Hawaii’s secret weapon won’t see a minute of game time against Auburn in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic third-place game today.

Forward Jack Purchase was a Tiger last season and is redshirting this year as a transfer to the Rainbow Warriors (8-2), who are looking to bounce back from an agonizing 84-81 loss to No. 3 Oklahoma in Wednesday’s semifinals.

“I had a feeling at the start of the tournament that we were going to play them,” Purchase said. “I just wish I could be out there and play, you know? But I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be good fun.”

Purchase, a sophomore, wasn’t recruited by Auburn’s second-year coach Bruce Pearl. The Australian signed on with the previous Tigers staff just before they were fired, and decided to give the new regime a try. But he was lightly played as a freshman and decided to look for a better situation. No hard feelings, though; he’s greeted old teammates warmly during the tournament.

He knows well Pearl’s up-and-down, pressing style and was able to recall some plays during UH’s afternoon walkthrough on Christmas Eve.

“It was really fast. A lot of people driving and trying to dump off to get easy buckets,” Purchase said. “I think the game will be like that on Christmas Day. Hopefully we get the W.”

UH and AU (6-4) of the Southeastern Conference tip off their ESPN2-televised third-place game at 1:30 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center. Oklahoma and Harvard follow for the Diamond Head title at 3:30.

Third would match the best finish by UH in seven years of the event, accomplished last year under Benjy Taylor.

UH players were in reasonably good spirits a day after their narrow loss to the Sooners in which point guard Roderick Bobbitt scored a career-high 32 points. Had the Rainbows eked out a win, it would have been the third straight over a top-five opponent (No. 2 Kansas in 1997 and No. 4 Michigan State in 2005).

“We’re looking forward to the challenge of seeing how we respond from a tough, close loss the other day,” UH coach Eran Ganot said. “This has been a great tournament, a great event as always.”

Auburn has its own scouting “source.” Todd Golden, an assistant under Pearl, played at Saint Mary’s while Ganot was a staff member there. UH runs many similar sets as the Gaels.

Pearl remembers well his last game in Honolulu.

The charismatic Auburn coach has recovered from a three-year “show cause” order and his firing from Tennessee for NCAA transgressions in 2011.

Back in 2005, Pearl took his Wisconsin-Milwaukee team to Honolulu for the ESPN BracketBusters event. The Panthers escaped with an 87-81 win.

“It was a great environment,” Pearl said. “The fans were fantastic. The students were here … they were all over me. I loved it.”

Milwaukee went on to defeat Alabama and Boston College in the 2005 NCAA Tournament for a Sweet 16 appearance. Pearl’s popularity soared and he took the coaching job at Tennessee.

“It was kind of a mid-major BracketBuster success story,” Pearl said. “I think there were a lot of people in Hawaii that are basketball fans who went, ‘Who’s UW-Milwaukee?’ And we came in, they saw who we were, and then when we got to the Tournament, ‘Ahh, I saw those guys.’ Am I right?”

Hawaii would like the experience to be reversed this time.

Leading scorer Aaron Valdes (16.3 ppg) is looking for a bounce-back game after being held to season-low three points against the Sooners. Guard Quincy Smith is available to play after a late ankle injury scare Wednesday.

In the Tigers’ 69-51 semifinal loss to Harvard, guard T.J. Dunans (12.4 ppg) went down with a left knee injury and is out of the tournament, exacerbating an already problematic situation in the Auburn backcourt. Point guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen is expected to miss his sixth straight game with a shoulder ailment. Touted freshman wing Danjel Purifoy is still waiting to be instated by the NCAA clearinghouse.

The Tigers are still dangerous with scoring guard Kareem Canty (19.0 ppg), who scored 27 in AU’s opening-round win over New Mexico. But Canty was held to 1-for-15 shooting and three points in the semis against the defensive-minded Crimson.

Auburn, under coach Tony Barbee, edged UH 65-62 in the 2011 Diamond Head first round. AU is the second program UH has taken on multiple times in the seven years of the Diamond Head, the other being Ganot’s old team Saint Mary’s.