VANCOUVER - The no. 2 ranked UBC Thunderbirds open the 2011 Canada West post season by hosting a best-of-three quarterfinal series against the Manitoba Bisons this weekend at War Memorial Gym. Games times are 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 25 and Saturday, February 26 with Sunday's start time set for 3:00 p.m. (if necessary).
UBC (22-2) finished first in the conference regular season and will look to continue their 18-game winning streak as they build towards another run at a CIS national title. The T-Birds have finished runner-up the last two seasons at the CIS Final 8. If they defeat the Bisons this weekend, UBC will host the CW final four on March 4-5 at War Memorial.
Manitoba (9-15) comes into this weekend having lost six straight but did just enough early on in the season to secure the eighth and final CW playoff spot. It's the Bisons first trip to the post season since the 2003-04 campaign and their first nine win season since 2000-01.
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A look at the Thunderbirds
With only a pair of losses on the season, a one-point defeat to no. 4 Saskatchewan and a two-point loss to Alberta, UBC has been leading the way in the Canada West during the 2010-11 campaign. The T-Birds rank second in scoring offence (94.8 points per game) and second in scoring defence (72.0 points per game), combining an up tempo offence with a high intensity brand of defence.
Ranking among the conference leaders in nearly every major statistical category, the UBC offensive engine is driven by fifth-year guards
Josh Whyte and
Alex Murphy. Whyte, the 2010 CIS Player of the Year, is seventh in league scoring with 18.1 points per game, to go along with 4.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.8 steals per contest. He's also been supremely efficient this season shooting 54.7% from the field, 45.9% from three-point land, and 79.6% from the line. Murphy is having a career year, averaging 10.7 points, 5.0 assists, and 2.7 rebounds per game and is UBC's top threat at the free throw line, converting on 82 of his 99 attempts.
As has become their hallmark, the T-Birds boast impressive depth and feature 10 players scoring at least five points per game.
Nathan Yu has been deadly off the bench, averaging 13.0 points in just 21 minutes per game. Fifth-year
Brent Malish has had a standout year, averaging 12.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
Kamar Burke leads the UBC effort on the glass with 7.5 boards per contest.
A look at the Bisons
Manitoba enjoyed a terrific start to the season, jumping out to a 7-3 start before a pair of losses to UBC sent them going the other way. They closed the season with just two wins over their last 14 games.
Scoring was not an issue for the Bisons, who ranked fifth in the league at 82.3 points per game but their up tempo style cost them on the defensive end as they gave up a conference worst 89.2 points per game. Their lack of efficiency, they shot 40.1% on the year, compared to their opponents ability to thrive, averaged 46.7% shooting, hurt them down the stretch.
The Bisons boast a quartet of players who averaged more than 10 points per game, led by guard Eric Garcia's 14.6 points. Josh Ogden added 13.3 points per game and led the team with 101 assists on the season. Sean Maxwell and Kevin Oliver also averaged in double figures, with Maxwell putting up 33 and 28 points respectively in two of Manitoba's last three games. Richard Reimer leads the effort on the glass with 7.1 rebounds per game but the Bisons lack of size hurts them in the rebounding battle as they sit at -8.8 in that statistic.
Head-to-Head in 2010-11
UBC traveled to Winnipeg back on January 7 and 8 to open the second half of the regular season. They came away with wins of 106-91 and 87-72 as the Bisons hung tough both nights but ran out of steam as the games wore on. UBC led by just three points at the half of their first win before pulling way with a big third quarter. In the second game, UBC's lead was just three after a poor third quarter before they put up 34 points in the fourth to seal the win.
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