When University of Alberta coach Barnaby Craddock faced the University of Victoria Vikes in the Canada West playoffs in March, in what became the final basketball games played at McKinnon Gym, the last thing he wanted to see was six-foot-10 UVic centre Chris McLaughlin barrelling down the throat of his Golden Bears defence.
It must feel a lot better having McLaughlin on his side. Craddock will coach McLaughlin and the rest of the Canadian men’s basketball team, comprised of CIS stars, at the 2015 World University Games, which begin today in Gwangju, South Korea.
UVic Vikes athletes in the Games include McLaughlin, Jon McKay and Stephanie Horner in swimming, Brendon Restall, Adam Paul-Morris and Karl Robertson in track and field, Tom Watson and Beth McConnell in rowing and Brynn Tomie in golf. Celina Toth from Victoria Boardworks will be representing Canada in diving, as will UBC’s Keegan Zanatta from Victoria in swimming and Joel Regehr of Courtenay in volleyball.
UVic track stars Rachel Francois and Thomas Riva turned down automatic selection to the University Games to concentrate on making the Canadian teams for the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto and 2015 world track and field championships in Beijing.
The sports represented in this year’s World University Games are track and field, basketball, soccer, volleyball, badminton, swimming, diving, rowing, golf, fencing, rhythmic gymnastics, shooting, tennis, taekwondo, table tennis and water polo. Canadian flagbearer for today’s opening ceremonies is Alicia Perrin of Creston, who ended her five-year career at Trinity Western by leading the Spartans to the 2015 CIS championship in women’s volleyball.
Meanwhile, men’s basketball 2014-15 Canada West MVP McLaughlin warmed up for the Games by scoring a total of 22 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in a pair of Canadian losses earlier this week to Bill Self’s University of Kansas Jayhawks, who will represent the U.S. in the World University Games. Canada led in the fourth quarter of both losses, each played before more than 8,000 fans in Kansas City. The Jayhawks won the exhibition contests 91-83 and 87-76, which were part of the Canadian training camp held from June 19 through Monday at the University of Kansas.
“The training camp was a great opportunity for us to get to know each other and spend some time together before coming over here [South Korea], and also gave us a chance to play in a pretty hostile environment,” said McLaughlin, in a Canadian team statement.
“I thought this was the perfect way to finish off my university career. There’s no better way than to top it off by representing Canada.”
Canada has done pretty well in men’s hoops at the previous two World University Games, winning silver in 2011 at Shenzhen, China, and placing fourth in 2013 at Kazan, Russia.
“This caps off a great five-year UVic career for Chris McLaughlin,” said Vikes coach Craig Beaucamp. “It will be an excellent opportunity for Chris to gain exposure for a European pro contract.”
Canada is in a pool with Russia, Sweden, Montenegro, Mexico and Mongolia.
“That’s a good pool to be in, and Canada will be quite competitive with a chance to make the Final Four again,” said Beaucamp.
The most famous Canadian basketball performance in the University Games was in Edmonton in 1983 when UVic Vikes stars Eli Pasquale, Gerald Kazanowski, Kelly Dukeshire and Greg Wiltjer led Canada to a stunning gold-medal victory over a U.S. team that included future NBA greats Charles Barkley, Johnny Dawkins and Karl Malone.
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