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Perhaps fitting for a former 12-season NBA point-guard, head-coach Mark Price brings his UNC-Charlotte 49ers to the hometown of Steve Nash.
The 49ers, whose history includes a Final Four appearance in 1977, invade CARSA Gym on Monday night to take on the University of Victoria Vikes in a men鈥檚 exhibition basketball game at 7 p.m.
UNC-Charlotte made the NCAA tournament nine times between 1992 and 2005, but has not been since. The 49ers were 10-17 last season in Price鈥檚 first year as bench boss.
But these players are NCAA Div. 1, which means they are still plenty good enough.
The 49ers destroyed the Trinity Western Spartans 96-58 in Langley and defeated a much-better UBC Thunderbirds squad 89-71 in Vancouver to open their Canadian tour. Guard Braxton Ogbueze led Charlotte with 23 points against the Thunderbirds and 22 against the Spartans.
鈥淐harlotte is quick in transition and shoots the ball really well,鈥� said UVic head coach Craig Beaucamp.
鈥淎 lot their leadership comes from their backcourt.鈥�
The Vikes are looking to rebound this year after missing the sa国际传媒 West playoffs last season at 9-11 in conference after making the CIS national championship tournament the previous three seasons, including advancing to the CIS Final Four in both 2014 and 2015.
All seven Vikes returnees and six new players are now on campus, running through their paces for Monday night鈥檚 exhibition-season curtain-raiser against UNC-Charlotte.
Notable newcomers include Wayne Tucker, the fourth-year guard and the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference basketball player of the year. The explosive six-foot-one player from Oakland, California, averaged 28.5 points per game and surpassed the 40-point plateau on five occasions with the Olds College Broncos last season. Scott Kellum is a true freshman guard out of high school in Issaquah, Washington. Forward Jake Newman, a redshirt last year with national champion Carleton, is the son of former national-champion Vikes player Jamie Newman.
Price, meanwhile, is best known for his NBA seasons from 1986 to 1995 with the Cleveland Cavaliers before closing out with three seasons, in succession, with the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors and Orlando Magic.
The former Georgia Tech standout was also an American international. He never made the U.S. Olympic team but won gold at the 1983 Pan Am Games in Caracas and gold with the first post-Barcelona U.S. Dream Team at the 1994 FIBA world championships held in Toronto. Coaching sa国际传媒 that year at the worlds was former UVic coaching legend Ken Shields, after whom Ken and Kathy Shields Floor is co-named in CARSA Gym.
