Aussies Abroad

Joe Ingles had a Spanish Christmas to remember. Read below how.

Although many of us enjoyed a Christmas break, there were some Aussie hoopers that had no such luck.

Here is some information on how some of the Aussies are traveling abroad.

- Joe Ingles has had his Christmas wishes answered as he played big today. Ingles played all 40 minutes for his Spanish team Granada and rewarded his coach with a 23pt, 13reb and 6assist performance.

- St Mary's Gaels have been dubbed "AIS 2" and the argument can only get stronger. On Christmas Day the Gaels were in Hawaii eating turkey and taking on the locals.

The interesting story to me is, the Gaels played seven players in this game and five of them were Aussies. I doubt any USA college can lay claim to this type of stat.

Word out of Canberra is Gaels Head Coach Randy Bennett is asking AIS Head Coach Marty Clark to build the first ocean tunnel build from the nation's capital through to the Bay Area just to make the school's recruiting trips a little easier.

Back to the game, the best Aussie in the game was Ben Allen with 15pts and 3rebs as the Gaels got a victory over the Warriors.

- The Valparaiso Crusaders is home for two Aussies (Ryan Broekhoff, Cameron Witt) right now but their Christmas cheer was purely off court as they suffered a 20pt loss to Akron.

- David Anderson has been playing some solid basketball of the bench for the Houston Rockets. Today David and his team ran into a red hot Cleveland Cavaliers and lost by 25.

- Former Brisbane Bullet Spice Girl Wade "Gerri" Helliwell is still plying his trade in Europe. The lumbering centre plays in Greece for POAK as a backup big man.

Another familiar name playing over in Greece is Mark "Sparkie" Dickel. I would be interested to know what colourful language the Kiwi international has picked up in his time over there.

- Aussie, Swedish teammates Rhys Carter (1st in steals) and Neil Mottram (9th in rebounding) are performing solidly for their Gothia Basket squad.

- One time Boomer Daniel Kickett remains in Spain with Gran Canaria. Is still remains in a limited minutes role.

- Matt Nielsen and his Valencia team scrapped by with a 1 point win against Bilboa. "Nellie" turned in an all round performance with 12pts, 5rebs and 3assits.

- Former Perth Wildcat Alex Loughton was on the wrong end of a butt kicking. Loughton is currently playing in the Spanish Leb Gold league.

- Aron Baynes continues to play some solid basketball as he had 12pts and 4rebs for his Lietuvos Rytas coached by the legendary Rimas Kurtinaitis, heading into the Christmas break.

- Julian Khazzouh suffered a defeat at the hands of former NBL import Rod Grizzard in the top Israel league.

- Former Sydney Spirit forward Matt Knight is currently 6th (8.7/game) in rebounding in the Hungarian league.