​If JJ Mandaquit’s upcoming season as the point guard at Arizona promises to be tricky and demanding—juggling a lineup brimming with potential NBA draft picks while carrying the weight of a returning Final Four squad—perhaps it’s worth pausing to consider what his grandfather and father have been doing. They’ve been running a roofing company in Hilo, Hawaii, on the windward side of the Big Island, the city known as the rainiest in the United States. There, about 130 inches of rain fall each year, turning rooftops slick and presenting constant challenges. Even in the drier spells, humidity stays high and the trade winds persist.
“I had to go on the roof a couple of times,” Mandaquit said with a smile. “But not in the rain.” He had other responsibilities to juggle, too. His basketball talents have long outpaced the level of play around him since his elementary school days, and eventually he left Hilo as a sixth-grader to pursue higher-level opportunities that brought him to Tucson this year. Washington Huskies guard JJ Mandaquit (23) dribbles during the second half against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Jan. 21, 2026.
His family moved with him to Oahu, where he transferred to the Iolani School in Honolulu. His father, Jason Sr., commuted between the Big Island and Oahu while still roofing, and his mother managed a transfer from Hilo to Honolulu through her job at Hawaiian Electric.
For a time, that looked like the plan. “It was a better opportunity, better education and more opportunity,” Mandaquit said. “When we left the Big Island for Oahu, that was a huge move for my family, a lot of sacrifice that went into it. I’m super grateful to my parents. When we made that move in the sixth grade, we thought that was going to be the move, that it was just going to end there, I’d go to high school there.”
Yet it wasn’t enough. Mandaquit outgrew the Hawaii basketball scene once more. By ninth grade, he shifted to Real Salt Lake Academy, which evolved into Utah Prep. In Hawaii, he encountered another hurdle: a quirky club-ball residency rule that often restricted players to competing for a club within their own state or a neighboring one—Hawaii, after all, sits entirely on an ocean with no land borders. To contend with that, Mandaquit and other local players formed their own “Sons of Hawaii” club to participate on the MADE Hoops circuit.
Even that wasn’t the end of the journey. Utah beckoned next. “We felt it was best to get out of Hawaii and chase this dream,” Mandaquit recalled. “It wasn’t an easy choice to leave home, but we felt looking at the big picture, if I want to play at the high Division I level, we almost felt that it was a necessity to get out of the islands, surround myself with better competition, be somewhere that allows me to be more exposed.” The strategy paid off. Mandaquit blossomed into a high-major prospect at Utah Prep and continued to grow, positioning himself for a breakout on the national stage.