champions will be sure to test a Rainbow Warrior defense that has ranked amongst the best in the nation throughout the 2025-26 campaign. Hawai’i has KenPom’s 43rd-best national defensive rating and will face off against an Arkansas unit that finished with KenPom’s sixth-best national offensive rating.

It’ll be critical for UH to slow down that dynamic Razorbacks attack, one that has racked up 27 of Evan Miyakawa’s “kill shots” – 10-0 or better runs – to help sprint away from opponents this season. Of Arkansas’ 26 wins, 11 have come by a margin of 15 or more.

Hawai’i has done well limiting opponents from hitting them with a “kill shot” according to Miyakawa, allowing eight total runs of 10 or more points to opposing offenses this season. It’s tied for the 25th-best mark in the country and one better than the Razorbacks.

Regardless of the result in Thursday’s opening round in Portland, the Rainbow Warriors have reached the national tournament for the second time in Eran Ganot’s 11-year tenure and first time since the rest of the staff and players arrived in the islands.

They’re all taking it in accordingly.

“To build back up to this moment 10 years later, having been in the program ever since 2016 as a player, and then a coach, it means the world to me,” said assistant coach Gibson Johnson of the long climb back to being the best in the Big West. “Holding my kids in my arms, telling my 5-year-old that we’re champions brought tears to my eyes. It means so much to me and I know it means so much to the community.”

As for the focus for the Rainbow Warriors’ matchup against the Razorbacks?

They’d be smart to just follow the lead of their captain.

“It might be my last dance in college sports,” Rouhliadeff said. “I’m just going to go out there and play my best basketball.”

The NCAA Tournament ticket for Hawai’i. | Photo Credit: Ku’ulei Agbayani, HSRN