He may have grown up in the land Down Under, but Rhys Elliott is feeling right at home in northern B.C.
Elliott, in his first year on the court with the UNBC Timberwolves men's basketball team, is getting a ton of playing time. So far, 10 games into the regular season, Elliott - a 23-year-old six-foot-two guard who grew up in Adelaide, Australia - is playing 31.7 minutes per game - a little more than three-quarters of a 40-minute game.
That's translated into 12.5 points per game, second-best on the squad behind only six-foot-seven forward Franck Kouagnia, who leads the team with 15.5 points per game.
Saturday in UNBC's 89-87 win against the MacEwan University Griffins in Edmonton, Elliott produced a team-high 25 points, his best offensive output to date. With the win, the Timberwolves improved to 4-6 and are in a three-way tie for third place in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canada West Explorer Divison.
"He's fitting right into our system," said Timberwolves head coach Todd Jordan, who recruited Elliott prior to the start of the 2014-15 season. "He's been one of our main guys and our best decision-maker. Athletically, he's on a different level. He's quick."
After two years playing junior college ball for the Central Iowa Tritons in Fort Dodge, Elliott was set on playing the 2013-14 season at Carleton University in Ottawa. But a broken right leg in the off-season fractured that plan and he was sidelined for a year.
Still wanting to play in Canada, Elliott said he went searching for another opportunity and he found it at UNBC.
And he's more than happy to don a Timberwolves' uniform.
"It's a very competitive team," said Elliott, who's in his third year of eligibility and studying international business. "The players are leaders here and I'm with the guys 24/7. I like the way the team is playing - they're pretty selfless."
This weekend, Friday and Saturday, UNBC puts its 4-6 record up against Thompson Rivers University's 6-4 record in a pair of home games at the Northern Sport Centre.
The weekend represents the third and fourth times the teams will have clashed this season - they last met at the beginning of the 2014-15 campaign in Kamloops, where the Timberwolves lost both contests by a total of eight points. The WolfPack won the first game 84-80 and and the second game 85-81.
TRU goes into this weekend after back-to-back victories against the UBC Okanagan Heat.
Jordan said fans haven't seen the best from Elliott yet.
"He's kind of getting his legs back underneath him [after the first half of the season]," said Jordan. "I'm pretty happy with him. His production numbers aren't where they want to be because his leg atrophied [after breaking it]. He's definitely starting to get his legs underneath him."
The UNBC and TRU men's squads tip off Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. following the women's matches.
On the women's side, TRU leads the Explorer Division with a 9-1 record, while UNBC is at the bottom end of the spectrum at 1-9. Friday's women's game starts at 6 p.m. The Saturday contest will tip off at 5 p.m.
