The top two defences in the Canada West square off this weekend as the No. 4 nationally ranked University of Victoria Vikes visit the No. 7 nationally ranked UBC Thunderbirds on Friday Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. at the War Memorial Gymnasium in Vancouver.
LIVE STATS AND VIDEO /
CANADA WEST MEDIA NOTES
In the first half of a home-and-home series - the second game and regular season finale for both teams will be played Friday Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. at McKinnon Gymnasium in Victoria - both teams will look to polish off their form entering the post-season. The Vikes and Thunderbirds have both qualified for the post-season but home-floor advantage is still at stake.
If UVic wins one of their two remaining games, they finish first in the Pacific Division. If the Vikes win both games, they will clinch the conference title. UVic can also win the conference title if they win one of their two remaining games and Saskatchewan loses one of their final three games.
Fifth-year senior guard #
Ryan MacKinnon# of Comox, B.C., continues to lead the Vikes, averaging 20.1 points per game, tied for second in the conference. Fellow fifth-year senior guard #
Zac Andrus# of Vashon Island, Wash., is the Canada West's best free-throw shooter, going 49 for 53 this season from the charity stripe (92.5%). MacKinnon, Andrus and #
Michael Acheampong# of Toronto are the top three three-point shooters in the Canada West in terms of percentage, shooting 45.6 per cent, 45.3 per cent and 46 per cent respectively from beyond the arc. MacKinnon leads the Canada West with 2.9 three-pointers per game.
The Vikes are 7-1 on the road but know they will have to be at their best Friday night against a stingy UBC squad.
UBC is undefeated at the War Memorial. Forward
Kamar Burke averages 10.4 rebounds per contest, good for fourth in the Canada West, while
Nathan Yu is the top scorer averaging 18.9 points per game, sixth in the Canada West. Yu also averages 4.4 assists per game and a league best 2.6 steals per contest.
With Fraser Valley's win over Trinity Western on Thursday Feb. 9, the Vikes are forced to win at least one of their two games against UBC as the Cascades finish with a record of 13-5 to secure home-floor advantage for the best-of-three Canada West quarter-finals series which will be played Feb. 24-26.
Quarter-final series winners advance to the Canada West Final 4 running March 2-3. The CIS Final 8 national championship is in Halifax again, March 9-11. Should UVic host a quarter-final series, game times would be as follows:
Feb. 24 - 7 p.m.
Feb. 25 - 7 p.m.
Feb. 26 - 2 p.m.
Ticket Information
PROJECTED STARTING FIVE
UBC: 08 Nathan Yu / 10 Doug Plumb / 07 Tommy Nixon / 15 Kamar Burke / 12 Balraj Bains
UVIC: 06
Ryan MacKinnon / 03
Zac Andrus / 04
Michael Acheampong / 02 Reiner Thiel / 14
Michael Berg
TALE OF THE TAPE
- last time UVIc defeated UBC was Jan. 19, 2008 (89-78)
- UBC has won the past 10 meetings
RECENT RESULTS
Feb. 18, 2011 - UBC 103 UVic 75, McKinnon Gym
Feb. 19, 2011 - UBC 86 UVic 74, McKinnon Gym
Feb. 5, 2010 - UBC 78 UVic 72 , War Memorial
Feb. 6, 2010 - UBC 90 UVic 41, War Memorial
Nov. 28, 2008 - UBC 72 UVic 65
Nov. 8, 2008 - UBC 86 UVic 77
Nov. 7, 2008 - UBC 65 UVic 57
Feb. 23, 2008* - UBC 88 UVic 82
Feb. 22, 2008* - UBC 80 UVic 63
Jan. 20, 2008 - UBC 83 UVic 72
Jan. 19, 2008 - UVic 89 UBC 78
Dec. 2, 2007 - UBC 78 UVic 73
* - denotes playoff
Full Canada West Standings
