For Tanner Cuff and Tiger Cuff, the move to the University of Hawaii finally put the brothers in the same place after years of separate paths. What should have been the start of their first season together turned more uncertain a week before the 2025-26 opener, when Tanner suffered a torn ACL.
That is the reason people are looking at Hawaii basketball now: the Cuffs are at UH, and the family basketball story that took them years to reach has been interrupted just as it was about to be seen on the floor. Their father, Ryan Cuff, was 2,995 miles away in American Fork, Utah, when he listened to the internet broadcast of a UH exhibition and imagined Tanner feeding Tiger for a 3-point shot at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. He said it was fun to hear.
The brothers were never teammates in high school or on club teams, even though basketball has been around them from the beginning. Tanner said, “As soon as I was out of the womb, my dad probably had a basketball in my hands,” while Tiger said, “Ever since I could walk, I’d have a ball in my hand.” Ryan coached the high schools where both brothers sharpened their games, and the family’s routine included parks, church gyms and a backyard court in St. George, Utah. Tanner, Tiger, their father and their sister also played two-on-two together, with Ryan saying Pyper Cuff is probably the most competitive.
The path to UH ran through different stops and different timelines. Tanner spent two years on a mission in Kentucky, then went on to Evansville before transferring to UH in June 2025. Tiger once considered delaying his own church mission to join Tanner at Evansville, but chose instead to go on a two-year mission to Brazil so he would have five consecutive years to play, with an eye toward Weber State in June 2026. That made UH the first place where the brothers were finally set to line up together.
The injury changes the equation without changing the fact of what UH gained: two brothers whose basketball lives had always run in parallel, and who finally reached the same roster at the same time. Whether Tanner can be back in uniform soon enough to share the floor with Tiger is now the open question, and the answer will define how much of this family storyline actually makes it into games.
