UH basketball team signs elite combo guard from New Zealand

Thomas Beattie, a 6-foot-5 combo guard from New Zealand, has accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Hawaii basketball team.

Beattie, who was born and raised in Auckland, will join the program as a freshman this summer. He will compete at point guard and shooting guard for the ’Bows.

“Just everything,” Beattie said of what he liked about the ’Bows. “I have a good relationship with the coaching staff. Obviously, the place is beautiful. And the basketball is great, high-level basketball.”

As a high school senior at Rosmini College, Beattie averaged 27.4 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals per game. He is an amateur member of the Auckland Tuatara of the New Zealand National Basketball League. He also competes for New Zealand’s 19-under national team.

Beattie is valued as a three-level scorer on drives, mid-range jumpers, and 3-point shots. With Tuatara, Beattie said, “my role is to play defense.”

UH assistant coach Brad Davidson noticed Beattie while scouting New Zealand’s national tournament. “I’ve been chatting with Brad Davidson for about six months now,” said Beattie, who received the UH offer two weeks ago. In accepting, Beattie said, “I felt (Hawaii) would be the right place for me and to develop as a basketball player, too.”

Beattie said former Rosmini teammate Taine Murray, a guard with Virginia, served as a role model. “I loved how he held himself on and off the court,” Beattie said. “He’s someone I wanted to be like.”

Beattie is the fourth player to accept a scholarship for this coming season. UH also signed Akira Jacobs, a 6-foot-8 wing who grew up in California and Japan; 6-8 forward Justin McCoy, who previously played at Virginia and North Carolina, and 6-5 guard Matthue Cotton, a Yale graduate.