With a .500 start to their inaugural Canada West season the UNBC Timberwolves men's basketball team may have turned a few heads.
T-wolves coach Todd Jordan said the men are feeling good about themselves after a 93-90 win Saturday over the CIS ninth-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies (6-4), which came two nights after putting some fear into the seventh-ranked Alberta Golden Bears (9-1) in a 78-74 loss where the visitors to the Northern Sport Centre were forced to rally from behind.
"We're not really trying to send messages, we're just trying to win as many games as we can but it may be opening some eyes of some people," said Jordan about his team's 5-5 record at the Christmas break. "They may be realizing that you've got to show up when you play UNBC because they can play. Definitely, I think we've opened a few eyes."
Saturday the T-wolves received an outstanding game from fifth-year player Jose Araujo who couldn't miss the basket and downed 33 points.
"I don't want to say it was a breakout game, he's had a number of games like that in the past, but he shot the ball really well and I thought he did a really good job of playing within our system and finding good shots," said Jordan. "He was rewarded for playing that way. It's definitely his best game since we've been in league play I would say."
Jordan said at the start of the season if someone had told him the T-wolves would head into the break at 5-5 he would've jumped for joy but, though satisfying, it's a bit hard to swallow in reality knowing they gave a couple games away.
"It's not necessarily good satisfying but we'll take it," said Jordan. "For us being our first year in CIS to be .500 going into Christmas is definitely a positive. But there have been a couple of losses that we kind of let slip away and we could easily be 7-3 right now, but we can't look back on those. We're 5-5 and sitting in a playoff spot and it's a good spot for us to be right now,hopefully we can continue the success going into the second half."
One loss the T-wolves let slip out of their grasp was a 103-100 overtime defeat against the Trinity Western Spartans (3-7).
UNBC has 12 games remaining on their Canada West schedule when the season resumes in January and are in a good position to give Prince George its first taste of playoff action at the CIS level.
The second half of the season begins with a road swing to visit the Regina Cougars (3-7) and Brandon Bobcats (2-8) before the T-wolves host the Winnipeg Wesmen and Manitoba Bisons, both 7-3, on Jan. 17 and 19, respectively.
After that UNBC hits the road for two weekends against a pair of 7-3 teams, the Fraser Valley Cascades (ranked sixth) and the Victoria Vikes before returning home to host the top-ranked Canada West team, the fourth-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (8-2). The T-wolves wrap up the season when the Mount Royal Cougars (2-8) pay their first visit to Prince George.
"We're going to have to really perform if we're going to win enough games to get into the playoffs but the guys are feeling good right now, progress was made and it's definitely a challenge we're ready to attack," said Jordan.
The T-wolves are the third highest scoring team among the 16 squads in Canada West having scored 826 points and are ranked 12th on defence having allowed 819 points.
On an individual basis, the T-wolves have three players among the top 30 in scoring, beginning with Araujo, who is 11th with 168 points (51 field goals, 31 threes, 35 free throws). Sam Raphael is tied for 13th place with 165 points (55 field goals, 13 threes, 42 free throws) and Francis Rowe is 22nd with 150 points (53 field goals, 24 threes, 20 free throw).
Charles Barton leads the T-wolves in rebounds with 84 and is tied for seventh in Canada West, while Joel Rybachuk is ranked eighth in assists with 44.
Jordan said he's also happy with the progress of rookie Navjot Bains and veteran Dan Stark.
"Navjot Bains has had a really good start to his career here," said Jordan. "He's shown that he plays at a high energy level all the time and he's done a good job on the boards for us in the minutes he's given us off the bench. I'm pretty impressed with what he can do.
"As far as the other spots on our roster, I think we're starting to see Dan Stark come into his own a little bit," he added. "He's a guy that's been with our program for a few years but he's starting to find a role with us and he's really solid when he's out there."
Before the season resumes in January the T-wolves will reunite in Winnipeg, Dec. 26, for the annual Wesmen Classic which runs Dec. 28-30.
