BYU Men's Basketball Starts Exhibition Season By Hosting Australian Team

PROVO -- The BYU men's basketball team will start its exhibition season when it hosts a professional team from Australia Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Marriott Center.

The Nunawading Spectres, a professional club team from Melbourne, Australia, will have played two games during its trip to the United States when it plays the Cougars. The Spectres lost to the University of Utah in their first exhibition game on Nov. 5, 92-53. They were led by guard Mike Spears who poured in 27 points on 12 of 18 shooting and had 11 rebounds in the loss.

They are playing the University of San Francisco tonight and will play four more schools on the trip including Indiana State, Eastern Illinois, Marquette and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The Cougars have a 17-5 record in international exhibition games at the Marriott Center since 1974 when the Brazilian Nationals defeated BYU 71-64. Most recently, the Cougars defeated BC Matav Pesci-Hungary 94-68 last season at the Marriott Center.