Matt Gray and fourth seed Salt Lake Community College Bruins denied chance to play for national championship

Then the coronavirus brought a swift end to the national championship before it could even get off the ground.

It was tough news for the Orange native to take after his excellent season with the Salt Lake Community College Bruins.

The team finished 2019-20 with a sensational 29-4 record and had the fourth seed for the upcoming National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) championship bracket.

Bouncing back in a big way from his knee injury, Gray picked up plenty of minutes as he ended the season with an average of 7.3 points per game and four rebounds per game.

He's now set to make a move to UC San Diego where he'll be a part of history for the California university.

The Tritons will be making their step up from NCAA division two to division one in the upcoming 2020-21 season.

Gray said the season just gone with the Bruins was the perfect build up to the transfer.

"We went undefeated in 2020 and we won all 15 of our games, and right when the season got cancelled we were about to head to the national championship ranked fourth in the country," he said.

"At the beginning of the year we were ranked 13^th but we only lost four games all year, which at the time put us behind where we thought we could be."

The Bruins made history by completing SLCC's first ever Scenic West Athletic Conference undefeated season, going 12-0.

Now Gray us preparing to join his third team in as many years.

The transfer from Iowa's Drake University in 2018-19 to the Utah college was a necessary bridging step for Gray in order to continue playing at the highest possible level in US collegiate sports.

"I went from division one to junior college but I was lucky that my team had seven division one transfers so I was playing against some really, really talented guys.

"If I'd transferred from division one to division one I'd have to sit out a year. If you go to a junior college you avoid that, so I'm going back to division one next season.

"It's a bit of an unconventional route, going through three schools over three years."

Gray joined forces with Bathurst's Will Cranston-Lown to play Waratah League championship division with the Central Coast Crusaders, with the pair earning valuable minutes before their respective American campaigns.

"In the off-season I played on the Central Coast with Will and when I went over there they were in their pre-season training so that match time really helped while learning to play with a new group of guys

"When the season started we were a little shaky but once the new year hit we were winning everything. We were in some really great form for the national tournament before we got the news it was cancelled."

Summer school at UC San Diego - and the first training for Gray in his new squad - will be in July but will of course be dependent on the coronavirus situation.