HONOLULU – The Hawai'i Pacific University basketball teams will open their 2020-21 seasons this weekend with action against the University of Hawai'i.
 
The games will be the first two in the newly renamed SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center.
 
The Sharks men will take on the Rainbow Warriors on Friday night at 7 p.m., while the Sharks women meet the Rainbow Wahine on Sunday evening at 5 p.m.
 
The contests open the season for all four teams, with HPU playing them as an exempted exhibitions and UH competing in regular season competition.
 
The HPU women are coming off a school record 29-1 season, that ended only because of COVID-19 as the Sharks were preparing to host the NCAA Division II West Regional.
 
"We're excited to be back on the court and playing again," said Sharks women's head coach Reid Takatsuka. "We appreciate the opportunity to play against a quality team that (coach) Laura (Beeman) has at UH."
 
The Sharks return first team All-American, PacWest and West Region Player of the Year in junior guard Amy Baum (12.3 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 6.2 apg), along with senior All-PacWest guard Alysha Marcucci (11.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg), senior All-PacWest guard Ally Bates (10.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.5 apg) and senior forward Makenna Gambee (4.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg).
 
"We're really excited to play – it's been a long Fall for everyone," said HPU men's head coach Darren Vorderbruegge." We don't know what to expect from ourselves or UH – we know they are always very good – but we need to play against somebody besides ourselves in practice. We are always appreciative of the Bows supporting the Hawai'i schools."
 
The HPU men posted a 10-18 campaign in 2019-20, and return senior guard David Rowlands (9.2 ppg, 2.9 apg), junior guard Jacob Foy (7.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg), senior forward Chidozie Ndu (2.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and senior guard Tavon Tarpley (6.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg)
 
Both games will be televised by Spectrum Sports, with radio broadcasts on ESPN Honolulu.