The UNBC men's basketball team hasn't played a game in nearly a month, but its about to warm up for the second half of the season in sunny Arizona.
The Timberwolves are competing in the Arizona Christian University New Year's Classic from Dec. 29-31.
Based in Phoenix, the Arizona Christian University Firestorm compete in the Golden State Athletic Conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. They have an overall record of 8-3 and a Conference record of 2-0.
The T-wolves tip off against Huntington University (Indiana) on Dec. 29, Arizona Christian on Dec. 30 and The Master's College (Santa Clarita, Calif.) on Dec. 31.
"They'll be three pretty good games," said Timberwolves head coach Todd Jordan. "It's a Christmas trip that's a good way to kick-start the second half of the season. It's a nice transition. We've gone to Winnipeg before [on Christmas break] and last year we went to California."
The team flies to Phoenix on Saturday and will be without top forward Franck Olivier Kouagnia, who flew home to Cameroon to spend the holidays with his family.
"This is a good opportunity for us to get back together after Christmas and burn some rust off," said Jordan. "We won't have Franck, but that's OK. It'll be good for the other guys."
UNBC is 3-5 in the Explorer Division of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canada West Conference. The regular season resumes Jan. 9 when the Timberwolves visit MacEwan Univeristy in Edmonton for a two-game set. They return home Jan. 16 to host the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack for a pair of games.
