Electing to stay at home and play post-secondary basketball, local guard Prabhtej (Prabh) Deol from Rutland Secondary, will join the UBC Okanagan men’s basketball team and transition his Voodoo blue and gold uniform to the Heat’s blue and gold this fall.
At six-foot-four, Deol uses his size to rebound the ball in the defensive end and uses his speed and vision to start a fast break on offense. His size forces defenders to commit fouls on his drives to the rim, and he has a dangerous three point shot in his arsenal.
The Voodoos saw consistently strong performances all season from Deol, who averaged 30.6 points per game along with seven assists and six boards and twice named a first team tournament all-star.
In one of those tournaments, at the annual Yale Lions event, Deol exploded for 51 points, breaking Rutland’s single game point record. After the game, Kelowna SportsNow’s cover anointed the Voodoos shooting star with the nickname “The Real Deol”.
Posting high scores in the classroom almost as often as he does on the court, Deol has been an honour roll student throughout his high school career, and he will enter UBC’s Faculty of Management, with hopes for a career in business after graduating university.
The guard is looking forward to joining the Heat in the fall, noting that both basketball and academics played a part in the decision. “I chose UBCO because it has all the tools I need to succeed on the court and in the classroom as well, I am excited to help bring the Heat a winning mentality on both sides of the floor,” stated Deol.
Deol, for his first year, will be joined on the Okanagan campus this fall along with new head coach Clay Pottinger.
Pottinger, who was just hired at the end of March to lead the next generation of Heat men’s basketball, will be in Kelowna full time as of May 15.
