Vulcans face three teams during long Oahu weekend
 
Hawai`i Hilo (3-4/2-0 PWC) @ Chaminade (5-4/2-2 PWC), Saturday, Dec. 16, 7:30 pm, Honolulu, McCabe Gymnasium
Hawai`i Hilo vs. Montana State-Billings (7-3/0-2 GNAC), Sunday, Dec. 17, 8 pm, Honolulu, Hawai`i Convention Center
Hawai`i Hilo vs. Tampa (4-5/1-4 SSC), Monday, Dec. 18, 8 pm, Honolulu, Hawai`i Convention Center
Live Stats at hiloathletics.com, Radio AM 670 KPUA-Hilo
 
Hilo Headlines: With final exams in the rearview mirror, the Vulcans will hunker down for three games in Honolulu this coming weekend. A Pacific West Conference encounter with Chaminade tips things off on Saturday, followed by two Division II games at the Hoops in Hawai`i Holiday Classic. The Vulcans will take on Montana State-Billings (Sunday) and the University of Tampa (Monday) in the tournament held at the Hawai`i Convention Center.  
 
Listen In: All three games will be broadcast live on AM 670 KPUA-Hilo, with the pre-game show beginning ten minutes before tip-off.
 
Big Brother is Still Big Brother: UH Hilo stepped outside of conference play to take on the University of Hawai`i Manoa last Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Warriors remained unbeaten all-time against the Vulcans (10-0) with a 82-64 win, that counted on UH Manoa's record (6-2) but was an exhibition game for UH Hilo. Vulcan senior guard Trey Ingram led all scorers with 14 points, and he also had five assists and four rebounds. Denhym Brooke added ten points, three rebounds and three blocked shots. The Vulcans outscored the Rainbow Warriors in the second half (45-44) and 11 of the 12 players in Vulcan uniforms scored.
 
All Alone at the Top, Almost: UH Hilo's modest 2-0 start in Pacific West Conference play is a minor cause for celebration, because it has been a few years since a Vulcan team could claim that record. You have to go back to the 2010-11 season to find an unbeaten start. That Jeff Law-coached team began the conference season 4-0 with victories over Notre Dame de Namur, Academy of Art, Dominican and Hawaii Pacific. They would finish 16-11 on the year and 8-8 in the PacWest, prior to the addition of the southern California private schools in the conference. With the 2-0 mark, the Vulcans are tied for first in the PacWest with Dixie State. The other 12 teams in the conference have at least one loss already after the opening two weekends of league play.
 
Vulcans Take Down Two Different Kinds of Eagles: UH Hilo opened Pacific West Conference play with a pair of impressive victories (Dec. 2 and 4), topping Biola (80-55) and then-No. 22 nationally ranked Concordia (90-84). The Vulcans boat raced Biola on Saturday night (hitting 12 three-pointers) and then battled to the wire against a very physical Concordia team before holding off the region's No. 1 ranked (at the time) team.
  
Top 25 Love: Coach GE Coleman's team apparently loves to play teams in the Top 25. The Vulcans are 2-0 in such games this season, having topped Western Washington earlier this year (then ranked No. 19) and No. 22 Concordia. For sure, it is the first time in recent memory that UH Hilo would have two wins over Top 25 teams.
 
Shooting Stars: Senior guard Ryley Callaghan is tops on the Vulcans and fourth in the PacWest in scoring at 17.4 points per game. Callaghan is also second on the PacWest board in free throw shooting accuracy (.923) and is third in three-point efficiency (.468). Fellow guard Trey Ingram is next in the scoring column and seventh in the conference (16.1), and is also seventh in charity toss percentage (.840), eighth in three-point percentage (.400).
 
Get That Out of Here: Junior paint player Denhym Brooke is second in the PacWest with 1.9 blocked shots per game (13 total). Devin Johnson is fourth (1.3, nine total blocks). Brooke and Johnson average 5.7 and 5.6 rebounds per game respectively, with senior swingman Randan Berinobis leading the way with 6.4 a contest.
 
Silverswords, Yellowjackets and Spartans, Oh My: The Vulcans will first face giant killer Chaminade during this Oahu weekend. The Silverswords are 5-4 overall this year (1-2 in the PWC), but two of their losses have come at the hands of Division I Notre Dame and Michigan (Maui Jim Invitational). After those losses to the Fighting Irish and Wolverines, Chaminade bounced back to crush Pac-12 California, 96-72. The Silverswords also have wins over both Alaska schools (Fairbanks and Anchorage) this year and a victory over conference favorite California Baptist (92-79). Chaminade went 13-7 in PacWest play last year and features Austin Pope, who was selected to the pre-season All-PWC team. Pope, is averaging 13 points and almost seven rebounds a game this year. Chaminade leads the all-time series between the two teams, 63-43, with both teams winning on their home court a year ago….Montana State-Billings of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an impressive 7-1 in non-conference games, and is 0-2 in the conference play with losses to the Alaska schools. The Yellowjackets have Division II wins over Sonoma State (67-61) and Cal State East Bay (74-72) and are averaging 82.6 points per game. Long a MSUB hallmark, the Yellowjackets are once again deadly from three-point range, shooting 40 percent as a team. Four different players average nearly three treys per game, and the team puts up 30 shots from beyond the arch per contest. The Vulcans and Yellowjackets have met 30 times, dating back to the days when MSUB was a member of the PacWest. The Montana school has a 16-14 lead in the all-time series…This will be the first-even meeting between the Vulcans and Tampa. The Florida school plays in the Sunshine State Conference, where they are 1-4 in conference play and 4-5 overall—but are coming off a narrow double-overtime loss to No. 11 nationally ranked Barry (107-103). In this tournament, they will also play Western Washington. Picked to finish third in the SSC, the Spartans are led by junior guard Pat Bacon who averages 22.6 points per game.
 
Their Shirts are Now Red: Coach Coleman announced last week that senior forward Brian Ishola and freshman guard Kylan Mann will redshirt in 2017-18. Ishola was the Vulcan's leading rebounder last year (8.7 per game), second in the PacWest in that category. He was also the team's leading returning scorer (15.5). Ishola has had a nagging injury that caused him to miss pre-season practices and the first seven games of the season before the decision was made.
 
Full House: After playing most of the 2016-17 season with just eight healthy players, head coach GE Coleman has a full roster at his disposal this season with 14 players to choose from. Included in that group are three players with starting experience, two NCAA Division II transfers that were starters at their schools last year, three junior college transfers, four players who were in UHH uniforms or red-shirted last year and three freshmen.
 
Trio: Returnees that Coleman can count on are point guard Ryley Callaghan is back (11.2 ppg, 4.0 ast.), Randan Berinobis (8.6/6.2) and sophomore Eric Wattree (6.5 ppg).
 
Welcome to Hilo: Newcomers include senior guard Trey Ingram, who started the last three seasons for St. Martin's, averaging 12.6 points a game a year ago. Another Division II starter is Denhym Brooke, who put up ten points and seven rebounds a game for BYU-Hawaii. JC transfer Devin Johnson (Lower Columbia CC) was a First Team All-NWAC pick and senior guard Mike Golden (Ocean County JC) averaged nearly 20 points a game last year.
 
A Look Back: UH Hilo finished 10-16 last season and was 8-12 in the PacWest. Senior guard Parker Farris averaged 23.3 points a game and was a Second Team All-PacWest pick. The Vulcans played most of the season with just eight players.
 
Around the Loop: 12 of the 14 teams in the Pacific West Conference already have at least one loss, leaving UH Hilo and Dixie State at the top of the heap. Overall, Concordia is the top ranked PWC team in the west region at No. 4 with a 9-3 record. California Baptist is sixth (7-2) and Dixie State is receiving votes. The No. 1 team in Monday's (Dec. 11) poll is Cal Poly Pomona (6-1), followed by Chico State (6-2) and Western Oregon (8-1).
 
Looking ahead: The three games in Hawaii will mark the end of the 2017 part of the season for the Vulcans. After the Christmas and New Year's break, they will return to the Hilo Civic Auditorium for January 3 and 5 games against Notre Dame de Namur and Academy of Art.
 
Head Coach Vulcan head coach GE Coleman begins his fifth season in 2017-18 as the leader of the program. Prior to arriving on the Big Island, Coleman was the associate head coach at Central Washington for six seasons, and an assistant with the Wildcats for another five years prior to that. He was an assistant for two seasons at Eastern Washington.
 
For more information, contact sports information director Russ Blunck at blunckr@hawaii.edu.