The Black and Gold look to begin a three-game foreign tour to close the summer, planning six days in the Bahamas in preparation for the 2015-16 basketball season.
In Nassau, on Aug. 9 and 11, the Knights will face the New Providence Basketball Association’s Real Deal Shockers and Patron Regulators, respectively. In 2014, the Patron Regulators made an appearance in the Bahamian professional league’s championship series.
To complete the three-game summer tour, UCF will match up against the International Basketball Academy Elite in a game scheduled for Aug. 12.
UCF will be one of thirteen collegiate basketball teams to play at Kendal Isaacs National Gymnasium in the capital city through August.
“We are excited to take this trip to the Bahamas in August,” said head coach Donnie Jones in his announcement. “It is a great opportunity for our young team to learn and bond with each other before the school year. The competition will be great, but team building and having fun will also be very important for us on this trip.”
The NCAA permits member institutions to schedule a foreign tour once every four years, with 10 practice days provided prior to the flight. UCF made a similar trip to the Bahamas in 2011 to take part in the Battle 4 Atlantis basketball tournament, advancing through the finals before falling 49-59 to Harvard in the championship game.
Among the players to make the trip, incoming freshman Tacko Fall will reportedly join UCF basketball’s early start to the season. Jones emphasized team chemistry as a key component to involving incoming players in the trip.
“You get 10 full days of practice which is huge… we’re bringing in really four new players at this point, [and we] had two sitting out from last year so you’re really implementing six new players to our team, and that’s half our team,” Jones said. “With those six new guys is a huge opportunity to implement those guys in our system, teach them what we’re doing, see how those guys play together… to have that snapshot before the fall begins gives us a chance as coaching staff to really look at them coming into the fall and how they need to improve, or what combinations we think could really help our team as we start the fall.”
The Knights depart for the Bahamas on Aug. 8 and return to Florida on Aug. 13.
