Bol Dengdit chooses Hawaiʻi for 2026-27 season
Bol Dengdit confirmed on Thursday via his Instagram (@boldengdit7) that he will be a Rainbow Warrior for his final season of college basketball!
The roster for the Hawaiʻi Men’s Basketball team increased by one person on Thursday.
After Tom Beattie became the first in-conference transfer out of UH, transferring to UC San Diego, UH became the recipient of an in-league transfer in former UCSD 6-foot-11 forward and center Bol Dengdit!
Dengdit, a native of Australia, will have one season of eligibility left. He spent three seasons at Portland before he transferred to UCSD this past season. He was on the Portland squad that participated in the 2023 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
This past season as a Triton, Dengdit scored 19 points against the Rainbow Warriors in La Jolla on Jan. 3 and 11 points in Honolulu on Feb. 7.
During his time at Portland, Dengdit redshirted his freshman campaign, but he stepped up in his sophomore season with 30 games played. He started 24 of them and shot nearly 38% from 3-point range.
Dengdit is the seventh portal pickup for UH in this off-season alone. He joins Marcus Adams Jr., Jaden Matingou, Zack Davidson, Houran Dan, Chance Trujillo, and Kellen Hampton.
Tanner Cuff and Isaiah Kerr remain the only two returnees from the 2025-26 roster. Scotty Belnap and Tiger Cuff, the younger brother of Tanner Cuff, were also added as freshmen after two-year church missions. Isaac Johnson is also awaiting word from the NCAA about a waiver for a fifth season of eligibility.
My Reaction:
Well well well, UH finally got an in-league transfer before moving to the Mountain West next season! Okay, maybe we’re not Big West members anymore, but technically, that only lasts until the summer when UH will be a member of the Mountain West. Until Bol Dengdit chose to come here, I thought the odds of the UH Men’s Basketball team receiving an in-conference transfer were slim to none, and the only criteria was if that player’s originally from the islands. Zion Sensley fit the criteria, despite he is listed as from California, but his dad Julian played for UH in the early to mid-2000s; unfortunately, Zion chose LMU instead. The Wāhine Basketball team got one when Lily Wahinekapu, a Kaneohe native, transferred home after one season at Cal State Fullerton. Saniyah Neverson, who is not from the islands, became the Wāhine’s second in-league transfer after being at UC San Diego prior. Having Dengdit is a big addition to the front court, and his decent 3-point shooting arm will definitely fill in that hole if the NCAA does not approve Isaac Johnson’s waiver for a fifth season. Welcome aboard, Bol! I look for big things in the paint from you in 2026-27!
