VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team aims to keep their Canada West play-off ambitions in focus this weekend, Feb. 5-6, when they travel to Regina, Sask. to face the Regina Cougars. The Vikes are 7-9 and seventh place in the Pioneer Division standings, while the Cougars are in sixth at 8-6 with two games in hand.
 
Both teams are in search of a response after coming off two losses this past weekend, Jan. 29-30. The Vikes fell to rivals and 2016 CIS championship hosts the UBC Thunderbirds, while the Cougars dropped two close games to the Manitoba Bisons.
 
With only four games remaining in their season, the Vikes find themselves in tight with both Regina and Alberta for the two final play-off spots in the Pioneer Division. Regina and Alberta both have games in hand on the Vikes, making this final run-in much more important for the Vikes.
 
"We are taking everything game by game and approaching every game with the same mindset," said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp, who has taken the Vikes to the CIS Final 8 for the past three-straight seasons. "We know we have to help ourselves before anything good happens for us and the team isn't thinking too analytically past anything other than getting a result on the road against a good Regina team this weekend."
 
The brotherly duo of Jonathan and Brandon Tull has led the Cougars offensively this season with both playing a majority of the minutes for the Regina side. The Cougars show strength in the rebound department with an average of 13.8 offensive and 29.9 defensive rebounds per game, respectively. As a team the Cougars average 10.3 steals per game thanks in large part to Jonathan Tull, who is fourth in the CIS with 33 steals this season.
 
"Regina is a team with good defensive transition and they don't give a lot of easy baskets," added Beaucamp. "Offensively, we have to keep our game simple and limit turnovers because they turn into easy points going the other way."
 
The Vikes lost out in the rebound battle to UBC 30-13 this past weekend and will need to put in a stronger performance on the boards if they are to reverse their fortunes against Regina. The offensive production from veterans Mack Roth, Reiner Theil and Grant Sitton will need to be on point if the Vikes are to gain some sense of control in the play-off race.
 
The Vikes men tip off in Regina at 4:00 p.m. on both Feb. 5-6 at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health and Sport. Both games can be streamed live with stats via pay-per-view at uvic.canadawest.tv. Free live stats are available at canadawest.org.