UCAM Murcia CB


UCAM Murcia Club Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as UCAM Murcia, is a professional basketball club based in Murcia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the FIBA Europe Cup. Their home venue is Palacio de Deportes. The team is owned and sponsored by the Spanish university Universidad Católica de Murcia.

History

Founded in 1985 under the name Agrupación Deportiva Júver Murcia, the owners 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.
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 and head coaches like Felipe Coello, José María Oleart and Moncho Monsalve. 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 tournament in the 1995–96 season and made it to the semifinals. 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 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 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 in the quarterfinals, 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, reaching the Final Four in its first participation. Murcia lost to AEK in the semifinals and won the third place game over MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg.
In the 2023–24 ACB season Murcia reached the finals in the first time after beating Valencia Basket in the quarterfinals and Unicaja in the semifinals, but they lost to Real Madrid in three games in 2024 ACB Finals

Sponsorship naming

CB Murcia has received diverse sponsorship names along the years:
  • Júver Murcia: 1985–1992
  • CB Murcia Artel: 1997–1998
  • Recreativos Orenes CB Murcia: 1998–1999
  • CB Etosa/Etosa Murcia: 2000–2003
  • Polaris World CB Murcia: 2003–2008
  • UCAM Murcia: 2011–present

    Logos

Home arenas

  • Pabellón Príncipe de Asturias:
  • Palacio de Deportes:

    Players

Current roster

Depth chart

Head coaches

  • Felipe Coello: 1985–1991, 1991–1992, 1992, 1998, 2002–2004
  • Ary Ventura Vidal: 1988–1989
  • Moncho Monsalve: 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: 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: 2017–2018
  • Javier Juárez: 2018–2019
  • Sito Alonso: 2019–present

    Season by season

Trophies and awards

Domestic competitions

  • Liga ACB
  • *Runners-up : 2023–24
  • 2nd division championships:
  • *1ª División B: 1990
  • *LEB Oro: 1998, 2003, 2011
  • Copa Príncipe de Asturias:
  • *2006

    European competitions

  • Basketball Champions League
  • *Third place : 2017–18, 2023–24

    Other competitions

  • Yecla, Spain Invitational Game:
  • *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

Spain
Europe
USA
Rest of Americas
Africa
Oceania