Sanchez roughs it in China during exhibition tour

Spending 11 days in earthquake-ravaged China may not seem like a tempting vacation spot for a college student, but Arkansas forward Michael Sanchez jumped at the opportunity earlier this month.

Sanchez returned to Arkansas and met with the local media earlier today to chronicle his 11-day journey in China with Reach USA, a ministry organization which put together a team of nine collegiate players to face the third-best Chinese national team in five exhibition games.

The Razorbacks redshirt freshman didn’t talk much about his play overseas, his 8.2 points per game, 56 percent shooting clip and 7 rebounds per game. No, lukewarm air conditioners and hard beds in hotel rooms, earthquake aftershocks, and exoctic food that can make a traveler as green in the face as the color of the bullfrog you just devoured with a side of rice was the topic of choice for the Springdale Har-Ber alumnus.

And then there was the whole, hey, we’re in China, let’s smoke in the gym and throw our cigarette butts on the already-wet, slippery floor thing.

Oh, and then there was the false alarm for another earthquake that crowded thousands seeking safety in the town square in Xian.

But there were some great experiences for the the nine-man squad, Sanchez said.

“You can relate it a lot like a celebrity over there,” Sanchez said. “Everywhere we went, people just gawked at us. They couldn’t believe Americans were in their city. We went to some cities and played and Americans had never played there, so it was like a real big deal. Before every game they had a huge ceremony that was like more important than the game.

“After a game, they had to break people off of us to get out of the gym. They were mobbing us. They were just wanting to touch us, get our autograph, wanting our jerseys, our shorts, everything.”

Sanchez also improved his game, taking more jump shots than normal, which should bode well in UA head coach John Pelphrey’s up-tempo offense next season, Sanchez’s father, Bert, said.

Check out the Northwest Arkansas Times and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Saturday for more on Sanchez’s oversea excursion.

Filed under: Arkansas Basketball by Brandon Marcello. Posted on: May 30, 2008 at 1:19 pm