Warrior Insider

Senior. Point guard. Efficient. Clutch. Those are just some of the labels Brocke Stepteau would like to see affixed to his name for the upcoming season with the University of Hawai’i basketball team.

Something that cannot be used to describe him anymore is walk-on.

Stepteau, a 5-foot-9 point guard from Dallas, Texas, will be a scholarship player for his 2018-19 season with the Rainbow Warriors. He has been a key contributor – both as a starter and reserve – in each of the last two seasons.

“To hear the news that the coaches, as a group, decided that’s what they wanted to do for this upcoming year was a blessing for me and a testament to hard work and believing in the process,” Stepteau said. “I just trusted myself and just worked hard, worked my way up and kept believing … it’s good, but I’m going to keep working and just keep trying to get better from here.”

As a junior last season, Stepteau averaged 9.5 points and 2.7 assists per game, while shooting 51.2 percent from the field overall, 44.4 percent from 3-point range, and 80.9 percent from the free-throw line.

“He’s certainly a guy who has done more than enough to deserve that,” Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot said. “His improvement across the board – in the classroom, off the court, and obviously on the floor, which people have seen, it all translates. His upward trajectory is going in a good direction, and he’s going to continue to do that.”

Stepteau entered the program in 2014 as an invited walk-on.

At a UH camp for youth players in June, Stepteau said he relayed the story of his journey to some of the aspiring players.

“Your size or your age doesn’t have to dictate how you play on the basketball court,” he said. “I tried to teach that as much as I can (at the camp).”

Stepteau said he opted not to play in the new Hawai’i Development League this summer because he wants to focus on the training and practices at UH.