The Rainbow Warriors will host the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The 'Bows prepared with a practice yesterday morning, and then a Thanksgiving meal at head coach Riley Wallace's house later in the day.

"Oh, I'll eat my share," 7-foot center Chris Botez said before departing for the get-together. "I won't be shy about it, put it that way, especially on Thanksgiving."

"Yeah, we're big, but you have to know how to use that size," Wallace said. "You still have to do the basics, like boxing out to get to the boards."

The Chanticleers are not as small as Mississippi Valley State, but they are not as big as Hawai'i.

Matthijs Reinders, a 6-11 senior from The Netherlands, is the starting center, but is averaging just 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. The stronger post players are 6-7 Clint Nagel (6.0 points, 8.7 rebounds) and 6-7 Adrian Gross (8.3 points, 6.3 rebounds).

"This is (NCAA) Division I, so no matter who I'm up against, I know it'll be a good player," Botez said. "Even if they're not as tall as I am, I know they'll be strong."

Both teams admit to knowing little about the other. The teams have met just once before, with Hawai'i winning, 66-62, in 1992.

"Almost all the games at this time of year are like that," Wallace said. "That's part of the fun. You can run your own stuff; they can run theirs."

CCU head coach Pete Strickland said he got a brief scouting report from the Mississippi Valley State coaches on Wednesday night.

"Their flight got delayed, so we backed them into a corner and asked all our questions," Strickland said. "We still don't know that much about Hawai'i, but at least we know (Julian) Sensley is the real thing and Botez looks like he's very effective."

Wallace said he will go with the same starting five he used on Tuesday: Deonte Tatum at point guard, Bobby Nash at shooting guard, Sensley at small forward, Jeff Blackett at power forward and Botez at center.

Sophomore Matt Gibson, who scored a team-high 22 points on Tuesday, will once again be the first guard off the bench.

"We won the game, so why change it?" Wallace said. "But nothing's set. I still want guys to fight for a (starting) spot."

CCU's best player is 6-4 junior guard Pele Paelay (both names are pronounced like the famous soccer player). He is averaging 19.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 4.7 steals per game.

"He's a very complete player — as good as we've produced," Strickland said.

The Chanticleers, who are based in Conway, S.C., are in the middle of a five-game cross-country road trip to open their season. They are 0-3 with losses at Indiana State, Evansville (Ind.), and North Carolina-Greensboro.

They arrived in Honolulu on Wednesday night after playing at Greensboro on Tuesday.

"It's a daunting task," Strickland said. "But it's the kind of thing that will make us a better team."

And about that nickname?

"We get asked about it all the time," Strickland said. "It's a very distinctive nickname, and at least it's a way for people to remember us."

For the record, Wallace passed the Chanticleer test, identifying it as a rooster immediately.

"I went to Centenary, a private liberal arts school with a tough English department," he said.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.