No, incoming freshman Akira Jacobs did not know about the University of Hawai’i men’s basketball team’s Aug. 8-18 trip to Japan when he verbally committed in May to play for the Warriors.
But when he did hear about it just days later, Jacobs — a native of Yokohama, Japan — accepted it as destiny.
“I was told a few days after (committing), I think,” Jacobs, a highly regarded 6-foot-8 wing, said at Monday’s final practice at UH before the team departed on Tuesday. “I was like, ‘Oh, wow!’ … It just seemed like, even before learning about the trip, Hawai’i just felt like the right place for me, overall.