Inside The Huskies

Husky Basketball Adds Another Touted Guard for 2025 Class

JJ Mandaquit picked the UW over eight other suitors, who included Tennessee, Louisville and USC.
Dan Raley|
JJ Mandaquit has committed to the UW basketball team.
JJ Mandaquit has committed to the UW basketball team. | USA Basketball

Danny Sprinkle continues to stock up on nationally ranked guards for the University of Washington basketball program, receiving a commitment on Tuesday from JJ Mandaquit, considered a top 50 player by ESPN for the Class of 2025.

If there was a marketing slogan ready made for this kid is would be something like this: There is no quit in Mandaquit.

He chose the Huskies over a long list of suitors who included BYU, California, Creighton, Hawaii, Louisville, Tennessee, USC and Virginia.

At 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, the solidly built player is a true point guard who plays for Utah Prep Academy in Hurricane, Utah, in the southwestern corner of the state, which is 135 miles from Las Vegas compared to nearly 300 to Salt Lake City.

This past summer, Mandaquit also was a member of the USA U17 team that won a gold medal in the U17 World Cup held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Mandaquit eventually will join a Husky backcourt that now consists of freshmen Zoom Diallo and Jace Butler, a pair of 6-foot-4, 180-pound dual guards, plus another 2025 commit in 6-foot-3, 170-pound point guard Courtland Muldrew, an Arkansas native who plays for Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia. Muldrew orally committed this past month.

All four are or were 4-star prospects as rated by the larger recruiting services, which bodes well for UW basketball in the long run.

The Hawaiian-born Mandaquit is described by the recruiting analysts as a tough-minded player who's not afraid to get physical with on-ball defenders, can score in tight spaces and hits contested shots off the bounce.

A natural leader, Mandaquit averaged 6.6 points, 6.1 assists and 2.1 steals in six games for the USA U17 team, showing off a wide range of skills.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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