Halifax – After another impressive Canada West campaign the UBC Thunderbirds have flocked out east to take part in this week's 2019 U SPORTS men's basketball final 8 tournament hosted by the Dalhousie Tigers in Halifax.
 
Quarterfinal action begins Friday, March 8 at the Scotiabank Centre with the T-Birds who enter as the No. 4 seed taking part in the final game of opening day against the host No. 5 Tigers with tipoff at 4:00 p.m. PT, 7:00 p.m. ET.


 
The 'Birds will be in search for their third U SPORTS championship in the team's history and first since 1972. Joining UBC and Dalhousie at the dance are six other hungry teams including the No. 1 Carleton Ravens who are looking to claim an eighth banner in nine seasons and the No. 2 defending national champion Calgary Dinos. Rounding out the field are the No. 3 Ryerson Rams, No. 6 Concordia Stingers, No. 7 Saint Mary's Huskies and the No. 8 Alberta Golden Bears.
 
For a second straight season the T-Birds finished with a 17-3 record in Canada West conference play and did so on the strength of a familiar entertaining and up-tempo style of play that saw them score 93.5 points per game, second in all of U SPORTS. The 'Birds were also a force on the boards in leading the nation in rebounding with 49.1 per outing.


 
Jadon Cohee and Grant Shephard were both named Canada West all-stars. Cohee, an NCAA Div. 1 transfer, was the conferences fourth leading scorer averaging 19.3 points per game to gain selection on the first team. Shephard, a 2017 U19 world champion and 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medalist, earned second-team status after averaging 16.2 points per game to go along with a Canada West leading .667 field-goal percentage. The second-year forward also recorded 8.9 rebounds per game to rank fourth overall in the conference.


 
Other UBC notables included another NCAA Div. 1 transfer in sharpshooting guard Manroop Clair who averaged the second most points per game at 18.9 while second-year guard Mason Bourcier was key in engineering the offence while handing out an average of 5.3 assists per game to rank fourth in CW.
 
UBC displayed character through a pair of physical post season 2-1 series wins, getting past the Fraser Valley Cascades in quarterfinal play followed by a semi-final decision over the Alberta Golden Bears in a best-of-three format. The T-Birds eventually fell to the defending champion Calgary Dinos in last Saturday's Canada West Final.


 
"We don't want to come here just for the experience," said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson in preparation for the final 8. "We want to come to this tournament and play well and have the opportunity to do our best. We've certainly been challenged over the last few weeks and you've certainly seen the resiliency of our team in being battle tested through the playoffs where after a setback we've come back, regrouped and responded very well so we're looking forward to starting the tournament."
 
Hanson, who earned his 300^th career conference victory on January 12, 2019 to become just the second Canada West men's coach to reach that mark also spoke to embracing the platform and relishing in the ultimate competition.
 
"In the end, this is what it's about," added Hanson. "Peaking at the right time and playing in this tournament it is a tough challenge just to get here and it's the first time for all of our guys to play in this but we've had guy's play in big venues. It's a time to be excited and we do want to create an environment to play to your full potential, you can only control the things that you can control, you can't control who you play so you just hope that everything you've put in place over the course of the year and hopefully their able to peak in this type of tournament."


 
The T-Birds opening opponent Dalhousie Tigers finished with a 14-6 Atlantic University Sport regular season record, good for third overall in the conference but stepped up their game in the post season winning three straight games. This included topping the Saint Mary's Huskies in the conference championship game as the Tigers claimed their fourth AUS title in five years.
 
"They're a really good team," continued Hanson when asked to size up the Dalhousie squad they'll meet on Friday night. "They're deep, they're known for their tough aggressive style of defence and they don't give up a ton of points. They try to wear you out over the course of the game but we're fairly familiar with their style, they'll be prepared for us and we'll be prepared for them so it will be a good battle and the players will decide it on the floor."
 
The final 8 festivities kick off on Thursday, March 7 with a media conference at 7:15 a.m. PT followed by the All-Canadian Awards Gala at 3 p.m. PT.
 
Friday, Mar. 8 (Quarterfinals)
 
No. 2 Calgary vs. No. 7 Saint Mary's, 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT
No. 3 Ryerson vs. No. 6 Concordia, 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT
No. 1 Carleton vs. No. 8 Alberta, 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT
No. 4 UBC vs. No. 5 Dalhousie, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT
 
Full championship schedule available here: https://usports.ca/en/sports/basketball/m/schedule