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03/11/2025 12:37 PM
When the UBC men’s and women’s basketball teams host the 2025 U Sports Final Eight, they’ll be doing so with some extra motivation.
NBA legend and NBA on TNT host Shaquille O’Neal gave a special shoutout to the Thunderbirds, wishing the host squads good luck ahead of the tournament.
“UBC Thunderbirds, I heard you guys are going to the championship,” O’Neal said in a video. “I just want to say congratulations and good luck.”
The T-Birds also got shoutouts from the rest of the TNT panel.
The tournament gets underway at the Vancouver campus on March 11 and runs through March 13.
The No. 3 seeded men’s squad take on the No. 6 seed University of Prince Edward Island while the No. 5 seeded women’s team will play No. 4 seed Saint Mary’s University.
The men’s team lost in the Canada West championship game 109-96 to the University of Calgary on Friday and sit behind the Dinos (No. 2) and University of Ottawa (No. 1) going into the tournament.
The women’s team also made it to their Canada West championship game on Saturday, but fell 71-59 to the top-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies.
