LA JOLLA, Calif. – As UC San Diego highlights its many international talents, senior forward
Toni Rocak demonstrated his skills overseas this past summer when traveling back to Switzerland to play for the Swiss National Basketball Team.
Rocak received a very important call following his first season with the Tritons that served as an invitation to the Switzerland National Team's summer training camp. The Swiss native knew that this was the perfect opportunity to prove himself and by putting forth the work he was able to secure a spot on the team and compete with them this past summer. Rocak explained, "This meant by no means that I was guaranteed a roster spot when it came to games. I had to show up and prove that I deserved a spot on the team."
Living an extremely cultured lifestyle, Rocak was born in Croatia and raised in Switzerland starting at the age of three. Having left his parents in Switzerland to play college ball in the U.S., he was grateful for this opportunity to play close to home. "It's always special to be able to play in front of my parents because it brings a sense of giving back and showing them all they've invested into me," Rocak said. Although only his mother was able to watch a pair of home games over the summer, Rocak shared how thankful he was that she was able to attend considering his parents had not been able to watch him play live for the past few years.
In his first season as a transfer from Division II Regis College, the six-eight forward played a prominent role in the Tritons' first Division I season. He averaged a team-high of 12.8 points per game and was also awarded USE Scholar-Athlete of the week on three separate occasions. These successes did not go unnoticed as Rocak was offered one of 12 spots on the Swiss national team roster.
"Any time our guys can play against high-level competition, it presents them with an opportunity to improve," said UC San Diego head coach
Eric Olen. "It was terrific for Toni to get to play for the Swiss national team against some of the top competition in Europe. As a result of his experience, we can get better as a team."
Rocak describes his experience in Switzerland to be quite memorable. The Croatian forward highlights the different sense of competitiveness that is found overseas. "The players that I played with this past summer are all professionals," he shared. "in other words, basketball is what puts food on their table."
Although he was not able to compete in the early qualifying competitions for the 2021 European Championships season, Rocak was able to compete with the team over the summer playing against countries such as Slovakia, Latvia, Portugal, and Angola. The international talent recorded a high of 19 points and six rebounds against Angola on Aug. 4, 2021.
Being as there are only five Swiss basketball players currently playing at the NCAA Division I level in the U.S. according to basketball.realgm.com, Rocak already provides an impressive resume to the Switzerland National Team roster.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
