VANCOUVER - The Thunderbirds remain on the road this weekend as they battle for top spot in the Pacific Division with the regular season winding down. On Friday they take on the Manitoba Bisons who are in the midst of their own fight for top spot in the Prairie Division, and on Saturday it's the struggling Winnipeg Wesmen.
Both games will be streamed live on
CanadaWest.tv
GAME TIMES
Fri., Jan. 20 - No. 3 UBC at Manitoba (6 p.m. at Investors Group Athletic Centre, Winnipeg, MB)
Sat., Jan. 21 - No. 3 UBC at Winnipeg (6 p.m. at Duckworth Centre, Winnipeg, MB)
No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds
2011-12 conference record: 8-2 (2nd, Pacific Division)
2011-12 CIS ranking: 3
Last week: beat Thompson Rivers 83-66, 78-54
Streak: 4 wins
The T-Birds must feel like some questions have been answered after grabbing their first road wins of the season last week with a sweep over Thompson Rivers. Prior to that, their only two road games were disappointing losses to two middle-of-the-pack Prairie Division teams, but two solid wins by big margins last week should serve as important confidence-boosters for this group as they prepare for several key road games to finish the season.
The offence was extremely efficient in game one against TRU, led by
Doug Plumb and
Malcolm Williams. Plumb was 11-for-15 from the field for a game-high 23 points, while Williams hit all four of his three-point attempts, chipping in 15.
Tommy Nixon headlined the action on Saturday with 22 points and 13 rebounds, and the stifling UBC defence held TRU under 30 per cent from the field.
Another impressive performer was fifth-year centre
Balraj Bains, who had three blocks in each game and is now UBC's career blocks leader. He leads the conference with two blocks per game this season.
Kamar Burke also moved up a notch in the record books last week, taking over ninth place on the Canada West career rebounds list. He should easily leap over former Trinity Western Spartan Jacob Doerksen for eighth place this weekend, averaging a conference-best 11 boards per game this season.
Point guard
Nathan Yu has remained a consistent scorer while learning his new position, averaging 21.5 points per game to lead the team while also averaging 5.5 assists.
Manitoba Bisons
2011-12 conference record: 8-4 (Tied 1st in Prairie Division)
2011-12 CIS ranking: -
Last week: beat Regina 116-89, 94-83
Streak: 6 wins
The Bisons have overcome a slow start to the season with six straight wins to vault themselves into a tie for the Prairie Division lead with Alberta. However, all six of those wins were against below-.500 teams, so they need to be prepared for a major uptick in the level of competition when they host UBC and Victoria this weekend.
They play a high tempo style that has them among the highest scoring teams in the league, despite their very pedestrian shooting percentage. Senior guard Kevin Oliver heads up a well-balanced offence with 14.3 points per game. He is one of six Bisons averaging better than nine points this season. He has great size for a guard and uses it well on the glass, as he leads the team with 8.5 rebounds per game as well.
Much of the action they deal with this weekend will likely be focused around the three point line, as they and their two opponents this week are all top-five teams shooting from distance this season. American import Stephan Walton leads the team with a white-hot .436 mark from three-point range, while Jonar Huertas and Oliver have also been solid from behind the arc.
Winnipeg Wesmen
2011-12 conference record: 3-9 (8th in Prairie Division)
2011-12 CIS ranking: -
Last week: lost to Brandon 56-70, beat Brandon 66-61
Streak: 1 win
The Wesmen managed to snap their seven-game losing streak last weekend with a win over Brandon, and although they are the basement-dwellers of the Prairie Division for now, they are actually just two games out of a playoff spot with a favourable schedule to look forward to after the deadly duo of UBC and Victoria come and go.
Offence has been an absolute struggle for the Wesmen all season. They are last in the league by a wide margin with a .357 field goal percentage which has led to them scoring only about 70 points per game. Andrew Cunningham's 11.8 points per game leads the team even though there are seven Wesmen who have more field goal attempts than him this year.
The two most frequent shooters, Dominique Brown and Travis Krahn, combine for about 20 points per game but both shoot under .333 from the field.
The Wesmen are also a poor rebounding squad with the worst defensive rebounding percentage in the conference. That does not bode well for them given that UBC and Victoria are the two best offensive rebounding squads in the league. Benny Iko and Cunningham are tied for the team rebounding lead, and they will have their hands full trying to keep their opponents from grabbing extra possessions this week.
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