Ehime Orange Vikings forward Shaquille Hines shoots a 3-pointer against the Fukushima Firebonds on April 12, 2026, in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture. (©B.LEAGUE)
The Ehime Orange Vikings, a B.League second-division club, lost 55 of 60 games during the 2024-25 season. By all measures, it was a disastrous campaign.
Major changes followed for the economically struggling franchise. A new head coach (Manuel Pena Garces), an influx of new players and new ownership (software company Cybozu, Inc) were announced in the offseason.
What a difference a year makes. The Orange Vikings have made a terrific turnaround, and their 2025-26 season includes eight- and 10-game winning streaks.
Ehime improved to 36-20 with a 97-84 win over the Fukushima Firebonds on Sunday, April 12, when the Orange Vikings snapped a four-game losing streak.
"Today, we were in a tough situation, missing four of our key players [with injuries], but we still managed to secure the victory," Pena Garces told reporters. "This is truly a testament to the team culture of 'hard work' that the players have built up."
Since the B.League's inception in 2016, the Shikoku island-based basketball team had its previous best season in 2017-18, finishing 33-27. But the Orange Vikings never qualified for the B2 playoffs in past seasons.
That changed on March 22 with a playoff-clinching, 95-90 triumph over the Rizing Zephyr Fukuoka.
Credit Coach Pena Garces for steering the team in the right direction. He was named the new bench boss on May 28, 2025, five days after the dismissal of Takayuki Yasuda. And he had the right plan from the get-go.
Foundation for the Team's Success
"We want to build an identity based on effort, consistency, and collective work — where every practice and every possession matters," the Spaniard said in a team-issued statement.
Outlining his vision for the team, he added: "My goal is to contribute, support in every way I can, and help push the group toward its best version. We want to play bold, dynamic basketball that connects with the fans."
Pena Garces, who previously served as a Kagoshima Rebnise assistant coach, has made his mark with the Orange Vikings.
A few months ago, the 43-year-old mentor called it "a season of growth and excitement" in a social media post. His team now sits in second place in the Western Conference behind the Kobe Storks (51-5).
With four games remaining, the Orange Vikings are No 1 among the B2's 14 teams in field-goal percentage (46.1), assists (23.0 per game) and blocks (3.7).
Ehime has also benefited from the overall health of its players. Ten players have appeared in 50 or more games, including four who have played in all 56.
Highlights of Ehime's Latest Victory
Veteran forward Shaquille Hines is the team's leading scorer (19.0 points per game). He had a season-best 41 points in the Orange Vikings' win on April 12. And in that game against the Firebonds, Hines made 15 of 24 shots from the floor, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range.
"I really enjoyed playing today," the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley alumni told reporters after the game in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture. "That's all thanks to my teammates, who created opportunities for me and supported me. I'm also very happy that we were able to put on a performance like this in front of our fans at home."
In the fourth quarter on Sunday, the Orange Vikings held the Firebonds (40-16) to 6-for-20 shooting. As part of Ehime's defensive stand in the final period, guard Yugo Okuda and big man Mitchell Watt both contributed a steal and a blocked shot.
Watt finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Swingman Eiji Hayashi, one of the team's offseason acquisitions, poured in 15 points. Okuda and Takumi Furuno dished out six assists apiece.
Veteran shooting guard Yoshihiko Toshino said the bounce-back victory over the Firebonds showed that "we cannot simply accept defeat just because we have injured players."
Toshino called the April 12 triumph "a major achievement [in which] all players and staff demonstrated a strong determination to secure home-court advantage in the playoffs at all costs. And we expressed that through 40 minutes of hard work today."
What's Next for the Ehime Orange Vikings?
In the next-to-last weekend of the 2025-26 season, the Orange Vikings play host to the Shinshu Brave Warriors (43-13), who are in first place in B2's Eastern Conference, on April 18 and 19.
The significance of the team's last four regular-season games, including the Ehime-Shinshu series, is big, Toshino pointed out.
"We will unite as a team, stay focused, and fight to earn the right to host [playoff games] at home," he told reporters.
The showdown with Shinshu should be a good litmus for Pena Garces' squad before the playoffs commence in early May.
That said, the Orange Vikings transformed their identity many months ago.
The revamped franchise planted the seeds for success with lofty goals, according to veteran forward Michael Parker, who has played pro ball in Japan since 2008.
In describing the impetus for the team's turnaround, Parker noted that "your aspirations or your goals are always to be at the highest level that you can make it to."
What else has stood out about the 2025-26 Orange Vikings, according to Parker, who played for the Gunma Crane Thunders last season?
"The potential was always there with the talent that we had," said Parker, a naturalized Japanese citizen, in a short video posted on the team's official X account on April 16.
He added, "We all get along well and we just play together."
At age 44, Parker is the Ehime Orange Vikings' oldest player. His productivity (averaging 10.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals in 55 games), high-energy play and determination have helped set the tone for the squad.
The Impact of Michael Parker
Throughout his Japan pro career, Parker has had a knack for making steals and swatting shots. A prolific scorer earlier in his career, Parker brings energy and a team-first attitude. Seemingly tireless on the court, he's a game-changing presence for his club.
The Evergreen State (Washington) alumni has pushed his Orange Vikings teammates to embrace the essence of professionalism.
"Michael Parker is changing everything about Ehime," Motofumi Iguchi, a former pro basketball team executive and general manager, told JAPAN Forward.
"Ehime is learning his winning culture on and off the court from his longtime Japanese pro basketball experience," added Iguchi, who's now a B.League commentator.
Under new ownership, the Orange Vikings will enter another new era of Japan pro hoops in the 2026-27 season, when B.Premier replaces the B.League first division, and the current B2 is rebranded as B.League One. B3 is being renamed B.League Next.
Ehime is set to play in B.League One next season, in part because the team needs a larger home arena (5,000-seat capacity) to meet requirements to play in the top division.
But, as Iguchi noted, the team has a new arena project plan.
"So, Ehime is working hard, both the team and management, to change Ehime history together," Iguchi commented.
As for the team's transformation from a five-win team in 2024-25 to the present, he added: "I think we can call the 2025-26 season the first step of Ehime's new history or a new era of Ehime."
Why?
"Because both team and management are going to show the answer very soon," he said.
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Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed's [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and he can be found on X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.
