It was an opportunity to knock some rust off, not to mention see a team that hasn’t strolled through these parts for more than 20 years.
The University of Victoria Vikes men’s basketball team scrimmaged against the Simon Fraser University Clan on Tuesday afternoon at CARSA gym, welcoming a few hundred hoop fans.
“It was good to get out and run and stretch our legs and get back into the flow of things,” said third-year Vike Jordan Charles. “It feels like we haven’t really left the gym, with just a week off during Christmas, but there’s a tough second half coming up and we need to get ready.”
The scrimmage had a completely different feel to it as freshmen and red-shirt players saw action.
“It was exciting because they have to work just as hard as us [in practice] and sometimes they don’t get in because they are the younger guys or they are red-shirts so they’ll have their opportunity next year. When we see them out there, giving it their all, the same as us, it really encourages us to bring it to the table,” said Charles.
Coach Craig Beaucamp threw out some interesting combinations with the likes of Jason Scully, Graeme Hyde-Lay and Tyus Barfoot getting some playing time.
“It was exactly what we needed, that’s why we played the scrimmage format,” said Beaucamp. “It’s a long year. We’ve got guys who haven’t played, who are red-shirting or whatnot. Just to give everybody a chance was good.
“Everybody comes to practice every day and everybody puts in the same amount of time. We felt it was important that we, at least for the first couple of days this week, get everybody involved.”
The Vikes will scrimmage again today with UBC-Okanagan at 2 p.m. and will play the Heat in an exhibition game on Thursday at 1 p.m. at CARSA.
On Tuesday, the Vikes started strong in three of the four quarters, in which no statistics were kept. Their best effort came in the fourth in which they bounced back from three baskets down early. A Grant Sitton finger roll, Barfoot deuce and a Jordan Charles three-pointer allowed them to finish strong.
“We were rusty with some things, and obviously we had some weird lineups with guys who hadn’t played before. We were committed to getting everybody in,” said Beaucamp. “There are always things you don’t like as a coach. I thought we weren’t great defensively. We were in position, most times, to win the quarter and kind of gave leads away.
“One of the things is, when you’re playing a lot of guys, it does hurt the flow a bit. You have guys sitting for long periods. It’s a different scenario in a scrimmage format, but overall we were happy.”
The Vikes men and women will get back to Canada West regular-season play on Jan. 8 at CARSA.
The UVic women were at the University of Toronto Holiday Invitational and opened with a 79-51 win over Laurentian on Monday. A result versus Western on Tuesday was unavailable and the Vikes face Toronto today.
FREE THROWS: Matt Rud, a St. Michaels University School grad who played a large part in an Island double-A championship and runner-up finish at provincials two seasons ago, is no longer with SFU. He has now enrolled at UVic and could try to play his way onto the Vikes’ roster next season.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
