CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca (men's basketball)

U-BT Cluj-Napoca
Nickname	Șepcile roșii (The Red Caps) Studenții (The Students) Alb-Negrii (The White and Blacks)
Leagues	Liga Națională Champions League
Founded	1947; 75 years ago (1947)
History	CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca (1947–present)
Arena	BT Arena Horia Demian
Capacity	10,000[1] 2,525
Location	Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Team colors	White, Black
President	Marius Bojiță
Vice-president(s)	Nicolae Tarcea Mircea Cristescu
Head coach	Mihai Silvășan
Championships	6 Romanian Leagues 5 Romanian Cup 3 Romanian Supercup
Website	www.u-bt.ro
Home Away

Active departments of CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca
Football Women's Football Men's Basketball Women's Basketball Men's Handball Women's Handball Men's Rugby

CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca is a Romanian professional basketball club based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The club, for sponsorship reason under the name U-Banca Transilvania Cluj-Napoca, competes in the Liga Națională. As other sports teams that were initially part of the parent sports club, U Cluj, for historical reasons, the club keeps the name U (short form of Universitatea) in its name.

History[]

Whilst the parent sports club, U Cluj was founded in 1919, the basketball team was founded in 1947 and played for the first time in the Romanian Championship in 1966. Since then, U Cluj was a constant presence in the Romanian First Division, with their best performances being recorded in the 1990s, when they won three Romanian Championships.

During its history, the team had different names. Since 1990, the main sponsor is usually added to the name of the parent sports club, U Cluj. This resulted in a change of name every time the main sponsor was changed. Previous names of the team were U Ştiinţa, Ştiinţa IMF, U Metalul Rosu, U Fimaro, U SM Invest, U Sanex, and U Carbochim.

In the 2012–2013 season, U Mobitelco Cluj Napoca finished on 7th place (20 wins – 10 losses) and qualify for the play-off. Here the team played the first round against CSM Oradea but lost with 3–1. Also the team played the Romanian Cup final but lost against CS Gaz Metan Medias with the score 62–76. At the end of that season the coach and all the foreign players left the team.

The most famous player who played for U Cluj was Gheorghe Mureșan, who signed in 1993 with the Washington Bullets, becoming the tallest player ever in the NBA. He played 6 successful seasons with the Bullets and the New Jersey Nets, averaging a career 9.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 0.5 assists. Mureșan obtained the title of NBA Most Improved Player following the 1995–96 NBA season. He began his career playing two years for Universitatea Cluj-Napoca.

Arena[]

U-BT Cluj plays its home games in the main Sports hall from Cluj-Napoca, BT Arena, which accommodates 10,000 spectators^[2] or in Horia Demian Sports Hall, with a capacity of 2,525 spectators.

Sponsorship names[]

Due to sponsorship reasons, the team has been known as:

Logos[]

• 

  The team's logo used until the 2015–16 season

• 

  U-Banca Transilvania logo (2016–2017)

Honours[]

• Liga Națională
  • Winners (6): 1992, 1993, 1996, 2011,^[3] 2017, 2021
  • Runners-up (7): 1959, 1962, 1991, 1994, 2006, 2008, 2010
  • Third place (13): 1960, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2019

• Romanian Cup
  • Winners (5): 1995, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
  • Runners-up (1): 2006

• Romanian Supercup
  • Winners (2): 2016, 2017

• FIBA EuroCup Challenge
  • Quarter Finals: 2007

• Central European Basketball League (CEBL)
  • Runners-up: 2010

• FIBA Europe Cup
  • Quarter Finals: 2019-20

Current roster[]

U-Banca Transilvania Cluj-Napoca roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age G/F 0 Guzmán, Karel 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 27 – (1995-02-07)7 February 1995 PG 1 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 18 – (2003-03-25)25 March 2003 PG 2 Watson, Giordan 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) 36 – (1985-10-24)24 October 1985 PG 3 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 32 – (1989-08-14)14 August 1989 PG 5 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 17 – (2004-11-08)8 November 2004 SG 8 Kuti, Nandor (C) 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 25 – (1997-01-10)10 January 1997 PF 11 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 19 – (2003-02-16)16 February 2003 C 13 Stipanović, Andrija 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) 35 – (1986-12-18)18 December 1986 PF 14 Birčević, Stefan 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 32 – (1989-12-13)13 December 1989 F/C 22 Hogue, Dustin 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 29 – (1992-06-30)30 June 1992 SF 30 Stewart, Elijah 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 26 – (1995-11-14)14 November 1995 SG 35 Richard, Patrick 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 32 – (1990-01-25)25 January 1990 SF 77 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 18 – (2003-07-22)22 July 2003	Head coach Mihai Silvășan Assistant coach(es) Milorad Perović Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: October 5, 2021

Notable players[]

- Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
- Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.

Head coaches[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website (in Romanian)
• U Mobitelco BT Cluj-Napoca Team Profile at Baschetromania.ro
• Eurobasket.com Cluj Napoca Page