UCAM
Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Baloncesto,
S.A.D.,
more commonly referred to as UCAM Murcia, is a professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
team based in
Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
. It plays their home games at
Palacio de Deportes.
History
Founded in 1985 under the name Agrupación Deportiva Júver, Murcia agreed with a Madrid-based club, Logos de Madrid, to buy out its rights to play in the Spanish second division. Murcia would play at that level for four consecutive seasons and its first superstar was do-it-all big man
Randy Owens
Randolph Owens (May 12, 1959 – December 1, 2015) was an American basketball player. He played the center and forward positions. He was drafted in the 1980 NBA Draft in Round 6 by the Indiana Pacers. He played in the Continental Basketball Associ ...
.
In 1990, Murcia, led by veteran center
Mike Phillips, beat
Obradoiro in a playoffs series to gain promotion to the
Spanish League. The club would stay in the Spanish elite for the next seven seasons, with stars likes Ralph McPherson,
Clarence Kea,
Michael Anderson and
Johnny Rogers
John Bernard Rogers Bakker (born December 30, 1963) is a Spanish-American former professional basketball player. Rogers played college basketball at Stanford University and at the University of California, Irvine. Listed at a height of 6'10" and ...
and head coaches like Felipe Coello, José María Oleart and
Moncho Monsalve
Ramón Marcos Enrique Monserrat (born 4 March 1988), better known by his stage name Moncho, is a Swedish rapper, singer, and songwriter. He competed in Melodifestivalen 2018 with the song "Cuba Libre", and qualified to andra chansen. He is the bro ...
. In December 1991,
Kea pulled down 29 rebounds, which remains a
Spanish League record, in a win against
Breogán Lugo.
The club became CB Murcia in 1993 and moved to its current arena,
Palacio de Deportes, the following season. Murcia organized the
Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...
tournament in the
1995–96 season and made it to the
semifinals
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...
. Murcia went down to the
Spanish second division at the end of the
1996–97 season, but reached the Spanish elite a couple of times, including in 2006, when it downed
CAI Zaragoza
Basket Zaragoza 2002 S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Basket Zaragoza and as Casademont Zaragoza for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Zaragoza, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the ...
in overtime in a do-or-die game to advance. Led by Jimmie Hunter and Juanjo Triguero, Murcia ranked 12th in the
2007–08 season, but went back to the
second division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
two years later. Murcia bounced back to score promotion directly with a 30–4 record, and has been in the Spanish elite even since.
In 2013, the club switched hands and
UCAM Murcia took control. That moved helped Murcia shine in the last couple of seasons for its best results ever. With Diego Ocampo as head coach and
Scott Bamforth,
Raulzinho Neto and
Carlos Cabezas as its top newcomers, Murcia finished the
Spanish regular season with a 17–17 record, which was just one win from the playoffs. Last season Murcia found a new coach in
Fotios Katsikaris and added more experienced players like
Facundo Campazzo,
Serhiy Lishchuk and
Vítor Faverani. That led to a seventh-place finish with an 18–16 record and a ticket to the quarterfinals for the first time in the club's history, where it lost 2–1 to
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
in the
quarterfinals
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
, but earned the right to make its debut in European competitions in the
2016–17 EuroCup.
In its European debut, UCAM Murcia reached the Top 16 round.
In the next season, the club joined the
Basketball Champions League
The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Interconti ...
, reaching the
Final Four in its first participation. Murcia lost to
AEK
A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...
in the semifinals and won the third place game over
MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg.
Sponsorship naming
CB Murcia has received diverse sponsorship names along the years:
*Juver Murcia: 1985–1992
*CB Murcia Artel: 1997–1998
*Recreativos Orenes CB Murcia: 1998–1999
*CB Etosa/Etosa Murcia: 2000–2003
*
Polaris World
Polaris World was a holiday resort company centred on golf courses designed by Nicklaus Design - the golf course design and development firm set up by Jack Nicklaus and his sons. However the company was established in 2001 by Pedro García Meroño ...
CB Murcia: 2003–2008
*
UCAM Murcia: 2011–present
Logos
Home arenas
*Pabellón Príncipe Felipe: (1985–94)
*
Palacio de Deportes: (1994–present)
Players
Current roster
Depth chart
Head coaches
*Felipe Coello: 1985–1991, 1991–1992, 1992, 1998, 2002–2004
*
Moncho Monsalve
Ramón Marcos Enrique Monserrat (born 4 March 1988), better known by his stage name Moncho, is a Swedish rapper, singer, and songwriter. He competed in Melodifestivalen 2018 with the song "Cuba Libre", and qualified to andra chansen. He is the bro ...
: 1991, 1993
*
Clifford Luyk: 1991
*Fernando Sánchez Luengo: 1991
*Iñaki Iriarte: 1992
*José María Oleart: 1993–1996, 2002
*Ricardo Hevia: 1996
*Alberto Sanz: 1996–1997
*Manolo Flores: 1998–2000
*Pepe Rodríguez: 2000–2002
*Miguel Ángel Martín: 2004
*Iván Déniz: 2004–2005
*Chete Pazo: 2005
*Manel Comas: 2005–2006
*Manolo Hussein: 2006–2009
*
Moncho Fernández: 2009
*
Edu Torres
Eduard Torres Girbau (born May 26, 1964) is a Spanish professional basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of the Thai national team.
Coach career
*1985–86 Joventut Badalona (youth team)
*1987–96 Festina Andorra
*1997–99 Cl ...
: 2009–2010
*Luis Guil: 2010–2012
*Óscar Quintana: 2012–2014, 2016–2017
*
Marcelo Nicola: 2014
*Diego Ocampo: 2014–2015
*
Fotios Katsikaris: 2015–2016, 2017
*
Ibon Navarro
Ibon Navarro Pérez de Albéniz (born April 30, 1976, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava) is a Spanish basketball coach. He currently works for Unicaja of the Spanish Liga ACB.
Coaching career
Ibon Navarro has been a coach in the lower categories of Sas ...
: 2017–2018
*Javier Juárez: 2018–2019
*
Sito Alonso: 2019–present
Season by season
Trophies and awards
Domestic competitions
*2nd division championships: (4)
**1ª División B: (1) 1990
**
LEB Oro: (3)
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
,
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...
,
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...
*
Copa Príncipe de Asturias
The Copa Princesa de Asturias de Baloncesto (English: ''Princess of Asturias' Cup of Basketball'') is an annual 2nd-tier level national cup competition for Spanish professional basketball teams, that is organized by Spain's 2nd-tier level professi ...
: (1)
**2006
European competitions
*
Basketball Champions League
The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Interconti ...
**Third place (1):
2017–18
Other competitions
*Yecla, Spain Invitational Game: (1)
**2014
Individual awards
ACB Three Point Shootout Champion
*Pedro Robles – 2009
All-ACB Second Team
*
Facundo Campazzo – 2017
LEB Oro MVP
*Tony Smith – 1998
All LEB Oro First Team
*Pedro Rivero – 2011
Notable players
*
José Ángel Antelo
*
Carlos Cabezas
*
Rodrigo San Miguel
*
Yanick Moreira
*
Facundo Campazzo
*
Federico Kammerichs
*
Federico Van Lacke
Federico Martín Van Lacke Falco (born 26 June 1980 in Santa Fe, Argentina) is an Argentine professional basketball player who plays for Juaristi ISB of the LEB Plata.
Professional career
Trained in Regatas de Santa Fe, Van Lacke signed his fi ...
*
David Barlow
*
Vítor Benite
Vítor Alves Benite (born February 20, 1990), commonly known as Vítor Benite, or simply as Benite, is a Brazilian-Italian professional basketball player for Gran Canaria of the Spanish Liga ACB and EuroCup. At a height of 1.94 m (6'4 ") tall, ...
*
Vítor Faverani
*
Augusto Lima
*
Raulzinho Neto
*
Bojan Bogdanović
Bojan Bogdanović (; born 18 April 1989) is a Croatian professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents the Croatian national team internationally. Standing at , he plays t ...
*
Kim Tillie
Kim Tillie (born 15 July 1988) is a French professional basketball player for Cholet Basket of the French LNB Pro A. He played college basketball at the University of Utah. He is a 2.11 m (6'11") tall power forward, who can also play as a small ...
*
Blagota Sekulić
*
Ime Udoka
*
Thomas Kelati
Thomas Kelati (born September 27, 1982) is an American professional basketball player of Eritrean heritage. In 2010, he gained Polish citizenship through his wife and is eligible to play on the Poland national basketball team in international com ...
*
Miloš Vujanić
Miloš Vujanić ( sr-cyr, Милош Вујанић; born November 13, 1980) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. A two-time All-EuroLeague selection, he won the EuroLeague championship with Panathinaikos, in 2007.
Pro ...
*
Anton Gavel
*
Goran Dragić
*
James Augustine
*
Johnny Rogers
John Bernard Rogers Bakker (born December 30, 1963) is a Spanish-American former professional basketball player. Rogers played college basketball at Stanford University and at the University of California, Irvine. Listed at a height of 6'10" and ...
*
Michael Anderson (basketball)
*
Corey Crowder
Jonathan Corey Crowder (born April 13, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Utah Jazz and the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
A guard- forward from Kentucky Wesleyan Colleg ...
*
Marcus Fizer
Darnell Marcus Lamar Fizer (born August 10, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player.
High school career
Fizer played high school basketball at Arcadia High School in Arcadia, Louisiana. As a senior, Fizer was selected to pla ...
*
Matt Nover
*
Lou Roe
Louis Marquel Roe (born July 14, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Spanish Liga ACB, among other leagues. He was an All-American college player at the Univer ...
*
Andre Turner
Andre Devalle Turner (born March 13, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently the head coach for Lane College. A 5'11", point guard, he played college b ...
*
Donatas Slanina
*
Tomas Delininkaitis
Tomas Delininkaitis (born June 11, 1982) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player. He was a member of the Lithuanian national basketball team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship . He is 1.90 m (6 ft 2 in) and weighs 82 kg.
Profe ...
*
Martynas Pocius
Martynas Pocius (born 28 April 1986) is a Lithuanian retired professional basketball player. He was also a member of the Lithuanian national basketball team.
Early life and high school
Martynas Pocius was born in Vilnius to Gintaras, a basketba ...
References
External links
Official websiteUCAM Murciaat
ACB.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:UCAM Murcia
Basketball teams in the Region of Murcia
Liga ACB teams
Basketball teams established in 1985
Former LEB Oro teams
1985 establishments in Spain