VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds have little opportunity to savour their 71-44 season opening defeat of the Trinity Western Spartans as they travel to Oklahoma on Sunday for a pair of exhibition games against NCAA Division I schools Oral Roberts and Oklahoma.
The T-Birds open both schools home schedules with a game against the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts on Monday, November 2 (5:05 PM PST,
watch) and the Sooners of Oklahoma on Tuesday, November 3 (5:00 PM PST,
watch).
For UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson, these exhibition games are an important part of the T-Birds schedule this season.
"This trip is another opportunity to work on the things we are trying to improve on and get better as a team," said Hanson. "We are trying to get our guys in the mind set that regardless of who we are playing, we need to go out and execute our game plan."
The T-Birds have had success against NCAA schools in the past, they went 2-1 at home against US teams around the Labour Day Weekend in 2008, but Hanson knows this trip will present a new set of challenges.
"Oklahoma has already sold over 10,000 tickets and there is definite excitement building down there as they get ready to start their season. Both teams are going to be fired up and these games are really important to them as they don't have a lot of chances for exhibition games before they start their regular season. After practicing against each other all year, they are going to be chomping at the bit to play against somebody else."
In the Sooners, the T-Birds face a team trying to find its identity after having star Blake Griffin taken first overall in the 2009 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers.
Despite the loss of Griffin, as well as his older brother, Taylor, and starting point guard Austin Johnson, the Sooners still expect to be a force this season after reaching the Elite Eight at the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
Sooners head coach Jeff Capel had this to say about his group at their pre-season media conference on Thursday.
"Our guys have been working extremely hard in practice. We are a young team, but a talented team. They are working to get better every day and we have had some great practices. We have had some guys step up and be leaders for us, which is essential for such a young team. I am excited about the direction we are going and am really anxious to see us play against someone else, which we will do next Tuesday. I think we can be a really good basketball team this year."
Leading the Sooners will be stars Willie Warren and Tony Crocker.
Warren comes into the season with big expectations after being named the preseason national Player of the Year by the Sporting News. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard was the unanimous choice as the 2009 Big 12 Freshman of the Year after scoring 14.6 points per game and adding three assists per contest.
Crocker is the senior leader for the Sooners and has started 95 of 102 careers games including 66 straight heading into Tuesday's tilt. The 6-foot-6 guard started all 36 games last year for Oklahoma, averaging 9.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.0 steals per game.
The Sooners also bring a pair of McDonald's All-Americans into the fold this season in 5-foot-11 point guard Tommy Mason-Griffin and 6-foot-9, 300-pound forward Tiny Gallon, who was a top 10 rated prospect coming out of high school.
Oral Roberts presents a different opponent for the T-Birds in terms of notoriety, they are a mid-major with an enrollment of just over 3,000 students, but they are also in a bit of a rebuild after loosing three starters and a total of six lettermen from their 2008-09 squad that was 14-4 in the Summit League en route to a second-place finish.
Sophomore Dominique Morrison, a 6-foot-6 forward, is their top returning player after earning Summit League All-Newcomer team honours last season. He started a school record 31 games as a freshman and averaged 8.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Fellow starter Kevin Ford, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, also returns after averaging 9.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season.
The Golden Eagles last made it to the NCAA Tournament in 2008 when they suffered a first-round defeat to Pittsburgh.
UBC has a bye weekend following these mid-week exhibition games before hosting the Saskatchewan Huskies and Alberta Golden Bears on November 13 and 14. Both games are scheduled for 8:00 p.m. tip-offs at War Memorial Gym.
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