UCAM Murcia Club Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as UCAM Murcia, is a professional basketball club based in Murcia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the FIBA Europe Cup. Their home venue is Palacio de Deportes. The team is owned and sponsored by the Spanish university Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM).

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

Logos CB Murcia logos 1993–2009 2009–2013 2013–present

Home arenas Pabellón Príncipe de Asturias: (1985–94) Palacio de Deportes: (1994–present)

Players

Current roster

Depth chart

Head coaches

Felipe Coello: 1985–1991, 1991–1992, 1992, 1998, 2002–2004 Ary Ventura Vidal: 1988–1989 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

Season by season SeasonTierDivisionPos.Copa del ReyOther cupsEuropean competitions1986–87 2 1ª División B 20th 14–201987–88 2 1ª División B 14th 24–181988–89 2 1ª División 6th 20–131989–90 2 1ª División B1st 27–81990–91 1 Liga ACB 17th 18–19First round1991–92 1 Liga ACB 12th 16–20Third round1992–93 1 Liga ACB22nd 8–27First round1993–94 1 Liga ACB 18th 11–22First round1994–95 1 Liga ACB 12th 18–201995–96 1 Liga ACB 15th 15–23Fourth position1996–97 1 Liga ACB17th 6–321997–98 2 LEB1st 26–6Copa Príncipe SF1998–99 1 Liga ACB18th 4–301999–00 2 LEB 7th 20–192000–01 2 LEB 9th 15–152001–02 2 LEB 8th 15–192002–03 2 LEB1st 27–132003–04 1 Liga ACB18th 7–272004–05 2 LEB 5th 21–172005–06 2 LEB2nd 28–15Copa Príncipe C2006–07 1 Liga ACB 14th 13–212007–08 1 Liga ACB 12th 13–212008–09 1 Liga ACB 15th 9–232009–10 1 Liga ACB18th 5–292010–11 2 LEB Oro1st 30–4Copa Príncipe RU2011–12 1 Liga ACB 15th 13–212012–13 1 Liga ACB 13th 13–212013–14 1 Liga ACB 13th 12–222014–15 1Liga ACB 10th 17–172015–16 1Liga ACB 7th 19–182016–17 1Liga ACB 9th 14–182 EuroCup 5–92017–18 1Liga ACB 10th 17–173 Champions League 3rd 11–92018–19 1Liga ACB 14th 12–22 3 Champions League 15–32019–20 1Liga ACB 16th 7–152020–21 1Liga ACB 12th 16–202021–22 1Liga ACB 10th 16–18Semifinalist2022–23 1Liga ACB 9th 16–183 Champions League 10–62023–24 1Liga ACB2nd 26–19QuarterfinalistSupercopa SF3 Champions League 3rd 12–42024–25 1Liga ACB 9th 17–17 Supercopa SF3 Champions League 8–42025–261Liga ACB 7th 26–11 Quarterfinalist3 Champions League 2–14 Europe Cup 14–2

Trophies and awards

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 Pedro Robles – 2009 All-ACB Second Team Facundo Campazzo – 2017 LEB Oro MVP Tony Smith – 1998 All LEB Oro First Team Pedro Rivero – 2011

Notable players

Spain José Ángel Antelo Tomás Bellas Carlos Cabezas Berni Rodríguez Rodrigo San Miguel Europe Vladan Alanović Bojan Bogdanović Gerald Lee Stéphane Risacher Kim Tillie Ovie Soko Kostas Antetokounmpo Giannoulis Larentzakis Dušan Šakota Kostas Vasileiadis Rodions Kurucs Donatas Slanina Tomas Delininkaitis Martynas Pocius Nemanja Radović Vlado Šćepanović Blagota Sekulić Thomas Kelati Miloš Vujanić Anton Gavel Goran Dragić Serhiy Lishchuk USA James Anderson (basketball) Michael Anderson (basketball) James Augustine Billy Baron Askia Booker Devontae Cacok Chris Chiozza Marty Conlon Corey Crowder David DeJulius Quincy Douby Jarrell Eddie Marcus Fizer Curtis Jerrells Clarence Kea Mark McNamara Ralph McPherson Pete Mickeal Matt Nover Randy Owens Mike Phillips (basketball) Brian Quinnett Joe Ragland Lou Roe Johnny Rogers Dustin Sleva Isaiah Taylor Travis Trice Andre Turner Duane Washington James Webb III Mike Williams (basketball) Shammond Williams David Wood (basketball) Howard Wright (basketball) Rest of Americas Facundo Campazzo Federico Kammerichs Esteban Pérez Federico Van Lacke Vítor Benite Vítor Faverani Augusto Lima Rafa Luz Raulzinho Neto Paulão Prestes Tony Simms Dylan Ennis Howard Sant-Roos Africa Yanick Moreira Ime Udoka Oceania David Barlow Mark Bradtke

Notes

References

External links

Official website UCAM Murcia at ACB.com