The Orange forward's Tritons claimed an 80-67 victory over the Pac-12's California Golden Bears thanks to a dominant second half which saw the visitors outscore their opponents by 17 points.

If that wasn't sweet enough, the game also saw Gray get his first ever collegiate start at the Division-1 level.

"That was a pretty good accomplishment for myself and I got to see my hard work pay off," he said.

"Cal had another Australian named Grant Anticevich, who I had played some NSW school basketball and NSW U20s with. It was fun to share the court with one of my mates from back home and be able to see him again over here.

"After last year's shortened COVID season, it is really good that things for basketball have returned to normal and we have a big schedule this year with lots of games."

Gray put up 10 points, three rebounds while going 2/2 from beyond the three-point line and although the Tritons are ineligible for post-season play having transitioned to D-1 last year, Gray is keen to play spoiler as often as possible.

But while things on the court have returned to normal, things off of it have still been a little different.

"This year I spent what would be my summer break in America, as COVID prevented me from returning home," he said.

"That aspect was pretty tough as it has now been over a year since I was in Australia.

"The upside was that I was able to train at college, be around some of the team and prepare for my fourth year of college."

The redshirt junior is in his second year at UC San Diego and feels he is understanding how the team wants to play.

"We have five new faces this year, so I was able to share my knowledge with the new guys and help get them accustomed to our offensive and defensive schemes," he added.

"We will try to win as many games as possible and prove a lot of people wrong."

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