Vancouver, BC - Canada Basketball has announced the rosters for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Hosted in Gold Coast, Australia the games take place from April 4-15. The 2018 Commonwealth games will feature basketball for only the second time and with this being the first time Canada has entered a team. Both the Men's and Women's tournament feature eight teams separated in two pools.
For the Men, two UBC athletes and their coach were selected to the team. UBC Head Coach, Kevin Hanson, will serve as an assistant coach on the team with Conor Morgan of Victoria and Grant Shephard of Kelowna on the roster. Conor Morgan just completed his USport eligibility with his second Canada West Player of the year nod after averaging 23.9 points and 9.7 rebounds. Shephard, who played on last years FIBA U19 World Cup Championship team, earned himself Canada West Rookie of The Year with averages of 8.8 points and 4.4 rebounds.
Hanson, Morgan, and Shephard's first game for Canada at the Commonwealth Games will be on Friday, April 6 at 12:30 a.m. PT against hosts Australia at the Cairns Convention Centre. Gold Coast is 17 hours ahead of Vancouver.
For the Women, representing BC are Jacey Bailey of Burnaby and Ruth Hamblin of Houston. Jacey Bailey is coming off of a redshirt sophomore season at Northern Arizona University after transferring from Florida Atlantic University. In her lone season at FAU, she appeared in all 29 games as a freshman and averaged 4.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in 17.8 minutes. Ruth Hamblin was a four-year athlete at Oregon State University and in her final year earned Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-Pac-12. She was selected 18th Overall in the 2016 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings and now plays for Bourges in France.
Bailey and Hamblin's first game for Canada at the Commonwealth Games will be on Friday, April 6 at 1:30am PT against England.
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