Fighting for their playoff lives, the UNBC Timberwolves men's and women's basketball teams are playing the cream of the crop this weekend in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association
Both UNBC teams will need small miracles to avoid being eliminated from playoff contention. Owners of a 4-12 record, the UNBC women first have to face the Saskatchewan Huskies tonight in Saskatoon. Then on Saturday they travel to Edmonton to play the Alberta Goldon Pandas.
Saskatchewan is part of a three-way logjam for first place in the Prairie Division, tied with Regina and Alberta, each with 14-2 records. With six games left, the Huskies have a chance to clinch a playoff spot tonight so they won't have any excuse to go easy on the T-wolves, losers of six straight games and nine of their last 10.
To make the playoffs, the fifth-place T-wolves have to finish fourth or better. Right now they're five wins behind the fourth-place Thompson Rivers University WolfPack. Each team has six games left.
"Saskatchewan is No. 5 in the country and Alberta is No. 3 and we're going to play the games for experience for next year and give our first-year -players some confidence," said UNBC head coach Sergey Shchepotkin.
For the fourth straight weekend, the T-wolves will be without fifth-year shooting guard Jen Bruce, who has missed six games with a concussion and has yet to play in 2014. In 10 games this season Bruce averaged 12.9 points per game (third on the team) with 23 three-pointers to her credit.
In Bruce's absence, Mercedes Van Koughnett has stood out as the heart and soul of the T-wolves, averaging a conference high 5.9 assists per game. She ranks seventh in Canada West in scoring (16.6 per game), fourth in defensive rebounds (10.2 average) and is third in steals (3.3 average). UNBC forward Emily Kaehn is averaging 11.9 points per game (18th in the league) and her 3.3 offensive rebound average is third-best in Canada West.
On the men's court in Saskatoon, the T-wolves will have to contend with a Huskies team that has scored 85.8 points per game on average, tops in Canada West. The Huskies (12-4, second place) have already made the playoffs but are still trying to lock up a home playoff date as they take on the T-wolves (4-12) tonight. UNBC has an equally difficult task Saturday in Edmonton trying to upset the Alberta Golden Bears (14-2).
"We're not worried about [other teams' records], you can't let that affect how you prepare," said UNBC men's team head coach Todd Jordan. "The goal is to try to win every game and hopefully we can put out the performance that will make that happen."
Franck Olivier Kouagania continues to show steady improvement at forward for UNBC, one of the positive signs that came out of their two weekend losses at UBC. The fourth-year import from Cameroon has averaged 12.6 points and has 30 offensive rebounds, not far off the pace of UNBC leader Charles Barton, who's averaging 14.9 points and 6.5 rebounds.
The Huskies have Canada West MVP guard Stephon Lamar, a first-team All-Canadian in 2012-13, who shot a team-high 27 points with six rebounds and five assists last weekend in a 96-94 win over Calgary. He now leads the Huskies in scoring and assists, averaging 19.6 points and 4.7 assists per game.
UNBC is seventh and technically still a possibility for playoffs. The men are also trying to catch fourth-place TRU (9-7). The WolfPack men are at home this weekend playing host to Manitoba and Winnipeg.
UNBC guard Reegin Maki and forward Gagan Sahota are sick and did not make the trip.
