Idol Sports & Entertainment and Gonzaga University announced this morning that the Bulldogs men’s basketball team will play a non-conference game in Vancouver when they “tip-off” against the University of Hawaii.
The game will be played on November 19th at Rogers Arena in the inaugural BC Basketball Classic.
The Bulldogs have not played in Vancouver since November 25-26, 1966 when the team participated in the Totem Tournament, defeating St. Martin’s 78-60 and the University of British Columbia 89-73.Gonzaga features three players from Canada: senior center Robert Sacre (North Vancouver, BC), junior forward Kelly Olynyk (Kamloops, BC) and freshman guard Kevin Pangos (Newmarket, Ontario).
The event will be a homecoming for Sacre who attended Handsworth Secondary School, located less than 10 miles from Rogers Arena.
Sacre led the Handsworth basketball team to the 61st AAA Provincial Championship as a junior. All three Canadian-born Zags have played on some form of Canada’s national team.
Most recently, Olynyk participated in the FIBA Americas Championship where the seven-footer started the last four games in the tournament, averaging 6.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game as the team finished 3-5.“It will be exciting to get Rob back home to play.
He’s one of the all-time great Zags. Plus, Kelly will be playing close to his hometown and Kevin will get to play a game in his homeland,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said.
In addition to the Canadian players, Gonzaga will feature reigning All-West Coast Conference Newcomer of the Year Marquise Carter.
Carter was named the Zappos.com WCC Tournament MVP as he shot 63% in his final four WCC games and scored 14.5 points per game in the WCC Tournament.
By sharing the 2011 WCC crown with Saint Mary’s, the Zags have won a share of 11 straight WCC regular season titles, the longest active conference title streak in the nation.
Mark Few and company are just two seasons away from tying UCLA’s 13 Pacific-10 Conference titles from 1967-1979 as the longest streak in NCAA history.
Led by All-WAC Honorable Mention guard Zane Johnson, the Rainbow Warriors return three starters from a team that won 19 games and advanced to the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament a season ago.
Johnson’s 15.8 points per game were the most on the in 2010-11.
The two teams last faced each other in the second round of the 1998 NIT, with Hawaii defeating the Zags, 78-70. Gonzaga leads the all-time series 2-1.
Tickets for this contest will go on sale Friday, October 14th and will be available at www.ticketmaster.ca, all Ticketmaster outlets or by phone at 1-855-985-5000. Prices start as low at $14.
For more information, visit the official BC Basketball Facebook page at www.facebook.ca/BCBasketballClassic.
A staple of downtown Vancouver, Rogers Arena is one of the premier sports and entertainment facilities in all of North America.
Home to the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League, the 475,000 sq. ft. building has hosted numerous national and international events including the XXI Winter Olympic Games.
The former home of the Vancouver Grizzlies holds 17,391 spectators for basketball games.
The last basketball game at Rogers Arena took place last year when the Toronto Raptor defeated the Phoenix Suns in an NBA preseason game on Oct. 6th.
WHAT: Men’s NCAA Division I basketball, 2011 BC Basketball Classic
WHO: Gonzaga University Bulldogs vs. University of Hawaii Warriors
WHEN: November 19th, 2011 – Time TBA
WHERE: Rogers Arena – 800 Griffiths Way, Vancouver, BC V6B 6G1 Canada
CONTACT: Adam Baker, Idol Sports & Entertainment – 480-635-8720,
E-mail: adam@idolsports.com
TICKETS: Ticketmaster general on-sale date is scheduled for October 14th.
