Vancouver Bandits 2024 Season Preview

Gary Ahuja • May 23, 2024

The safety net is gone for the Vancouver Bandits and that suits Kyle Julius just fine.

“I think last year was a gift and a curse. I like this way better,” admitted the team’s head coach and general manager, who enters his fifth season in one capacity or the other with the pro basketball team.

“From a coaching standpoint, I think the urgency is better, having to get up every day knowing you have to earn (your spot).”

Julius was referencing last summer when the Bandits knew they were guaranteed to be one of the last four teams standing as the host of the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Championship Weekend at Langley Events Centre.

He was speaking on Wednesday afternoon to the assembled media following the conclusion of the team’s practice which opened up training camp as Vancouver gets set for their season debut on May 23 when they host the Montréal Alliance at Langley Events Centre.

Coincidentally, the Alliance are in the same boat as the Bandits from a season ago as they are this summer’s Championship Weekend host.

The Bandits return four players from last summer’s squad which struggled to an 8-12 record but was a basket away from advancing to the CEBL Championship game for the first time since 2020.

Arguably the biggest returnee – both in terms if impact and actual size – is Nick Ward, a 6-foot-9 American import who averaged a team-high 18.5 points and 7.9 rebounds (second on the team) in 2023. His field goal percentage (61.6 percent) and offensive rebounding (3.16 per game) were both also top five in the CEBL.

Joining Ward as an inside presence will be Surrey’s James Karnik, who missed the entire 2023 campaign to allow both his mind and body to fully heal. In 10 games with the Bandits in 2022, the 6-foot-9 forward averaged 15.9 points and 7.9 rebounds.

“My body is feeling the best it has ever felt,” Karnik said, adding it has been a long time since he felt this explosive on the court.

Karnik has set a personal goal of one highlight-reel play per game for himself.

The rest of the forward group consists of Kur Jongkuch (6-foot-9), Sam Maillet (6-foot-7), Drew Urquhart (6-foot-8) and Josip Vrankic (6-foot-9). Jongkuch is back for a second season while Urquhart played one game for the Bandits back in 2019. Maillet joins the team from Dalhousie where he helped the Tigers advance to three U Sports Final 8 tournaments. He was also the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Defensive Player of the Year. Vrankic spend this past season in the LEB Oro, the second highest division of professional basketball in Spain.

Urquhart returns to the professional game after a couple of seasons away, although he did keep tabs on the team as a Bandits season-ticket holder. But once he got the call from Julius, he jumped at the chance to join the squad.

But while size is a critical component in team success, Julius knows something was missing so he went out to address that.

“We wanted to try and build on the success we did have last year per possession and then add some athleticism, add some speed, add some quickness to that,” Julius explained about Ward’s inside presence would draw another defender, creating more space for the team’s guards on the perimeter.

To get more dynamic guard-play, the team has brought in a several new faces, the most prominent of those being Tazé Moore, a 6-foot-5 American guard who suited up in a handful of NBA games this past season for Portland. He also has G-League experience.

Moore struggled through his collegiate career with multiple surgeries, but said those setbacks made him that much more appreciative of his journey, also learning not to take anything in life for granted.

“You are always going to have your ups and downs, but at the end of the day, as long as you have faith in yourself, faith in a higher power, things will work out in the best situation for yourself,” he said.

Glen Yang(6-foot-4), Koby McEwen (6-foot-4) and Zach Copeland (6-foot-4) are all new to the Bandits, while the rest of the backcourt features returnees Duane Notice (6-foot-2) and Diego Maffia (6-foot-1).

Three times during the Bandits’ eight victories in 2023, Notice was responsible for the winning points during Target Score Time, and he also led all Vancouver players in accuracy from beyond the arc, connecting on 40.6 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Maffia joined Vancouver last summer on a U SPORTS development contract and with the experience gained in 2023, took that back to the University of Victoria, winning the U SPORTS Player of the Year award.

Yang and McEwen both have CEBL experience with Yang previously playing for Winnipeg while McEwen won the 2022 CEBL championship with Hamilton, also picking up the league’s Sixth Man of the Year Award that season. Copeland is new to the league but is a prolific shooter who is enjoying his most decorated professional season to date as a member of the Bamberg Baskets in Germany’s renowned Basketball Bundesliga. In 34 games, he averaged 17.7 points and 4.2 assists on 37.8 percent shooting from 3-point range.

The Bandits roster is rounded out by Adam Olsen, a 6-foot-7 guard/forward from UBC, 6-foot-1 guard Jerric Palma from Western, and 6-foot-11 centre Connor Platz of Trinity Western University. All three were selected in the CEBL Draft and are signed to Development Player contracts and retain their eligibility for the 2024-25 U Sports season.

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Vancouver Bandits Race Past Rattlers to Earn Fifth Straight Victory

By Bandits Staff • 16 Jun, 2024

Make it five straight for the streaking Vancouver Bandits. With the score knotted at 76 entering the fourth quarter, the Bandits were dominant down the stretch, outscoring the Saskatchewan Rattlers 22-9 over the final period and Target Score Time for an impressive 98-85 win on Saturday night at Langley Events Centre (LEC). The victory not only improved the Bandits to a Canadian Elite Basketball League-best 7-1, but it also avenged the team’s only blemish, a 98-86 setback to those same Rattlers in the season’s third game. “That was our main focus, knowing that they had given us our only loss. They were our target and we wanted to set a statement for the rest of the league,” said Vancouver’s Duane Notice. “We were definitely motivated to get this win, especially in front of our home fans; they have been a tremendous boost of energy.” Notice, the team’s captain, normally comes off the bench, but was pushed into the starting line-up for Saturday’s game. And while his stat line didn’t pop – five points, nine rebounds and three assists in 30:10 of floor time – it is his contribution in other areas that make him stand out. “He is our true glue guy. He leads our group by his action,” said Vancouver head coach and general manager Kyle Julius. “He is our captain; sacrifices his body, he guards every position. Gets his fingernails on loose balls that get into our hands.” Vancouver led for all but 3:03 of the game, and that came in the early stages of the opening quarter. The Bandits built a 26-21 lead after 10 minutes and stretched the advantage to as many as 13 before taking a 58-50 lead to the locker room. A big reason for that was the fact the Bandits hit 55.6 percent of their 3-point attempts (10-for-18) in the first 20 minutes, compared to 4-for-17 (23.5 percent) in the second half. With the deep ball not dropping, it allowed the Rattlers to rally and tie the score at 76 entering the final period. “They hit some shots, we didn’t. It was our 2’s against their 3’s,” said Saskatchewan coach Larry Abney, referencing the fact his team was just 6-for-25 (24 percent) from downtown, compared to 28-for-43 (65.1 percent) from inside the arc for the game. “We got some hands up, but they made some shots. Hats off to them, (Vancouver) played a great game.” The Bandits were able to hold the CEBL’s leading scorer Jalen Harris (who came in averaging 27.7 per game) to 24 points, including just nine in the first half. Tazé Moore led the team with 25 points, seven rebounds and nine assists while Nick Ward had 21 points and seven boards. Koby McEwen and Zach Copeland each chipped in with 16 and Diego Maffia came off the bench to score 11, all of which came in the middle two quarters. “He really sparked us and got the crowd going,” Julius said, marveling at the difficulty of playing 13:19. That’s compared to a total of 14:00 of floor time over the past five games combined. On the other side, Saskatchewan trio of Elijah Harkless (25 points), Harris (24) and Bryson Williams (23) all surpassed the 20-point plateau, but Vancouver limited the Rattlers bench to just nine points. Notice said a team’s defensive identity is key to success and through the first eight games, they are allowing just 82.6 points per game, second lowest among the 10 teams. “That (defence) is the focus every game. We know we have talented offensive guys … (but) shots aren’t always going to fall; you will make some, miss some, but we want to bring that defensive intensity every single possession. We want that to be our identity and I think we are doing that right now,” he said. The Bandits are off to Winnipeg for a quick mid-week road trip to battle the Sea Bears on June 19. Following that, Vancouver is back at home on June 22 with a visit from the Ottawa BlackJacks to Langley Events Centre as part of the club’s Indigenous Celebration Game. Tickets for the highly anticipated and fast-selling game are on sale now at this link . Individuals interested in ticket flexibility or purchasing a bundle of Bandits tickets are invited to consider a flex pack . More information can be found at thebandits.ca/tickets or by speaking with a Bandits representative by calling (604) 455-8881 or emailing tickets@thebandits.ca . A complete regular season schedule can be found by clicking here . More information is available at thebandits.ca and @vancouverbandits on Instagram and TikTok , as well as @vancitybandits on Facebook and Twitter .

Full Game Highlights | Bandits vs. Rattlers (06/15/2024)

By Bandits Staff • 16 Jun, 2024

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Bandits look to avenge lone loss in rematch with Rattlers

By Zulfi Sheikh • 15 Jun, 2024

The Vancouver Bandits (6-1) welcome the Saskatchewan Rattlers (5-2) to Langley Events Centre on Saturday night for the second of three regular season matchups this season. Live coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. PT / 8:30 p.m. CST / 10:30 p.m. ET and fans can catch all the action on CEBL+ powered by BetVictor, TSN+ and on the CEBL mobile app available for iOS and Android devices. Vancouver may lead the Western Conference with a near-perfect record, but they’ll still have plenty to gain this weekend, as their lone blemish to this point was a 98-86 loss against Saskatchewan two weeks ago. There was a caveat regarding the outcome however, as Vancouver was without it’s do-it-all guard Tazé Moore. The team’s leading scorer was a late scratch due to illness and his absence was greatly felt. Without Moore’s 20.2 points per game (fourth-most in the CEBL) and steadying presence, the Bandits’ offence appeared to be in disarray. They turned the ball over 18 times, shot 34 per cent from the field and 27 per cent from downtown, looking nothing like the team that typically scores 92 points per game (tied for second most in the league). And if that doesn’t make the 25-year-old’s impact clear enough, how about the fact that Vancouver is still undefeated with him in the lineup? In their latest victory, a 112-91 win over the Winnipeg Sea Bears, Moore put up a monster triple-double of 35 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists. He’s one of just two CEBL players this season to record a triple double. Moore’s play spearheaded a season-best offensive performance for the Bandits, as they dominated the Sea Bears in practically all point-producing statistical categories. They shot better from the field (+10%), grabbed more rebounds (+7) and dished more assists (+11). The glaring absence of Moore doesn’t fully discredit Saskatchewan’s victory over Vancouver, however. It might’ve been a single-digit win in the end, but the Rattlers never trailed in the contest as they outproduced the West’s No. 1 squad from the field (+8), the paint (+10) and three-point line (+3). Saskatchewan was led by a star guard of its own, with Jalen Harris putting up 27 to go with six rebounds and nine assists. He was backed up by a three-headed monster of Elijah Harkless, Maurice Calloo and Grant Basile who each chipped in 19 points. Since that victory – and a 3-0 start – the Rattlers went on a two-game losing streak before sweeping a home-and-home set against the Brampton Honey Badgers. Their latest victory, like the Bandits, was a season-best offensive performance. It was a 104-93 win for Saskatchewan as they shot 52 per cent from the field, made 14 threes on a 43 per cent clip and dominated the glass for 41 rebounds (+14). And again, similar to Vancouver, it was thanks to their leading scorer having a special game. Harris put up a historic 45 points against the Honey Badgers on Wednesday, setting a new CEBL single-game scoring record. The import scored 21 of those points in the third quarter alone as he finished the game shooting 62 per cent from the field and 66 per cent from beyond the arc. The record-setting performance leapfrogged him to the top of the CEBL’s scoring leaderboard, now averaging 27.7 points per game. Key matchup Harris vs. Moore will be the battle to keep an eye on. It’s going to be a heavyweight bout between the league’s No. 1 and No. 4 scorers, both of whom are coming off CEBL career-best performances. The pair also lead the league in minutes played per game, so fans can expect to see plenty of action between the matchup on Saturday night. We might have missed out on two of the league’s best duking it out in the first contest but round two has the potential to more than make up for that. A win for the Bandits extends their lead over the conference and casts doubt on the Rattlers original victory, while a Saskatchewan win brings them into a tie for first in the West and validates their previous performance.

Career Night for Tazé Moore Fuels Vancouver Over Winnipeg

By Gary Ahuja • 14 Jun, 2024

LANGLEY, B.C. , June 13, 2024 – In the off-chance fans were not familiar with the Vancouver Bandits and their red-hot start to the CEBL season, any remaining mystery surrounding the team has likely dissipated. Playing at Langley Events Centre on Thursday night in a nationally broadcasted game on TSN, the Bandits flexed their might, scoring 62 in the first half alone in a 112-91 victory over the Winnipeg Sea Bears. It improved Vancouver to 6-1 – and has them atop the Canadian Elite Basketball League standings – and in addition to improving to 4-0 on their home court, three of the Bandits’ victories have been by 20-plus points. For Winnipeg, this was a third-straight loss following a 3-1 start as their record slipped to 3-4. It was also the Bandits’ first-ever win against Winnipeg after the Sea Bears won all four meetings in 2023. But that was last year and this edition of the Bandits is something else. Tazé Moore capped off a remarkable night individually, as he sank a long-distance 3-pointer for the clinching points in Target Score Time. He finished with 35 points – a Bandits franchise record – to go along with 16 rebounds (15 of which came on the defensive end) and 11 assists for the first triple double in team history and just the fifth in league history. “That was special. I thought he did it without being selfish. He picked and chose his times. It was an impressive 35 points,” said Bandits coach and general manager Kyle Julius. “He just has great feel.” Even more impressive was the fact Moore missed the last few days of practice while he attended workouts with a few NBA clubs and just learned a few new wrinkles this morning the team added in his absence. While Moore posted the gaudy stats, he was far from alone in doing damage offensively. Koby McEwen scored 24, Nick Ward had 20, Zach Copeland chipped in with 11 and James Karnik added 10 as all five Bandits starters reached double figures. Vancouver shot nearly 57 per cent from the field, including an eye-popping 51.9 per cent from downtown, as they connected on 14 of 27 of three-point attempts. “I wouldn’t say it is a shock because I know we recruited great shooters,” Julius said when asked about connecting on such a high percentage. And when the outside game is nailing more than half their attempts, it makes for a tough night for teams to defend, especially with the inside game of Ward and Karnik. “You have to respect everybody. There’s not one person you can help off of. That’s a hard cover when you can’t help on anybody, everyone has to go one-on-one; everybody can score, everybody can rebound, everybody can do everything. That’s tough to defend,” Ward said when asked about the challenges of defending Vancouver. But while the final score was lopsided, the Sea Bears did have their moments, trailing 28-21 after one quarter and then trimming a 16-point halftime deficit down to four points in the third quarter at 65-61. Julius credited the insertion of Sam Maillet and Duane Notice onto the floor at that critical juncture as a turning point. “I thought they literally changed the game themselves; their energy and their defence; I thought we just took off from there,” the coach said. Following the substitutions, Vancouver re-established the double-digit lead, going ahead 84-71 after three quarters and then opening the fourth with a 12-0 run. “Give the Bandits credit; they hit shots and made some plays. Tazé was outstanding today, but it wasn’t just him, it was a team effort,” said Winnipeg coach Mike Taylor. Thursday’s game marked the Sea Bears debut of Justin Wright-Foreman and last year’s leading scorer in the CEBL (with Saskatchewan) saw him pick up where he left off with 29 points and six assists. Teddy Allen added 24, giving Winnipeg a deadly backcourt tandem. Offensively, the Sea Bears were right near their season average as they entered the contest averaging 92 points per game. It is defensively where they struggle, as they sit dead last in the CEBL, allowing 99 points per game. “We were just a step slow and then you combine it with some of the bone-headed turnovers, we just threw away the ball right to them,” Taylor said. The coach also stressed that more ball movement is key as his team finished with just 11 assists, compared to Vancouver’s 21. Up next for the Bandits is another home game on Saturday (June 15, 7:30 p.m. PT) at Langley Events Centre as Vancouver looks to avenge their lone loss of the season with a visit from the Saskatchewan Rattlers. Tickets for the highly anticipated and fast-selling game are on sale now at this link . Individuals interested in ticket flexibility or purchasing a bundle of Bandits tickets are invited to consider a flex pack . More information can be found at thebandits.ca/tickets or by speaking with a Bandits representative by calling (604) 455-8881 or emailing tickets@thebandits.ca . A complete regular season schedule can be found by clicking here . More information is available at thebandits.ca and @vancouverbandits on Instagram and TikTok , as well as @vancitybandits on Facebook and Twitter .