VANCOUVER - After a road-heavy first half of the season, the UBC Thunderbirds (9-3) are finally back at home inside War Memorial Gym to host the Trinity Western Spartans (2-8) on Thursday, January 9, at 7:00 p.m. PT and Saturday, January 11, at 7:00 p.m. PT.
Longtime T-Bird head coach Kevin Hanson is looking to make history as the all-time winningest head coach in the Canada West, as he recently tied the record with his 313th regular season victory and could surpass Alberta's Don Horwood in front of family and friends this weekend.
The 'Birds are coming off a series split on the road against UFV (4-6) and have won seven of their last eight Canada West games, while averaging the third most points per game in the conference (89.7) and the second most defensive rebounds per game (32.4). UBC has also demonstrated their ability to share the ball on offense - with a conference-high 19.3 assists per game.
Although the Spartans give up the most points per game in the Canada West (98.4), and average the fewest assists per game (10.5), they do boast the U SPORTS leading scorer in Ja'Qualyn Gilbreath - who averages a nation-best 24.9 points per game and put up a career high 38 points last weekend on 45% shooting from the field and 50% from three.
Last Action
UBC started the new year with a tough split in Abbotsford against the UFV Cascades. The T-Birds earned a comfortable 80-63 win on night one thanks to a dominant third quarter and double-digit scoring from all five starters (Manroop Clair, Grant Shephard, Jadon Cohee, Zack Moore and Taylor Browne). The 'Birds' seven-game win streak, however, was snapped the following night in a narrow 84-82 loss despite another night of double-digit scoring from the same five starters.
Trinity Western dropped both matchups with the Saskatchewan Huskies (8-2) on home court last weekend, falling 98-70 on night one and battling to a 99-92 defeat the next evening. In their seven-point loss, Gilbreath contributed a season-high 11 rebounds to accompany his career-high 38 points and fouled out midway through the fourth quarter.
Coach's Take
Hanson is excited to return home and continue to push his team to improve as the season progresses.
"We've played 13 away games and only five home games this year," said Hanson. "It seemed like we've been on the road for the entire year, so we're looking forward to playing at home in front of our own crowd. We need to be better defensively and that will be our focus moving forward."
