VANCOUVER - The no. 3 ranked UBC Thunderbirds (6-2) host lower mainland rivals, the UFV Cascades, this weekend at War Memorial Gym looking to build off their sweep of the Winnipeg Wesmen last weekend.
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A look at the Thunderbirds
Positive storylines were plentiful for the 'Birds last weekend. They improved to 6-2 with a pair of convincing wins over Winnipeg, and set a few team and individual milestones along the way. They set their season scoring high on Saturday with 114 points and averaged 106 over the weekend series, about 13 points better than their next-best offensive weekend this year.
Nathan Yu had one of his best weeks ever as a Thunderbird, sparking his team's second-half offensive outbursts on both nights while averaging 20 points.
Kamar Burke took back his spot in the starting lineup with authority, hitting double-digits in rebounding on both nights, including a jaw-dropping 19 rebound 17 point performance in game one. And
Doug Plumb, who transferred to UBC from Fraser Valley this season, had his best performance in a UBC uniform with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists on Saturday despite sitting out the entire fourth quarter with the game all but over by that point.
The 'Birds can also be happy about the play they are getting from the point guard position. Reigning CIS Player of the Year
Josh Whyte is sixth in league scoring with 18.6 points-per-game and his 4.0 assist to turnover ratio is the best in Canada West. Fellow point guard
Alex Murphy's 3.4 ratio is second in the conference.
A look at the Cascades
The Cascades' 2-4 record could easily be very different if a couple more bounces went their way, as three of those losses have been by three points or less. They are coming off a weekend in Victoria where they split a pair of three-point decisions, winning a defensive battle 53-50 in game one before dropping game two 83-80.
Joel Friesen leads the team with 17.3 points-per-game, and is second with 5.7 rebounds. After averaging 25.5 points on opening weekend he has yet to score more than 18 in a game since, but the Cascades got offence from several secondary sources last week to take some of the pressure off him. Five players had at least 13 points in their last game against Victoria, including Ryan Fahandeg, who has emerged as their primary threat off the bench. He is fourth in Canada West with a .595 field goal percentage, but unlike most of the league-leaders in that category, Fahandeg generates a lot of his offence from the perimeter. He is third in Canada West three-point percentage at .522, and is coming off a 16 point performance last game where he hit four of his five three-point attempts.
James Elliot has been just as deadly from long range, sitting fourth in league three-point percentage at .520. He averages 11.7 points-per-game while leading the team with an average of seven rebounds.
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