LANGLEY — Diego Maffia never thought basketball could break his heart.Once, in his Grade 12 season (2018-19) with Victoria’s Oak Bay Bays, he poured home 94 points in a 114-88 win over Edmonton’s Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds, the greatest single-game scoring performance in B.C. boys high school basketball history.And over a university career with his hometown […]
University Men’s Basketball
Buchanan Cup 2025: As UBC beats Simon Fraser in the 38th edition of the ‘Crosstown Clash’, we celebrate the Brothers Maric as a symbol of the game’s enduring ties to the B.C. hoops community!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caBURNABY MOUNTAIN — No word yet if Toni Maric ever let the Buchanan Cup out of his hands on Saturday night after he and his UBC Thunderbirds topped the host Simon Fraser Red Leafs 66-54 in the 38th edition of the crosstown basketball brouhaha.Who knows? Maybe the ‘Birds 6-foot-8 fifth-year forward took it […]
A SUNDAY READ: UBC stuns No. 1-ranked, defending national champ Victoria, snapping Vikes’ 33-game win streak with stoic resilience and improved prowess in the paint!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caVANCOUVER — Was the biggest surprise on Friday night the way in which the UBC Thunderbirds turned in one of their most inspired and complete team performances in recent memory en route to defeating the No. 1-ranked team in the country?Or was it, upon hearing the final horn sound in its 93-87 win […]
Buchanan Cup 2025: As the timeless SFU vs. UBC men’s basketball rivalry gets Nov. 15 re-start atop Burnaby Mountain, it’s time to examine the weird, wonderful origin story 1968’s debut crosstown clash!
By Howard Tsumura(VarsityLetters.ca and Special for Simon Fraser Athletics)BURNABY — If the Buchanan Cup could speak, the first thing you’d hear would be a chuckle most identifiable as a last laugh.Too many times a pawn in the machinations of the Lower Mainland’s two most enduring university athletic programs, it has nonetheless aged with dignity to […]
Simon Fraser men’s hoops: As Canadian Tip-Off Classic nears at the LEC, new head coach Barnaby Craddock melds newcomers and holdovers in build-up to 2025-26 GNAC season!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caBURNABY — With a brand new coaching staff and half of its roster new to the fulltime climes of Burnaby Mountain, it’s no stretch to say that Simon Fraser Red Leafs men’s basketball is set to open a new chapter in its program’s history.And page one of that treatise will begin write itself […]
UBC-Trinity Western men’s hoops: Fifth-year vet Tobi Akinkunmi earns kudos for new three-point prowess! Thunderbirds unleash long-bomb barrage early to top host Spartans in early-season crosstown clash at LEC!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caLANGLEY — The UBC Thunderbirds may only be one weekend into the new Canada West men’s season, but they’re shooting the basketball from distance like they’re in mid-season form.On Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre, the Birds came bursting out of the gates behind the three-point shooting of fifth-year forward Tobi Akinkunmi, […]
From Kevin Hanson to Phil Jalalpoor, examining how torch-passing former point guards pay forward a coaching legacy which beats strong at the heart and history of UBC men’s basketball!
BY HOWARD TSUMURA(VarsityLetters.ca)VANCOUVER — First as a player, then later as an assistant coach, Phil Jalalpoor cut his teeth in the university hoops world under the mentorship of one of the most successful head coaches in the history of Canadian university basketball.Kevin Hanson, the hard-nosed former UBC point guard who went on to forge the […]
Postcards from The Edge: UBC’s Edgerrin Williams-Hernandez shows he can still deliver the mail! ‘Birds speedy receiver looks to put his own stamp on a special senior season!
By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)VANCOUVER — It’s no stretch to say that over the past 12 months, a lot of Edgerrin Williams-Hernandez’s evenings would end wondering if he was ever going to catch another touchdown pass in Thunderbirds’ blue and gold.In fact until he put all of those doubts to rest with two scoring catches in […]
UBC Thunderbirds’ recruit Zeru Abera has been clutch when it counts! Now, the STM Knights senior is embracing the challenge of bringing his intangibles to the Canada West!
VANCOUVER — Ask Kevin Hanson what he finds most special about his most recent high school recruit and he instantly captures the essence of St. Thomas More Knights’ senior Zeru Abera.“It’s a tough thing to teach anyone how to be clutch in a basketball game, especially at the end of the game, and then to […]
Bright lights, brighter future: After losing last season to concussion, ‘Birds 6-foot-10 standout Nikola Guzina can see clearly now as UBC gears up to host 2025 U SPORTS Final 8 nationals!
VANCOUVER — Nikola Guzina’s basketball dream had always been to play under the bright lights at UBC’s hallowed War Memorial GymnasiumAnd coming off an amazing two-season stretch at nearby King George Secondary School, where over his Grade 11 and 12 seasons combined (2018-20) he averaged an NBA 2K-like 30.7 points, 14.1 rebounds and 6.5 assists […]