Get To Know: Douglas Royals

The Douglas Royals have retooled and are ready to tip off the new PACWEST season on Friday when they play at Langara.

They are coming off a difficult season finishing 5-13 and were a dismal 1-9 on the road. That said, they did sneak into the playoffs but were eliminated following a quarterfinal loss. They shot 40% from the field last year and averaged just over 80 points a game.

Matt McKay returns for his second season as the head coach after learning some very important lessons last year about the PACWEST competition. He has surrounded himself with some outstanding basketball minds with five assistants, making them the largest coaching staff and quite possibly the tallest staff.

Key Returners:

Corez Johnson returns after an outstanding season last year. He was fourth in PACWEST scoring averaging 18 points a game, shooting 42.1% from the field and was named an All-Star.

Bhavan Dhillon played only six games with the Royals last year but was a sparkplug when he was on the floor. He averaged over eight points a game and shot 36% from downtown.

Key Additions:

Former UBC Thunderbirds redshirt Jeevan Sidhu has transferred to the Royals and will make an immediate impact. He’s a 6’6 guard and a Tamanawis grad with tremendous upside.

Key Grad:

Ben Rabel kept the Royals close in most games last season making an impact on the glass. He averaged a double-double in his final campaign leading the PACWEST with 12 rebounds a game and dropped in over 12 points a contest.

Head coach McKay and assistant coach Aurel David were part of the coaching staff that won silver with BC's U15 boys team at the 2022 Canada Basketball National Championship. It was BC's first finals appearance and medal of any kind at the event since 2011.

To get ready for the gruelling PACWEST season the Royals are playing five exhibition games in the preseason against tough NCAA opponents. They open the season on Friday at Langara against the Falcons in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal.