Thursday, July 28, 2011

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of North Florida men's basketball coach Matthew Driscoll is taking the Ospreys to Ontario, Canada (Aug. 4-10) for a set of three exhibition games, marking the program's first foreign tour of their NCAA Division I Era.

Games in the tour include a pair of contests against the University of Windsor and a single game versus Brock University. The first game for UNF will be Aug. 6 against Windsor at the St. Denis Centre in Windsor, Ontario. The Ospreys and Lancers then face off again Aug. 7. After an off day that includes travelling to Toronto, UNF meets Brock University in the series finale Aug. 9 at Bob Davie Gym in the Toronto suburb of St. Catharines.

Per NCAA rules, the Ospreys can conduct 10 practices prior to their departure. The NCAA allows for a foreign trip for a school once every four years and student-athletes can participate only once in their collegiate careers. Games must be against teams outside the USA.

“The ability to practice for 10 days and compete in three games in Canada should be an enormous boost for our program heading into the 2011-12 season,” said Driscoll. “These games provide us the opportunity to mix our experienced returners with our new additions to get a solid picture of where we are program-wise. It will also give us a view of what we need to continue to work and improve upon going into the regular season. Another huge benefit of this tour is the change to spend time together as a group to strengthen our chemistry. The trip is also a chance for our student-athletes to see a part of the world that some of them may never have had a chance to see.”

The Ospreys have an outstanding group of returners including, Atlantic Sun Conference All-Tournament selections Jerron Granberry and Andy Diaz and the nation's top “Sixth Man” scorer in Parker Smith. UNF returns eight players including four of five starters from last year's team that set a new Division I mark with 15 wins and also made the program's first appearance in the A-Sun Championship game.

The games will be played using international rules which differ from the college game. International rules feature a larger lane and play is conducted in four 10-minute quarters and jump balls. The international game also uses a 24-second shot clock, different than the college 35-second clock. Players are also allowed to touch the ball on or above the rim cylinder.

Windsor finished with an 18-9 last year while Brock was 9-13 overall. Windsor hosted Kentucky in a pair of exhibition games a year ago and will host Oakland, Virginia Tech and St. Louis in addition to UNF this season. Brock's other exhibition opponents are Murray State and Niagara.

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