UBL22 Grand Final Preview

Posted 19th May 2022

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Thursday 19 May 2022

Local rivals to battle out for the men’s trophy, with top seed La Trobe University women hosting The University of Sydney women in Bundoora.

La Trobe University women and The University of Sydney men set to host The University of Sydney women and University of Technology Sydney men respectively in two huge Grand Final contests.

Following the disappointment of a postponed and then cancelled finals series in 2021, the 2022 University Basketball League Australia (UBL) has finally reached its inaugural Grand Finals, with four teams set to meet in a highly anticipated contest.

La Trobe University (LTU) women will go in to their final as the favourites, having an outstanding season 11-0 and playing on home territory where they will be hoping to lift the inaugural UBL trophy.

They were matched up against University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in the first women’s semi-final, with both teams finding it difficult to find the basket in the first quarter. The home team LTU honed in on their opponents by half-time, and were able to capitalise on their lead and soar through to the final winning 61-44 ahead of the travelling team from UTS.

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Image © LTU vs UTS Women – Photography by Grant Treeby

The University of Sydney (USYD) women had a dominant win in their semi-final match against Victoria University (VU), defeating the Victorian team 72-50 and showing LTU they will not be a walkover in the Grand Final.

LTU recently defeated USYD in their Pride Round head-to-head 75-49, so USYD will be hungry for a return victory in an epic Grand Final.

LTU v USYD women will battle for the title of 2022 UBL Champions on Tuesday 24 May at La Trobe Sports Park from 2pm AEST followed by the medal presentation.

Following an outstanding season by the USYD men’s team and a tough win against a fiery LTU team in the semi-finals.

LTU made a courageous comeback in the 4th quarter, coming within 2 points of the eventual winners but ultimately falling short to USYD 95-86.

#10 Ignatius Mitchell (Bachelor of Economics and Advanced Studies) led the way for USYD with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.

USYD men have completed an undefeated season going into the Grand Final and will be evenly matched against local town rivals UTS.

UTS were a dominant force in the second semi-final against VU, with an impressive 80-69 victory. Big shout-out to Mitchell Dielemans #10 (Master of Health Science) from VU for what was the most epic shot of the year (see below).