Hunter Maldonado (born March 24, 1999) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player for the

Wyoming Cowboys The Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls are the athletic teams that represent the University of Wyoming, located in Laramie. Wyoming is a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW) and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 17 NCAA-sanctioned sports ...

of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

(MWC).

High school career

Maldonado attended

Vista Ridge High School Vista Ridge High School (VRHS) is a high school in Cedar Park, Texas. The school was established in 2003 to serve as the 3rd high school in the Leander Independent School District, graduating its Alpha class June 2007. The school was built due to ...

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. As a junior, he averaged 22.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and two steals per game, helping lead Vista Ridge to a 20–7 record and a berth in the 4A state semifinals. Maldonado was named

The Gazette The Gazette (stylized as the GazettE), formerly known as , is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band, formed in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa in early 2002.''Shoxx'' Vol 106 June 2007 pg 40-45 The band is currently signed to Sony Music Recor ...

5A-4A Boys' Basketball Peak Performer of the Year. He scored 37 points in a loss to Pueblo West High School. Regarded as a two-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

, in June 2016, Maldonado committed to playing college basketball for

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. He had received interest from several other Division I programs and a scholarship offer from Division II Colorado–Colorado Springs.

College career

Maldonado averaged 5.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game as a freshman, making 19 starts. As a sophomore, Maldonado averaged 13.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in eight games. However, his season was ended by a sprained knee ligament and back spasms, and he took a medical redshirt. On November 5, 2019, he scored a season-high 32 points in a 54–40 win over

Idaho State , mottoeng = "The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...

. Maldonado averaged 15.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and four assists per game as a redshirt sophomore, while shooting 42 percent from the field. He was a Third Team All-

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

selection by the league media. In the offseason, he trained alongside

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

's D'Shawn Schwartz and CJ Jennings of

Saint Martin's University Saint Martin's University is a private Benedictine university in Lacey, Washington. It was founded in 1895 as an all-boys boarding school by monks of the Benedictine Order. Saint Martin's began offering college-level courses in 1900 and became a ...

. On December 12, 2020, he scored a season-high 30 points in a 93–88 win over

Utah Valley Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. As a redshirt junior, Maldonado averaged 12.5 points per game, and led Wyoming with 6.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. On January 31, 2022, he scored a career-high 35 points in a 84–78 overtime win against

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

. Maldonado was named to the First Team All-Mountain West as a fifth-year senior. On March 22, 2022, Maldonado declared for the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...

while maintaining his college eligibility, but later withdrew from the draft after little to no interest from NBA teams. NBA teams generally do not think that he can compete at the next level. On February 9, 2023, he scored 17 points in a 69-59 loss to

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

and became the fifth player in program history to pass the 2,000-point threshold. He passed this threshold while playing six seasons with the Cowboys, significantly longer than the previous players who have passed this threshold.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 19 , , 21.2 , , .388 , , .304 , , .735 , , 2.2 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 8 , , 5 , , 32.5 , , .420 , , .333 , , .625 , , 6.8 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , .5 , , 13.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 35.3 , , .422 , , .295 , , .708 , , 5.8 , , 4.0 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , 15.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 25 , , 25 , , 35.8 , , .419 , , .200 , , .694 , , 6.8 , , 4.6 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 37.3 , , .495 , , .250 , , .711 , , 5.7 , , 6.3 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 18.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 29 , , 34.6 , , .481 , , .338 , , .753 , , 4.8 , , 4.0 , , 1.4 , , .3 , , 15.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 157 , , 144 , , 32.9 , , .449 , , .283 , , .715 , , 5.1 , , 4.0 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 13.7

References

External links

Wyoming Cowboys bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maldonado, Hunter 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Colorado Springs, Colorado Shooting guards Wyoming Cowboys basketball players