Warrior Insider

Talk about your fast promotions. At this time last year, Jack Purchase was about to start a redshirt season with the University of Hawai’i basketball team. While his contributions on the scout team during practices went relatively unnoticed, Purchase gained notoriety as the lead producer of the Hawaii-5O bench crew.

This season — particularly in light of the season-ending injury to forward Mike Thomas — Purchase is one of the leading candidates to become a lead player for the Warriors.

“It’s different, it’s different,” he said. “Last year we had a lot of older guys, we could lean on them when times got tough and stuff. Now for me coming back, I’m pretty much one of the older guys even though I haven’t played more than 10 games of college basketball. It’s crazy how it’s all changed so quickly. But I think it’s good. We have a young team and everyone is willing to learn. I think we’ll get after it this year.”

Purchase, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, appeared in seven games as a freshman at Auburn, then transferred to UH prior to the start of last season.

So far this preseason, he has emerged as one of the team’s top long-range shooters, and could fill the versatile “stretch 4” role that Stefan Jankovic played last season.

“My role, I need to play good defense, rebound the ball, I need to make some open 3s when I can, I need to be able to get assists, find the open players, and be a leader on the court as well,” he said.

Last season, Purchase was the leader of the Hawaii-5O bench crew that drew national attention for its creative routines in celebration of teammates’ accomplishments during games. Given his expanded role on the active roster, he is willing to pass on the bench duties to his younger teammates.

“We’ll see what happens in the games,” Purchase said. “We’ll see who gets less minutes and see if they want to do anything. Hopefully for me, I’m on the court and I can’t think about that too much.”