But the result was the same as the past two seasons: Hawaii gets upset at Air Force.
The Falcons pulled it off again last night, hanging on to beat the Rainbows, 73-68, in the second WAC game for both teams.
Hawaii fell to 9-3 overall and 1-1 in the WAC, while Air Force improved to 5-6 and 1-1 in front of 1,147 fans at Clune Arena.
"This is a tough, tough loss," said UH head coach Riley Wallace. "It's very difficult to explain. Air Force outplayed us and outcoached us. It was the same old story."
Anthony Carter did his best to pull it out for the visitors. The junior guard scored a game-high 30 points - including three straight 3-pointers late in the second half that kept the Rainbows within range. He was 8-for-15 from the field and also pulled down six rebounds.
The team's leading scorer coming into the first road game of the season, Alika Smith, was held to 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting and 7-1 center Seth Sundberg had only three rebounds and four points against the smaller Falcons.
Junior forward Eric Ambrozich had just one rebound and eight points on the night for UH, which shot only 33 percent (9-27) from the floor in the second half and 43 percent (30-76) overall.
Air Force was led by junior guard Jarmica Reese with 21 points and 13 rebounds, while junior forward Mike Freeman added 16 points.
Air Force led at halftime, 36-33.
The Falcons were 10-for-10 from the free-throw line in the first half, while the Rainbows' struggled at 8-for-15 in the opening 20 minutes.
"It's their best game of the year," Wallace said. "They ran the flex offense, which we worked on (defending) all week, real well.
"But when we got tired, we fouled their key shooters. And we missed way too many layups. At least we didn't quit, we didn't give up."
Now it's on to UNLV tomorrow (5:30 p.m. Hawaii time) for the disappointed Rainbows.
"We're not going to get a lot of layups with the athletes they've got," Wallace said of the rejuvenated Runnin' Rebels. "We just have to keep our heads up, get back to practice and get our game going.
"If you're not ready to play at Vegas they'll run off and leave you. They're a very talented team."