No. 10 North Carolina visits Hawaii for Maui tourney tuneup

Before taking on the loaded field at next week’s Maui Invitational, No. 10 North Carolina visits Hawaii on Friday in Honolulu.The Tar Heels (2-1) are among the main attractions at the eight-team event in Maui, which also includes two-time reigning national champion UConn. Before North Carolina begins the tournament Monday against another 2024 NCAA Tournament team, Dayton, the Tar Heels contend with an undefeated Hawaii team on the island of Oahu.”Getting on that time zone is important for us,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said before making the trek to Hawaii. The matchup with the Rainbow Warriors tips off at 7:30 p.m. local time, which is a 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning tip on Eastern Time.Davis hopes for a similar outcome to the 2016-17 season when he was an assistant to North Carolina coach Roy Williams. The Tar Heels won 83-68 at Hawaii that year before rolling to the Maui Invitational crown and ultimately winning the program’s sixth national championship.The 2024-25 Tar Heels again harbor aspirations of cutting down the nets both in Maui and at the Final Four with a roster built around All-American RJ Davis and freshman phenom turned standout sophomore Elliot Cadeau.The backcourt tandem paces an explosive offense that has produced at least 89 points in each of its first three games.Hawaii (4-0), meanwhile, has yet to allow more than 69 points in any of its first four outings. The Warriors feature a new-look lineup compared to a season ago when they won 20 games for a second consecutive campaign.The group is not lacking for experience, however.Big man Tanner Christensen, averaging a team-leading 17.5 points per game along with 6.5 rebounds, came to Hawaii from Utah Tech and Idaho, with 93 career starts. Christensen was named Big West Conference Player of the Week on Monday following a 25-point performance in Sunday’s 73-68 overtime win versus Weber State.