VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds return to homecourt for the first time in a month when they host the Trinity Western Spartans for back-to-back contests this weekend beginning with an 8:00 pm tip off Friday, December 3
rd, followed by a 7:00 pm start Saturday, December 4
th at War Memorial Gym.
After a combination of road contests and a bye week since their last game on campus the T-Birds will re-familiarize themselves with the War floor, returning with a perfect 8-0 record which includes consecutive victories last weekend over the UNBC Timberwolves in Prince George.
Last Friday, the 'Birds enjoyed some balanced scoring attack en route to an 85-76 victory over the T-Wolves. Guard
James Woods led the way with 22 points while
Sukhman Sandhu followed up with a double-double thanks to his 14 points and twelve rebounds. The Canada West Player of the Week,
Grant Audu also added 14 points along with five rebounds while third-year transfer out of Boston University and the now healthy
Kyle Foreman narrowly missed a triple-double contributing 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
On Saturday, UBC ranked number five in the country cruised to a more convincing win while bearing down a little more on defence for a 110-69 decision. Securing his case for conference Player of the Week at both ends of the court was Audu, first by helping hold standout T-Wolves guard Tyrell Laing to just 10 points but also setting the pace with 23 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Triston Matthews chipped in with 15 points while Sandhu counted 13 points and five rebounds for the blue and gold.
"The past weekend was good for our team," said UBC head coach
Kevin Hanson in reference to his team's overall play and progression to date. "We were particularly happy with how we executed on Saturday at both ends of the floor. We continue to grow and continue to improve. Those were our 4th and 5th consecutive games on the road and it feels like it's been a long time since we played a home game. We have been really trying to focus on the defensive end but still have a lot of room for improvement but we are seeing growth. From an offensive standpoint we have been inconsistent and have been tweaking the lineup to see which line ups play well together. We have started different players and used different lineups throughout games and we are still trying to find our identity."
Hanson also elaborated on how influential an injection the aforementioned dynamic guard
Kyle Foreman has been to the T-Birds lineup of late.
"Kyle has been back for a few weeks now but anytime you add a player or change a player, it will have an impact of the group," added Hanson. "Kyle has had a very positive impact but the guys are still learning to play with him. He sees the floor exceptionally well and has a very high basketball IQ and that obviously has a huge impact on how we play. We will continue to grow as players get more time playing together."
The visiting Spartans come in still in search of their first win on the campaign while having played just four games due to a combination of bye weeks and canceled games, the result of travel restrictions and damage to roadways following recent severe storms in British Columbia.
TWU's last game action came three-weeks ago when they dropped two home decisions against the UVic Vikes, first a 90-77 setback on Friday, November 12 followed by a 106-69 loss the next day. Fifth-year guard JaQualyn Gilbreath led the way for the Spartans in the opener with 27 points and six rebounds while fourth-year guard Tre Fillmore added 23 points. The same two veterans were front and centre in the rematch with Fillmore and Gillbreath pouring in 18 and 16 points respectively in falling to 0-4 on the season.
Friday's meeting will mark the second time the T-Birds and Spartans have met this season after the two teams met to open the Canada West campaign on October 28 where UBC topped TWU 97-80.
Tickets for this season are free but you must register on line to access them. For more information and ticket availability check
here.
You can also watch all the action on
Canada West TV.
