For University of Hawaii basketball wing Junior Madut, the wonder year was when he was 14, his hair relaxed, his ears cupped with a headset, and his sneakers on a skateboard as he rolled along Abraham Street in Rooty Hill.

“Growing up in Australia, it was a fun environment,” Madut reminisced. “Skateboarding, the beach, riding bikes, just being outside a lot. I was trying a bunch of things. That’s what I was interested in when I was young.”

He had played basketball for a few years, at the insistence of an older brother, but it did not grasp his heart — until one day, as a 15-year-old, the sport became a passion.

“That’s when I really liked it,” Madut said. “I felt I could jump. Surprisingly, I wasn’t always able to jump high. I was that kid who would come into the gym every day and kept missing the dunk. I guess over time, I worked on my body.”

Madut worked constantly on his ball-handling. When he hit a growth spurt, shooting 5 inches to 6 feet 4 when he was 15, he had a forward’s build with a point guard’s skill. And he could dunk. “First time I dunked, I did a Usain Bolt celebration,” said Madut, striking the left-arm-extended pose.

After graduating, he attended a prep school in Daytona Beach, Fla., for two years, then played two seasons at Eastern Florida State College. “I followed the basketball, really,” he said. He then followed his instincts when he accepted a scholarship offer from the ’Bows.

“It felt right,” Madut said. “When I visited, I felt the coaches were telling me the truth. I felt like the environment was welcoming, and the people were welcoming, and the food and the weather were great. I couldn’t find any real negatives. And my intuition was telling me this is the place you should be. I’m always going to trust that.”

Because of transfer issues, Madut delayed joining the ’Bows until December 2019. He redshirted the rest of the 2019-20 season. Last season, he played in all 21 games, starting 16, and led the ’Bows in field-goal attempts (200), 3-point attempts (98), steals (23) and minutes (629). At 6 feet 6, Madut played the wing, off guard and point.

With Samuta Avea suffering a season-ending injury, Madut is expected to log playing time at the wing while also being part of a three-guard lineup. Madut often marvels at his life’s path. He was born in Uganda, then moved to South Sudan. That country’s internal conflicts did not penetrate his family circle. “When you’re young, you don’t notice all the bad things around you,” said Madut, who played with his siblings and cousins.

When he was 6, with South Sudan in a civil war, he moved to Australia. He spoke three languages — Dinka, Arabic and Luganda — but not English. But he persevered then, and again, and now feels at home in Honolulu. “I’m grateful,” he said. “I made the right choice coming here.”