The Hawaii men's basketball team was in dire need of people who can produce, and Marcus Greene needed a place to showcase his abilities before embarking on an envisioned pro career.

A recent opportunity sounded "too good to be true" for the former Houston Christian University guard from Gilroy, Calif., who on Thursday made a commitment to play for the Rainbow Warriors for his final year of college eligibility in 2024-25.

The 6-foot-2 Greene led the Huskies in total points in the 2023-24 season and was second in scoring average at 15.1 points per game, while shooting 42.7% on 3-pointers in his only season with the Southland Conference program.

He entered the transfer portal right after HCU finished its season at 6-23 and relieved head coach Ron Cottrell on March 7. He said Hawaii contacted him in mid-April and he took an official visit last weekend.

UH lost four of five starters and its top six scorers from last season.

"It definitely played a piece," Greene told Spectrum News in a phone interview. "It’s my last year of college eligibility, so looking to make an impact on wherever I go. That’s what I’m looking for, and that’s what they’re looking for me to do. It’s just time to get to work."

He said St. Bonaventure, where he also visited, was the other program he'd considered the most. But UH offered a chance for several road trips to his home state.

Greene said he planned to sign with UH after arriving back home in Gilroy from the spring semester at HCU in the coming days.

UH will be Greene's third Division I program. He began his career as a reserve at Sacramento State and transferred to Panola (Texas) College for a season before going back up to D-I with HCU.

HCU was rated 355 of 362 D-I programs, according to kenpom.com.

But Greene was an efficient player throughout. He played and started in 28 of 29 possible games, shot 45.1% from the field, 78.6% from the free-throw line and led his team with a team-high 3.0 assists per game.

Greene scored a career-high 30 points in a loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Feb. 26.

"Just staying diligent in my work, diligent in my craft," Greene said of how he endured through the season. "I know the shots I can get to, the shots I can hit, and really just ... put the work in so when it gets to the game, I’m ready to hit those shots. Unfortunately, yes, we didn’t have much team success, but I would say as an individual, staying with a positive mindset, staying in the gym working, so when opportunities in games were (there) to win, I’d be ready to come up to get a win."

He is being offered some Name, Image and Likeness compensation to play at UH, but Greene said he is more concerned with the long-term prospects that a good season could provide.

UH is believed to have five scholarships remaining to assign for next season. UH has signed former Utah Tech center Tanner Christensen this spring, and guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor and wing AJ Aconomou last fall.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with an interview with Greene. (May 2, 2024)