VANCOUVER – The UBC men's basketball team is back on home court to open week four of the Canada West season hosting the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack for a weekend series at War Memorial Gym.
 
The action begins on Friday, November 16 with a 8:00 p.m. tipoff followed by the return meeting on Saturday, November 17 starting at 7:00 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to both weekend games in support of the U SPORTS Shoot for the Cure initiative as the T-Birds continue their tradition of fundraising for the fight against cancer.
 
It's the first regular season meeting between the school's in just over a year when the 'Birds travelled to Kamloops and collected back to back victories of 96-60 and 78-67 over the Wolfpack.


 

Last Action

 
The No. 10 ranked T-Birds improved to 5-1 on the young season following back to back road victories over the Manitoba Bisons last weekend. It started with a comfortable 80-57 win on Friday night followed up by an entertaining extra time on Saturday night where the visitors needed overtime to secure a 94-89 decision and a fourth straight win.
 
The 2-2 Wolfpack split a home series last weekend against the University of Victoria Vikes, opening with a 73-65 loss on Friday night and followed up with a bounce back 70-60 victory on Saturday evening.


 

Players to Watch

 
Manroop Clair (#3, G) – The fourth-year guard was an offensive force this past weekend combining for 53 overall points and leading the Birds in scoring in both wins over the Bisons. This included Clair's 33-point output in Saturday's 94-89 overtime win where the Surrey, B.C. native was blistering from beyond the arc in hitting seven of his 13 three-point attempts.
 
Patrick Simon (#11, F) – The fifth-year forward has been producing at a nice rate and combined for 31 points and 9 rebounds in back to back wins against the Bisons last weekend. Simon has been a reliable option when spreading out the offence and sits fifth in team scoring averaging 9.8 points per game.


 

Coach's Take

"The positives are I think we're sharing the basketball a lot better and we're seeing that in the scoring with multiple players in double digits on the weekend," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson regarding his takeaways from both wins in Manitoba. "However, we're still not playing at a tempo that I'd like to see us get to and we're also trying to increase our defensive intensity as well so it's about growth. I thought on Friday night we played exceptionally well and then Saturday it's something we need to address a little bit more but teams are playing a lot better against us on Saturday nights and sometimes are shots aren't falling as much. So, we're trying to address those things and playing back to back it's a sign of a youthful team as well that you beat a team on the Friday but you need to follow that up with a second win so we have a way to go."
 
Hanson also looked ahead to what she expects from the visiting Wolfpack this weekend.
 
"They're a very well coached squad that try to grind it out and make it tough out there," continued Hanson. "They make you earn your buckets as they're very solid defensively, they try to dictate the tempo of the game and they can also shoot the ball. They've got a lot of new faces as well but they have some older new faces which is similar to us but these games are always highly competitive defensive battles and we're looking forward to be playing at home."