MQU and UTS bring the hustle at Nationals 3×3 basketball

In tough, windy conditions, Macquarie University (MQU) and University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have been crowned Nationals champions of 3×3 basketball at the 3×3 Big Hustle Uni.

Held in partnership between UniSport Australia and the NBL’s 3x3Hustle, the second edition of the Big Hustle was hosted by Sydney University Sport and Fitness along the iconic Eastern Avenue of their Camperdown campus from 8-9 August.

The winners of the two-day tournament gained qualification to the FISU 3×3 World University Cup to be held in Xiamen, China later this year as well as securing themselves a spot on the 3x3Hustle Pro Tour in 2020.

For the MQU men’s team, this is their third title in as many years.

The team, represented by Ciaron Fitzgerald (Bachelor of Science), Michael Golding (Bachelor of Science), Jayden Prakash (Master of Health) and Cooper Wilks (Graduate Diploma of Engineering) are not shy of the big stage, who on the back of their 2018 win took to the Pro Tour earlier this year, as the Sydney Warriors.

Jayden Prakash elaborated on their victory and praised the strength of the 3×3 Hustle Big Uni competition.

“It always feels good especially playing in an event of this calibre,” he said.

“All the teams who played today were unreal and they all brought it to us and all made it hard for us to get this three-peat.”

In the women’s competition, UTS’s victory was extra special, squaring the ledger with Monash University who beat UTS in the same tournament 12 months ago.

This is the first time that UTS will represent at the FISU 3×3 World University Cup, with UTS player Madeleine Norris (Bachelor of Business) commending her team’s performance.

“We are feeling pretty good, we lost last year, so it was pretty disappointing and so we came back stronger and played really hard,” she said.

Madeleine shared the win with fellow teammates Alessandra Burke (Bachelor Degree), Rachel Duncan (Bachelor of Health) and Maja Jurlina (Bachelor Degree) in front of a big local crowd, with plenty of support from the stands.

3×3 basketball will debut at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and will replace five-aside basketball at the next Commonwealth Games, with the NBL and Basketball Australia joining forces to create 3x3Hustle, providing the Official National Pathway from grass roots to the world stage.

UniSport are excited to be involved in this pathway, which has the potential to bring student-athletes from around the country in front of the National selectors.

In total, 18 universities were represented in both the 3×3 men’s and women’s competitions, with 112 students participating

The University of Sydney provided an amazing venue and the competition provided exciting entertainment for local students moving between lectures.

Both MQU and UTS have now opened their Nationals Div 1 pennant accounts as we head into Nationals Snow, which is happening at the end of the month at Thredbo Resort, NSW.

Find out how your university faired and see the overall results and rankings, click here.