VANCOUVER - An 18-4 regular season put the Thunderbirds in position to keep home court advantage throughout the conference playoffs, and they will look to make the most of that opportunity starting this weekend with their best-of-three crossover playoff series against Alberta. This is the second year in row the two teams will meet in the first round of the playoffs. Alberta won last year's meeting 2-0 in Edmonton.
TICKETS /
WEBCAST
GAME TIMES (all games at War Memorial Gymnasium)
Friday, Feb. 22
8 p.m. - Alberta at No. 4 UBC
Saturday, Feb. 23
8 p.m. - Alberta at No. 4 UBC
Sunday, Feb. 24 (if necessary)
4 p.m. - Alberta at No. 4 UBC
No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds (18-4)
Last Week: L 91-86 vs Victoria, L 74-71 at Victoria
Dropping both games to the rival Vikes last week wasn't the ideal way to transition into playoff mode, but the 'Birds are still as talented and deep a team as there is in Canada West, and with home court to look forward to as far as they go in the conference postseason, it has to be considered a successful regular season campaign.
It becomes even more impressive when you consider that only one of this year's starters (
Doug Plumb) was starting for the 'Birds last season. And only two of them saw court time with the team at all, with breakout low post scorer
David Wagner only playing about seven minutes per game last year. Coach
Kevin Hanson must be pleased with how well and how quickly his collection of new players came together this year.
But they can't rest yet, because all that regular season success won't mean much if they aren't able to parlay it into a trip to nationals. They have to get to the Canada West championship game to guarantee a trip to the CIS tournament, which means getting past at least two more conference opponents, possibly including Victoria again, so the T-Birds need to figure out what let them down last week and correct it quickly.
Keeping the effort up defensively will be part of that equation, as the 'Birds allowed Victoria to shoot well over 50 per cent from the field in both games last week. Only one other time this season has UBC allowed a team to shoot over 50 per cent, and their opponent field goal percentage was the second best of all Canada West teams this year at .396. Getting their team defence back to that level will be key to a long playoff run.
Alberta Golden Bears (14-8)
Last Week: L 82-66, L 79-73 at Saskatchewan
The Bears backed their way into the playoffs, losing their last five straight games to finish the regular season. They were all against other playoff teams, but like UBC, they still have to be at least a little concerned since their opponents aren't going to get any easier the rest of the way.
A big part of the problem for Alberta has been the loss of probably their best all-around player, Jordan Baker. After starting out the season as one of the top teams in the conference, Baker has missed the last 10 games, and his team is just 5-5 during that stretch. Baker was the team's leading rebounder, assists and steals man, and was second in points with 18.3 per game, so his absence leaves a lot of production for the Bears to try and make up.
Kenneth Otieno has done a nice job taking over more of the scoring load, remaining a very efficient shooter at over 50 per cent from the floor while scoring 19.3 points per game. He can score inside and out, making him a versatile number one option for the Bears, but without Baker they still struggle to keep up with the more high-powered opponents in the conference. No other player averages more than 10 points per game for the Bears this year.
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