HONOLULU – (courtesy of Hawai'i Sports Information Dept.) The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions basketball team tips off its 2017-18 campaign with the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic this weekend at the Stan Sheriff Center. UAPB opens the round-robin tournament against the University of Hawai'i on Friday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. Friday night's game is a "Blackout" with all fans encouraged to wear black.
 
Joining UH and APB in this year's Classic field are 2017 NCAA Tournament squads North Dakota and Troy. The Rainbow Warriors will face North Dakota on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 5:00 p.m., before taking on Troy on Monday, Nov. 13 at 7:00 p.m. to wrap up the tournament.
 
Game 1
What: 53rd Annual Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic
Who: Hawai'i (0-0, 0-0 Big West) vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-0, 0-0 SWAC)
When: Friday, Nov. 10, 2017
Time: 7:00 p.m. HT
Where: Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) - Honolulu, HI
Television: Live on Spectrum Sports – Channels 16 (SD) and 1016 (HD). Kanoa Leahey (play-by-play) and Artie Wilson (color) on the call.
Streaming Video: HawaiiAthletics.com. (Must be a Spectrum cable subscriber to stream in Hawai'i).
Radio: Live on ESPN 1420 AM. Neighbor islands can listen live on KNUI on Maui, KPUA on the Big Island, KTOH on Kaua'i, and KNWJ in Pago Pago, American Samoa.
Audio Webcast: ESPN1420am.com/Sideline Hawai'i App.
Live Stats: HawaiiAthletics.com
Ticket Information: $5-$30. UH Manoa students free with validated ID. Available for purchase online.
Coaches: Eran Ganot is in his third season at UH (42-22). George Ivory is in his 10th season at APB (105-182).
Series Information: UH leads 4-0.
 
Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic Schedule
Friday, Nov. 10  
North Dakota vs. Troy, 4:30 p.m.               
Hawai'i vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 7:00 p.m.
 
Sunday, Nov. 12
Troy vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 2:30 p.m.
Hawai'i vs. North Dakota, 5:00 p.m.
 
Monday, Nov. 13               
Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. North Dakota, 4:30 p.m.
Hawai'i vs. Troy, 7:00 p.m.
 
Rainbow Classic Notables: The Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic enters its 53rd year of competition and eighth year as a four-team, round-robin tournament...the Classic was traditionally an eight-team, championship bracket tournament played during the Christmas season...UH is 87-65 (.572) all-time in the Classic (four wins vacated in 2012 and '13)...UH has won the tournament on 14 occasions with the most recent title coming in 2015 with a dramatic nationally-televised win over Nevada...this will be Arkansas-Pine Bluff's third appearance in the tournament and the first Rainbow Classic appearances for North Dakota and Troy.
 
Scouting UAPB: The Golden Lions went 7-25 overall and finished in a tie for eighth in the SWAC last year with a 6-12 mark...APB was picked to finish eighth again in the SWAC preseason poll...the Golden Lions went just 1-13 in non-conference play last year with all but two of those games played on the road...APB returns its top player in senior forward Trent Steen (9.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 50.9 FG%).

Scouting North Dakota: North Dakota won both the Big Sky regular-season and tournament titles last year en route to its first NCAA Tournament bid...the Fighting Hawks finished the season with a 22-10 record, the most wins for the program in its Division I era...UND lost three starters from that theam...their top returnee is junior guard Geno Crandall (15.5 ppg).

Scouting Troy: The Trojans compiled a 20-win season (22-15) and made its second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance after capturing the Sun Belt Conference Tournament last year....one of the Trojans' wins last year came in Honolulu, when they defeated UH in a 65-63 nail-biter...Troy returns four starters, including top scorers Jordon Varnado (16.5 ppg) and Wesley Person (14.8 ppg).

'Bow Bits: UH is 28-18 in season-openers since 1969…the Rainbow Warriors have lost just once in its last eight season openers…the 'Bows are undefeated in five all-time meetings vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (one win vacated) and have won the last four meetings by an average of 25.8 points…UH is also a perfect 19-0 against SWAC teams...UH is one of just 16 schools nationally that return better than 70 percent of its scoring, rebounds, and assists from last season…UH is 13-0 in the last two seasons when it shoots 50 percent or better and 18-0 when opponents shoot 40 percent or less…UH has led the Big West in attendance in each of its five seasons in the league.