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Hawaii freshman will transfer out of the program

benjy taylor

Hawaii Athletics

Hawaii will lose a freshman who never played a minute for the team as forward Sammis Reyes is heading back to Florida to enroll in junior college. According to a report from Brian McInnis of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the 6-foot-6 Reyes will enroll at Palm Beach State and attempt to re-enter Division I basketball for the 2016-17 season.

“It’s the best situation for me to get re-recruited and start the process all over again,” Reyes said in the story. “And hopefully get some good looks down the road.”

Reyes is a native of Chile and dealt with a few injuries this season. Reyes injured a toe in the preseason and decided to leave the program after former head coach Gib Arnold was fired in late October. Reyes then decided he wanted to give Hawaii’s team a shot and returned to the team under new head coach Benjy Taylor, but he injured his hand during practice. Hand surgery cost Reyes the entire 2014-15 season and that injury is another reason he’s leaving the team.
“That’s one of the main reasons why I’m leaving,” Reyes said in the story. “I wanted to play, and then I got hurt, my toe first and now I hurt my hand, so I can’t play. If I’m sitting out, I’d much rather sit out at home (in Florida), you know?

“I was really looking forward to playing here. But you know, it is what it is. Circumstances weren’t the best. Coach got fired, I got injured twice. So, just move on to something new. Hopefully I get some more luck there, man.”

It sounds like Reyes just had a string of incidents not go his way duiring his time on the island between injuries and losing his head coach. After a few seasons of adding strength and skill at the junior college level, he should be an interesting prospect to track leaving junior college.

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