Pacific wing Kellen Hampton heading to Hawai’i after hitting portal

HONOLULU – Would you believe that Hawai’i football dished out an assist for the men’s basketball team?

Former Pacific forward Kellen Hampton became the latest fresh face to announce intentions to join the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball program, posting his commitment to the Rainbow Warriors on social media on Monday.

A three-star recruit coming out of Moreau Catholic (CA), Hampton held offers from schools such as Arizona State, St. John’s, California, Mississippi State, San Jose State, Creighton, Washington State, San Francisco before deciding to commit to Pacific.

Hampton, 6-foot-7, averaged 17.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game and shot 43% from 3-point range throughout his high school career at Moreau Catholic. The wing also played for Team Lillard in the 3 Stripe Select Basketball circuit, facing off against some of the best talent on the Adidas AAU circuit.

After spending his first year of college with the Tigers and only appearing for a single minute of action against Life Pacific, Hampton redshirted and entered the portal at the start of April. He quickly heard from the University of Hawai’i, connecting with a familiar face in assistant coach Clay Wilson for most of the process.

Wilson, who just completed his first year on the UH staff, spent the 2024-25 season with Pacific and played a solid role in getting the athletic wing to try his hand with the Tigers over a handful of power conference schools.

Unfortunately for the player-coach duo, the two never got to work together with the Tigers as Wilson departed for a job in the islands after a season with Pacific while Hampton made good on his commitment with the Tigers but agreed to redshirt his first college campaign.

Luckily for Wilson and the rest of the Rainbow Warrior staff, Hampton’s eyes wandered towards the islands far before the portal ever opened.

“Hawai’i as a school has been on my radar ever since I’ve been a kid, just growing up watching college football and knowing the culture and what an amazing place Hawai’i is,” Hampton said in an interview with HSRN about how UH piqued his interest. “I also played in high school with Aaron Hunkin-Claytor and kept monitoring his career at Hawai’i as well.”

With connections to the islands abound, Hampton and the Rainbow Warriors found a fast-moving process that added an active, young and talented wing to the roster as the program shifts into the Mountain West.

He also considered programs like Montana, San Jose State, Loyola-Marymount and others before officially deciding that Hawai’i would be his next home.

“I’m excited to experience the community and culture of the program that Coach Ganot has built,” Hampton said. “Experiencing Hawai’i and being a part of something bigger than myself means a lot.”

Hampton is the sixth transfer portal addition for Hawai’i, joining Arizona State F Marcus Adams Jr., Point Loma G Jaden Matingou, Northern Arizona F Zack Davidson, Seattle C Houran Dan and Utah Tech G Chance Trujillo. The Rainbow Warriors also return Tanner Cuff and Isaiah Kerr from last season’s team while prep standouts Tiger Cuff and Scotty Belnap each have come back from church missions to kick off their freshman campaigns.