UCAM Murcia CB

UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as UCAM Murcia, is a professional basketball team based in Murcia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home venue is Palacio de Deportes.

History
Founded in 1985 under the name Agrupación Deportiva Júver, Murcia 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:
 * Juver 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

Home arenas

 * Pabellón Príncipe Felipe: (1985–94)
 * Palacio de Deportes: (1994–present)

Head coaches

 * Felipe Coello: 1985–1991, 1991–1992, 1992, 1998, 2002–2004
 * 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

Domestic competitions

 * Liga ACB
 * Runners-up (1): 2023–24
 * 2nd division championships: (4)
 * 1ª División B: (1) 1990
 * LEB Oro: (3) 1998, 2003, 2011
 * Copa Príncipe de Asturias: (1)
 * 2006

European competitions

 * Basketball Champions League
 * Third place (2): 2017–18, 2023–24

Other competitions

 * Yecla, Spain Invitational Game: (1)
 * 2014

Individual awards
ACB Three Point Shootout Champion All-ACB Second Team LEB Oro MVP All LEB Oro First Team
 * Pedro Robles – 2009
 * Facundo Campazzo – 2017
 * Tony Smith – 1998
 * Pedro Rivero – 2011

Notable players

 * 🇪🇸 José Ángel Antelo
 * 🇪🇸 Carlos Cabezas
 * 🇪🇸 Rodrigo San Miguel
 * Yanick Moreira
 * 🇦🇷 Facundo Campazzo
 * 🇦🇷 Federico Kammerichs
 * 🇦🇷 Federico Van Lacke
 * 🇦🇺 David Barlow
 * 🇧🇷 Vítor Benite
 * 🇧🇷 Vítor Faverani
 * 🇧🇷 Augusto Lima
 * 🇧🇷 Raulzinho Neto
 * Bojan Bogdanović
 * 🇫🇮 Gerald Lee
 * 🇫🇷 Kim Tillie
 * 🇲🇪 Blagota Sekulić
 * 🇳🇬 Ime Udoka
 * 🇵🇱 Thomas Kelati
 * 🇷🇸 Miloš Vujanić
 * 🇸🇰 Anton Gavel
 * Goran Dragić
 * 🇺🇸 James Augustine
 * 🇺🇸 Johnny Rogers
 * 🇺🇸 Michael Anderson (basketball)
 * 🇺🇸 Corey Crowder
 * 🇺🇸 Marcus Fizer
 * 🇺🇸 Matt Nover
 * 🇺🇸 Lou Roe
 * 🇺🇸 Andre Turner
 * 🇺🇸 James Webb III
 * 🇱🇹 Donatas Slanina
 * 🇱🇹 Tomas Delininkaitis
 * 🇱🇹 Martynas Pocius