University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: RJ Sunahara
January 11, 2024 | Men's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
RJ Sunahara came to Georgia fresh of a national championship. A 6-foot-8 graduate transfer, Sunahara played at Division II Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for three seasons, going 90-7 during that time, including a 36-0 run to the D-II national championship last season.
In his three seasons at Nova, the Bay Village, Ohio native started every game and averaged 17.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Along with leaving Nova Southeastern with a national title, Sunahara also left with a bachelor's degree in Business Management. At Georgia, he's working on a graduate certificate in Nonprofit Management & Leadership.
Sunahara comes from a very athletic family. His older brother Rex played basketball at Rhode Island before transferring to West Virginia, where he transitioned to being a football long snapper. Their dad, Reed, was an All-American volleyball player at UCLA, where he helped the Bruins win three NCAA titles, while their mother, Laura, played volleyball at Cincinnati.
During a recent Quick Chat, Sunahara talked about his very athletic family, his first dunk, a gummy worm hack, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: You obviously come from a very athletic family. Did that make things really competitive among everyone at home?
Sunahara: Yeah, pretty much all the time, me and my brother would be in the backyard or in the driveway, playing football, baseball or basketball. We would be playing every sport we could against each other. I would credit him for a lot of my success and just my competitive nature in general.
Frierson: Did it ever get too intense between you two?
Sunahara: Definitely those driveway basketball games. I mean, sometimes I would beat him, and he wouldn't want to get beaten by his little brother. He would get upset, and then he would just beat me a ton of times in a row. I'd get angry about that and yet at my mom that he was beating me, and she'd have to come out and separate us a couple of times. Those are good memories.
Frierson: Did you ever play much volleyball? Given your parents' abilities, I'm guessing you would have been a natural?
Sunahara: Where I grew up, near Cleveland, you had to go to a private school to play men's volleyball. I went to public school my whole life, so it wasn't really available.
Frierson: You're growing up around Cleveland during some of LeBron James' great seasons with the Cavaliers. Are you a massive Cavs fan?
Sunahara: Oh, I loved the Cavs from the beginning. That's been my favorite team my whole life. I still remember my first LeBron jersey that I got. It was navy blue with the cursive "Cavaliers" on it, with the gold trim on the outline.
I love LeBron. He was my favorite player growing up, and I just loved what he was able to do for Cleveland.
Frierson: If you could play with or against anyone in history, who would it be?
Sunahara: I would like to say my dad. He was a pretty good basketball player back in the day. He was, I think, first- or second-team all-state in the state of Hawaii, so I would love to be able to play him one-on-one at some point when he was about my age.
Frierson: I've asked that question a lot of times over the last seven or eight years, and that's the first time anyone has ever said a family member. That's a great answer.
Sunahara: I would just mostly want to beat him [laughs].
Frierson: What is something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Sunahara: Gummy worms or Skittles. I'm a big candy guy, so those two. If you put gummy worms in the freezer, I could eat those all day.
Frierson: In the freezer? Is that a gummy work hack that I'm hearing about for the first time?
Sunahara: It is. But I can't be giving out too many secrets [laughs]. I remember my old roommate at my old school telling me about it.
Frierson: Do you remember your first dunk?
Sunahara: I remember my first-ever dunk not in a game, and I remember my first dunk in a game. Non-game, I think I was just messing around in my middle school; I think I was in eighth grade, I was with some of my friends, and I had a volleyball. I was like, I'm going to see what happens here. I went up and it went down pretty easily.
Freshman year, during AAU, that was my first in-game dunk. It was at a Spiece gym in Indiana — a lot of AAU tournaments happen over there — and I remember we were up by 20 or something. There was a fast break and I just went up and dunked it. It was a pretty cool experience.
I was beyond amped up. I was so happy. It was pretty surreal at the time.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
RJ Sunahara came to Georgia fresh of a national championship. A 6-foot-8 graduate transfer, Sunahara played at Division II Nova Southeastern in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for three seasons, going 90-7 during that time, including a 36-0 run to the D-II national championship last season.
In his three seasons at Nova, the Bay Village, Ohio native started every game and averaged 17.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Along with leaving Nova Southeastern with a national title, Sunahara also left with a bachelor's degree in Business Management. At Georgia, he's working on a graduate certificate in Nonprofit Management & Leadership.
Sunahara comes from a very athletic family. His older brother Rex played basketball at Rhode Island before transferring to West Virginia, where he transitioned to being a football long snapper. Their dad, Reed, was an All-American volleyball player at UCLA, where he helped the Bruins win three NCAA titles, while their mother, Laura, played volleyball at Cincinnati.
During a recent Quick Chat, Sunahara talked about his very athletic family, his first dunk, a gummy worm hack, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: You obviously come from a very athletic family. Did that make things really competitive among everyone at home?
Sunahara: Yeah, pretty much all the time, me and my brother would be in the backyard or in the driveway, playing football, baseball or basketball. We would be playing every sport we could against each other. I would credit him for a lot of my success and just my competitive nature in general.
Frierson: Did it ever get too intense between you two?
Sunahara: Definitely those driveway basketball games. I mean, sometimes I would beat him, and he wouldn't want to get beaten by his little brother. He would get upset, and then he would just beat me a ton of times in a row. I'd get angry about that and yet at my mom that he was beating me, and she'd have to come out and separate us a couple of times. Those are good memories.
Frierson: Did you ever play much volleyball? Given your parents' abilities, I'm guessing you would have been a natural?
Sunahara: Where I grew up, near Cleveland, you had to go to a private school to play men's volleyball. I went to public school my whole life, so it wasn't really available.
Frierson: You're growing up around Cleveland during some of LeBron James' great seasons with the Cavaliers. Are you a massive Cavs fan?
Sunahara: Oh, I loved the Cavs from the beginning. That's been my favorite team my whole life. I still remember my first LeBron jersey that I got. It was navy blue with the cursive "Cavaliers" on it, with the gold trim on the outline.
I love LeBron. He was my favorite player growing up, and I just loved what he was able to do for Cleveland.
Frierson: If you could play with or against anyone in history, who would it be?
Sunahara: I would like to say my dad. He was a pretty good basketball player back in the day. He was, I think, first- or second-team all-state in the state of Hawaii, so I would love to be able to play him one-on-one at some point when he was about my age.
Frierson: I've asked that question a lot of times over the last seven or eight years, and that's the first time anyone has ever said a family member. That's a great answer.
Sunahara: I would just mostly want to beat him [laughs].
Frierson: What is something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Sunahara: Gummy worms or Skittles. I'm a big candy guy, so those two. If you put gummy worms in the freezer, I could eat those all day.
Frierson: In the freezer? Is that a gummy work hack that I'm hearing about for the first time?
Sunahara: It is. But I can't be giving out too many secrets [laughs]. I remember my old roommate at my old school telling me about it.
Frierson: Do you remember your first dunk?
Sunahara: I remember my first-ever dunk not in a game, and I remember my first dunk in a game. Non-game, I think I was just messing around in my middle school; I think I was in eighth grade, I was with some of my friends, and I had a volleyball. I was like, I'm going to see what happens here. I went up and it went down pretty easily.
Freshman year, during AAU, that was my first in-game dunk. It was at a Spiece gym in Indiana — a lot of AAU tournaments happen over there — and I remember we were up by 20 or something. There was a fast break and I just went up and dunked it. It was a pretty cool experience.
I was beyond amped up. I was so happy. It was pretty surreal at the time.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
Players Mentioned
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