The Orange Wave, a senior men’s basketball team of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) won the 2022 Gauteng Universities Basketball League (GUBL), while the Orange Galaxy (senior women’s team) settled for a bronze medal at the University of Pretoria (UP Tuks) on Sunday, 16 October 2022. The tournament took place from 13 to 16 of October 2022.
The basketball league was held in two venues with Wits University and UP Tuks hosting both the men and women’s games, respectively. The tournament began in the Wits Hall on Thursday, 13 October. Both the two UJ teams had positive opening matches as the women’s team won 39-22 against North West University, while their male counterparts the Orange Wave registered a 80-40 statement win the NWU men’s team.
On Matchday 2, it was derby day between rivals UJ basketball teams and Wits. The UJ Orange Galaxy team narrowly lost to the Wits Ladies team 46-48 in a pulsating encounter. However, the UJ men’s team completely quashed the raucous Wits crowd noise with a 86-64 victory.
The final games were played in Pretoria at the UP Tuks’ indoor hall on Saturday and Sunday for matches 3,4 and 5. The UJ women’s team played VUT ladies, another tight game which the UJ ladies by 30-39. The final match of the night saw the UJ men’s basketball team Orange Wave, take on the VUT men’s team and once again showed their title credentials winning the game 77-65. There was a growing belief in the group that they would win the tournament heading into the last day.
On the final day of the tournament, the UJ women’s team played hosts UP Tuks, narrowly losing by 34-36. However, the UJ ladies redeemed themselves in their final game of the tournament, registering a 41-26 victory over the TUT women’s team. The UJ women finished in third position with 7 points on the log after netting 190 goals.
The UJ Orange Wave men’s basketball team were aiming to win the championship and with 3 consecutive wins registered, they were favorites heading into the final day of the GUBL tournament on Sunday. They met UP Tuks in the first match of the last day of the league and by 69-42.
The UJ Orange Wave sealed the league with an impressive win over another Tshwane side, TUT, by winning with 61-41 final score.
This was an impressive feat by the UJ Orange Wave as they won all their games, amassing 373 points past their opponents.
The UJ Orange Wave men’s team also had three individual awards with Hope Dim and Davison Chivero each claiming the All Star Players Awards. Clinton Meela bagged the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award due to his outstanding performances in helping the team clinch the GUBL title.
