An exciting season of UBC Thunderbirds basketball gets underway at War Memorial Gym this week, with the U SPORTS No.6-ranked T-Birds hosting rival Trinity Western for the season opener on Thursday. The UBC men tip-off at 7:30 p.m. (PT), two hours after the schools' women's teams square off.
The 'Birds enjoyed a very strong first season under head coach
Phil Jalalpoor in 2025-26, finishing 15-5 in conference play, before reaching the Canada West Final and the U SPORTS Final Eight National Championship tournament.
Now, with his first full recruiting class in toe, and a year of his movement-heavy system in place, Jalalpoor is looking for the program to further develop its budding identity throughout the year.
"I like this team. I like the personalities," said the former Olympian. "We look for that when we recruit, but you never know how it all fits together. So far, it's been a lot of fun. They're hungry and want to get after it.
"We're actually a bit further ahead than I thought we would be. I think that's due to the fact that our player development program is working; huge shoutout to lead assistant coach
Jacob Simmons on that. All of the extra hours in the mornings and over the summer to build on what we've been doing with guys is helping them take the next step."
The T-Birds went 6-1 in the pre-season, including a 77-70 victory over the defending national champion Carleton Ravens.
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Going into last year, Jalalpoor had to roll out an entirely new back court. This year, it's all five starters being replaced, including former Canada West All-Stars
Nikola Guzina and
Holt Tomie.
"That was a challenge going into our pre-season," admitted Jalalpoor. "We're benefitting from giving our second lineup a lot of burn last year. They're ready to go now, and we plan to do the same thing with the second unit this season to get them up to speed. We're looking forward to having this crew long term, and hope not to be dealing with so much turnover each year."
Forward
Nylan Roberts is expected to take on a bigger offensive role. He
represented Canada at the FIBA 3x3 Youth Nations League over the summer, coming off of a breakout sophomore season that saw him finish second on the T-Birds in scoring, while knocking down a blistering 42.2% of his shots from three-point range. Explosive guard
Edouard Gauthier should be shouldering plenty of the offensive load as well, after earning a spot on the Canada West All-Rookie Team in his debut campaign.
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The regular season starts with a familiar foe in rival Trinity Western. The T-Birds won all three head-to-head matchups with the Spartans last year, taking a close win in Langley before two blowout victories at home. TWU was 9-11 last season, and defeated Mount Royal in the Canada West Play-In, before falling to eventual conference champion Victoria in the quarter-final.
"They're fun to watch, but hard to play against, because they get after it," analyzed Jalalpoor. "They lost some keys guys in the frontcourt, but that gives them a clearer identity around playing fast and shooting a lot of threes. They're well coached and never seem scared of the moment. Taking them out of what they want to do will be key."
Tickets for Thursday's home opener may still be available
here. Stream all of the action, live or on demand, on
Canada West TV.
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