Vancouver, BC - The first week of classes tip off with the UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team playing host to the University of California-Riverside Highlanders Thursday September 5 at 7:00 pm at War Memorial.
The Highlanders play in the Big West Conference in NCAA Division 1. They are currently coached by interim head coach Dennis Cutts. He has taken over as bench boss this season after Jim Wooldridge was promoted to interim athletic director at UC Riverside. The Highlanders will play three games while in British Columbia, Thursday versus UBC, Friday against Trinity Western University, and the following Monday they will square off versus the University of Fraser Valley.
UBC is coming off a tough training camp following a mid summer exhibition contest against Rice University which they lost 96-70. It will be the first opportunity for Thunderbird fans to see
Tonner Jackson in a UBC uniform. The transfer from Trinity Western averaged 16.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in 2012-13, starting all 16 games he played for the Spartans. He is eligible to play for UBC without sitting out a year because he transferred to a graduate program. Standing 6'7 and weighing in at 220 lbs, Jackson will be a big, bruising body under the glass to compliment the likes of
Brylle Kamen and
David Wagner.
The defending Canada West champions officially begin the Canada West regular season campaign Friday November 1 in Saskatchewan against the University of Regina.
