Brandon Thomas never thought it would happen again. After all, there were a full three years between himself and his older brother, Mike.

They missed a chance to play basketball together in high school, and even opportunities to play pick-up ball were few in recent years, with the 6-foot-4 sharpshooting wing Brandon preparing to enter junior college out of Taft High near Los Angeles and the energetic post player Mike seizing upon a captain’s role late in his career at Hawaii.

But the unexpected will happen this fall, as the Thomas brothers will be reunited on the 2017-18 Rainbow Warriors roster. UH made the addition of the younger Thomas official on Friday afternoon, setting up what’s believed to be the first roster pairing of siblings in the program’s modern era (since 1970).

In typical Thomas fashion, the brothers minimized the fanfare.

“Honestly, we didn’t really speak on it,” Brandon Thomas said. “We kind of just left it alone and what happened, happened. He’s happy, though.”

Brandon Thomas put up 12.9 points per game on 41.1 percent 3-point shooting and 82.9 percent free-throw shooting his freshman season at Riverside City College, which went 23-9 in 2016-17. Thomas, who has three years of eligibility remaining as an academic qualifier, represents one of three open scholarships UH had following the spring signing period.

UH targeted Brandon Thomas — considered a late bloomer — primarily for his ability to help in perimeter shooting. The ’Bows’ 32.5 percent 3-point marksmanship last season was sixth among Big West teams.

“Brandon’s a big-time shooter,” UH head coach Eran Ganot said. “And his high basketball IQ and tireless work ethic has us excited about his growth over the next three years.”

Thomas hailed his time at Riverside a success (he was the team’s second-leading scorer) in part because his coaches allowed him to get up shots in the gym at all hours of the day. He has a daily routine of 1,000 attempts at a variety of spots on the floor.

His coach there, Phil Mathews, thinks the 180-pound Thomas might still grow an inch or two, to around 6-6. He hailed the wing’s improvement in multiple areas to go with his strong effort in the classroom.

“His physical frame, skill set, he wasn’t good off ball screens when he came. He’s pretty good off ball screens now,” Mathews said. “His growth as a player has just grown leaps and bounds. He’ll be a much better player in the future.”

Thomas hasn’t yet been out to Hawaii and didn’t have any other Division I offers; Mathews said he was widely expected to return to Riverside for his sophomore season.

“I told Hawaii, ‘If you wait to sign him next year, you’re not going to get him.’ Because he’s going to be heavily, heavily recruited,” he said.

The last time the Thomas brothers played on a real team together was a youth squad when Mike was in sixth grade and Brandon was in third. Now they’ll overlap one season in Manoa.

If Mike hadn’t redshirted in 2016-17 while recovering from a wrist injury, it wouldn’t have happened.

“I’m excited to get to work with our entire new team,” Mike said in a message. “Having family on the island is a bonus, but one that I’m going to cherish for as long as I can.”

Their games are a study in contrasts. While Mike is all about an energetic post game, Brandon is a shoot-first perimeter player.

“It’s neat because we don’t really have to talk to each other like that when we play,” Brandon Thomas said. “We don’t have to say anything for us to know what we’re doing.”