Canada Basketball announced Monday that the senior men's national team will travel to B.C. to face China in the Pacific Rim Basketball Classic in late June.
Rogers Arena in downtown Vancouver will host Team Canada on Friday, June 22 at (7:30 p.m.) before the team travels to the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria for a game on Sunday, June 24 (5 p.m.).Both sides will also practice at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Tickets for Vancouver will go on sale Thursday (10 a.m.) at ticketmaster.com. Additional details regarding Victoria tickets to be announced.
Canada's roster will feature some of the country's biggest and brightest stars, including players playing professionally in the NBA, NBA G League and several of the top professional leagues overseas.
Head Coach Jay Triano, who played at Simon Fraser University from 1997-1981 before becoming the head coach of his alma mater from 1988-1995, returns to the Canadian bench after being unavailable for the previous two windows while coaching in the NBA.
"Some of the fondest memories of my basketball career are from all the years I spent playing and coaching in British Columbia," said Jay Triano, Head Coach, Senior Men's National Team. "Vancouver and Victoria have some of the most passionate basketball fans in the country and we’re excited to bring our team back to the West coast."
The Pacific Rim Basketball Classic will help Canada continue preparing for their quest towards the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Canada resumes the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers with a first-place showdown against Dominican Republic on Friday, June 29, before concluding the first-round with a Canada Day long weekend matchup versus U.S. Virgin Islands at The Arena at TD Place on Monday, July 2.
Canada is in Group D along with Bahamas, Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each team faces the other three teams on a home and away basis with the top three teams from each group advancing to the second round.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China will be the biggest edition of FIBA's flagship event with a record 32 participating teams playing 92 games over 16 days. For the first time, the FIBA Basketball World Cup will qualify seven teams directly for the following year's Olympic Games.
