Tale of the Weekend
VICTORIA – Currently on the outside looking in at the Canada West playoff picture, the UVic Vikes men's basketball team will get the chance to climb the standings when they host the Trinity Western Spartans in the CARSA Performance Gym on January 27 and 28.
The Friday night game gets underway at 8 pm with the rematch scheduled for 7 pm the very next day.
"We don't really go into any of the weekends thinking too much past getting a result," said Vikes head coach
Craig Beaucamp. "It doesn't matter who we are playing or where we are at, we just have to focus on getting our best result."
Currently both the Vikes and Spartans find themselves outside of a playoff spot, although the Vikes are a lot closer to remedying that situation than the Spartans are.
The Vikes have a record of 5-9 and are just one win behind the University of Regina Cougars for the twelfth and final playoff spot in the Canada West conference.
Needing to win at least five of their last six games to have any chance of making the post-season, the Spartans are 2-12 and tied for 16th in the conference.
These teams met last season in Canada West play with the Vikes picking up the sweep in Langley by scores of 82-71 and 78-61.
Last Time Out
A tough home schedule continued for the Vikes last weekend. They dropped back-to-back games to the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 76-58 and 94-81 respectively.
Grant Sitton had a monster night on Saturday, putting up 32 points and ten rebounds in the loss.
The team from Victoria is now 3-3 in 2017 and is looking to pick up their first win at home of the season this weekend.
The Spartans come into the weekend after two-straight losses at the hands of the University of Manitoba Bison. The Spartans defence was ripped apart in the games, as they lost 108-76 and 115-91.
By the Numbers
11: The Spartans come into the weekend losers of 11 straight games, the second longest losing streak in the nation.
93.9: The number of points per game the Spartans surrender, the most of any team in the conference.
Coach's Take
Craig Beaucamp, Vikes head coach
"We need to focus on the basics, defensively especially, we struggled getting any traction on the defensive side last weekend and that has to be better this weekend for us to get a result against anybody from here on out.
"We are really just trying to get back to defensive fundamentals, moving our feet and communicating so that's what we are trying to focus on."
"We have to have increased accountability for guarding and communicating."
Game Information
Friday, Jan. 27 – 8:00 p.m. – vs. Trinity Western Spartan, CARSA Performance Gym, Victoria B.C. –
Watch live on canadawest.tv
Buy tickets at govikesgo.com/tickets
Saturday, Jan. 28 – 7:00 p.m. – vs. Trinity Western Spartans, CARSA Performance Gym, Victoria B.C. –
Watch live on canadawest.tv
Buy tickets at govikesgo.com/tickets
Trinity Western Spartans (2-12)
U Sports National Ranking: N/A
Canada West Standings: t-16
RPI: 0.3493
Last Week: 0-2
Streak: L 11
Last Canada West Title: N/A
Last CIS Title: N/A
