For the first time in nearly three decades, the UVic men's basketball team is back on top.
On Sunday, March 16, at UBC's Thunderbird Sports Centre, the UVic men's basketball team left no room for doubt, overwhelming the University of Calgary 82-53 to claim the 2024-25 U SPORTS Final 8 Men's Basketball Championship their first national title since 1997 and the ninth in program history.
"It's amazing. It's something we've talked about, and I feel it was a little bit like a fairy tale for us, just in the way we lost in the conference playoffs and stepped up. The way I've seen the boys come together as a team, as a family, has truly been unbelievable,"
- first-year head coach and U SPORTS Coach of the Year, Murphy Burnatowski.
The UVic men's basketball team celebrate the program's ninth national title by posing with the U SPORTS banner and W.P. McGee Trophy.
Vikes command championship game from start to finish
The game felt decided almost as soon as it began. Calgary made the first shot, but then UVic took over. The Vikes locked in defensively, forcing three turnovers in the first five minutes. By the end of the first quarter, they led 18-6 Calgary's lowest-scoring quarter of the season.
The Vikes never let their foot off the gas, finishing the game with a 29-point win, marking the largest margin of victory for the Vikes in the nine title games they have won, besting the previous high of 14 set in 1984-85.
Renoldo Robinson led the Vikes with 24 points, grabbing nine rebounds and four steals and earning Player of the Game. Maillet added nine points, six rebounds, three blocks, three assists, and two steals, capping his Vikes career with tournament MVP honours. Geoffrey James (17 points), Ethan Boag (12), and Shadynn Smid (11) rounded out the double-digit scorers.
"This group has worked so hard all year, and I'm just really proud of them. It's an amazing feeling; it's pretty surreal," says fifth-year guard Sam Maillet.
"We played together and played for each other, and there's so many guys that are strong leaders in our locker room so we could get back to that. We had nothing to lose and everything to win, and we played like that. We were hungry, starving for a title, and we got it done."
Overcoming adversity to win the title
The championship run was anything but straightforward. The Vikes lost 2024 U SPORTS national MVP and all-time UVic career scoring leader Diego Maffia to a season-ending ACL injury in January. Many assumed the setback would derail their national title hopes, but instead, the team doubled down on defence and the collective effort to push forward.
That resilience showed after a heartbreaking loss to Calgary in the Canada West semifinals, which nearly knocked the Vikes out of national contention. But they bounced back, defeating the Manitoba Bisons in the conference bronze medal game to secure their spot. With UBC automatically qualified as the tournament host, Canada West received three berths, giving UVic the much-needed lifeline it needed.
UVic's path to the title game included a semifinal win over top-seeded Ottawa, setting up the championship showdown and rematch against the Calgary Dinos.
A long-awaited championship victory
The national championship win ended a 28-year drought for the program, which last lifted the W.P. McGee Trophy in 1997 under the late head coach Guy Vetrie.
"Obviously, with the history of the program, the drought it's something that's talked about a lot. Some of the older guys were dying for a championship, so I'm really happy for them. The alumni have been great and so supportive and being able to bring one home for them was really nice," says Burnatowski.
In the final moments of the championship game, as the buzzer sounded, Maffia who had been forced to watch from the sidelines shared an emotional embrace with Maillet on the bench. Moments later, he joined Maillet and fellow graduating athlete Aaron Tesfagiorgis in hoisting the national championship trophy, the trio celebrating the culmination of years of hard work.
