While waiting to finalize commitments from at least two prospects, the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team also invested in its future, securing a 2026 pledge from a 6-foot-6, sharp-shooting guard.

Scotty Belnap, who graduated from Mater Dei High (Santa Ana, Calif.) on June 1, is leaving Sunday for a two-year church mission to Argentina. He will join the Rainbow Warriors as a preferred walk-on in June 2026. Last week, he de-committed on a pledge to Utah Tech.

“The (UH) coaches are great people,” said Belnap, who has known head coach Eran Ganot and assistant coach Gibson Johnson since the eighth grade. “They’re all about family. That’s what I’m about, too. The whole team is like a family. That’s the program I wanted to be a part of.”

Belnap said he hit 40% of his 3s for Mater Dei, which went 26-2 during the 2023-24 regular season. “I’m a shooter,” he said. “I like to shoot the 3s.”

“He also has been a member of nine-time NBA All-Star Russell Westbrook’s WhyNot team that competes on the AAU circuit. Belnap said Westbrook coached his team during a tournament in Georgia.

“It was a surreal experience,” Belnap said.

Belnap is best known for his leaping ability. As a 6-foot eighth grader in 2020, he dunked for the first time in a game. Videos of his dunks in high school, particularly off a between-the-legs move, have drawn widespread interest on social media.

Belnap has played mostly the off guard, but with a smaller lineup this past season, he was used at the three and four positions.

Belnap also competed in the high jump this past spring, placing second in his Orange County section.

Belnap said it was a long-time goal to serve a church mission. His father served a church mission in South Korea.

“It’s hard to find certain schools that will wait for you,” Belnap said. “I was really blessed Hawaii was able to support me with that. I wanted to dedicate two years of my life to God, which is the real reason we’re here. It feels like a lot. But in your whole lifetime, it’s not that much time.”