After a pair of wins against Thompson Rivers and UNBC to begin 2025, the UBC Thunderbirds are back in action at home this weekend against the UFV Cascades. The two-game series happens at War Memorial Gym on Friday, January 17th, and Saturday, January 18th.
The T-Birds will want to take advantage of this home-heavy start to the second half of the season, as afterwards five of their last seven regular season games will be on the road.
"It has been nice to be at home for the first two weekends after the long break," said Thunderbirds head coach Kevin Hanson. "It certainly helps with routines for both players and coaches. We're looking forward to these two games and then the next time we'll be at home we'll celebrating Seniors Night."
The T-Birds showed their power on the inside this past weekend, as 128 of their 169 points scored over the two games came either in the paint or at the free throw line. The 'Birds rank second in Canada West in both two-point field goal percentage (56.4%) and free throw attempts per game (21.8).
Victor Radocaj (61.5% from the field), Fareed Shittu (57.6%) and Nikola Guzina (55.4%) all rank in the top ten in the conference in overall field goal percentage, showing the offensive prowess of UBC's frontcourt options.
"From an offensive standpoint we are trying to be aggressive and make plays attacking the rim," added Hanson. "Our post play has been really strong…We have some pretty dynamic players that are tough to guard."
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The T-Birds are taking on a UFV team that ranks 11th in Canada West in terms of opponent field goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot 43.7% against them this season. The Cascades also have the fourth-worst rebounding margin in the conference (outrebounded by 2.3 on average) while the Thunderbirds are second-best in that category (+6.5 on average).
UFV are 5-7 on the season, led by fourth-year forward Dario Lopez who averages 17 points and six rebounds per game, both of which lead the team. Point guard Takeshi Croke sits ranks fourth in the conference in assists per game at just under five a night.
These two teams faced off on the opening day of the 2024-25 Canada West season back on Halloween. The T-Birds won 75-72 in a very tight battle in Abbotsford. Guzina recorded his first career double-double that night with 19 points and 11 boards, and the Thunderbirds committed a season-high 27 turnovers which they will hope to not revisit this weekend.
Friday's game tips off at 7:30 p.m. (PT) while the rematch begins at 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday.
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