Need to Know

The UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball team (14-4, 2nd in Pioneer Division, 7th in CIS rankings) will face the Winnipeg Wesmen (10-8, 6th in in Pioneer Division) in a two-game series this weekend, their final games of the regular season.

The first matchup between the two clubs will take place at 8:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday, February 19, while the opening tip-off for the second half of the back-to-back is set for 7:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday, February 20. Both games will be played at War Memorial Gym.

Last Week

The 'Birds are coming off of a convincing sweep of the Brandon Bobcats last weekend. Taking both games by double-digit margins at 85-67 and 84-68, the 'Birds will look to maintain that momentum against Winnipeg.

By The Numbers

81 - Over their current four-game win streak, the 'Birds have outscored their opponents (the Victoria Vikes and the Bobcats) by a combined 81 points, good for an average margin of victory of 20.25 points. Not bad.

50.7 - Over that same four-game stretch, the T-Birds are also hitting a ridiculous 50.7% of their three-point attempts, going 35-for-69 from distance. This marks a massive jump from their season average of 38.2 (a figure that includes this recent hot streak).

1 - It is Senior's Weekend for UBC Basketball, and fifth-year forward David Wagner (Kamloops, B.C.) marks the lone graduating player among the men's squad.

The Matchup

The 'Birds fell twice to Winnipeg last season, and haven't beaten the Wesmen since a 96-93 overtime win back on January 12, 2013.

If they want to win this season, the 'Birds are going to have to watch out for Winnipeg's duo of sophomore guard Denzel Lynch-Blair and senior forward Jelane Pryce. Lych-Blair is averaging 18.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game, while Pryce is notching per-game averages of 15.6 points and 5.4 boards.

Where the 'Birds have a clear advantage is in the depth of their offensive arsenal. The 'Birds have four guys - Jordan Jensen-Whyte (Calgary), Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.), Phil Jalalpoor (Schifferstadt, Germany), and Wagner - who average at least 11.9 points-per-game. Winnipeg has just the two guys listed above.

That shows up in the two clubs' overall offensive numbers, as UBC is averaging 82.9 points per contest, third in Canada West, while Winnipeg is netting an average of just 73.3 points.

Though both teams are locked into the playoffs, the final weekend of the season will have significant impact on the final seeding and matchups in the quarterfinals, meaning that these two clubs will be going all out.

Coach's Take

Obviously, there's a lot riding on this game for Winnipeg and for us," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. "There's going to be a lot of emotion behind the weekend, behind the games. This time of the year, with all the video and stats available, there aren't going to be any secrets between teams. We understand their game, and they understand ours, which means that this is going to come down to execution."

UBC's stretch run to March is on, as the 'Birds prepare to host the CIS Men's Basketball Final 8, which will see the absolute best basketball players in Canada make their way to the UBC campus. Get your tournament packages and single tickets now, as the national championship is set to take place from March 17-20 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. UBC will be playing in a quarter-final game at 8 p.m. Get your tickets now.