The UNBC Timberwolves aren't worried about taking on the Alberta Golden Bears in a best-of-three U Sports Canada West men's basketball quarterfinal series this weekend in Alberta.
All they have to do is replicate what the Victoria Vikes did on Dec. 2 to the Golden Bears, and do it twice. On that day in Edmonton the Vikes beat them 92-83, handing the defending Canada West champs their one and only loss in a 20-game regular season. How did the Vikes do it? It certainly didn't hurt that they were deadly from three-point range, hitting 18 of 31 attempts.
The T-wolves showed they're capable of that kind of shooting. In the first half of their game against Fraser Valley to wrap up the regular season, Jan. 27, they rippled the net 17 times from outside the three-point circle and missed just six on the way to a 101-91 win.
"Honestly, we're the underdogs in this case, I think everyone knows that, but we're super-confident heading into this match-up just because we've been pretty hot lately and we've just come off our first playoff win and confidence is pretty high," said T-wolves fifth-year guard Marcus MacKay.
"The way Vic beat them is they moved the ball and they shot the three-point pretty well and we do that quite effectively as well. We're going to have to be extremely focused and stick to our gameplan. If we get away from that we're going to lose. We just have to trust each other on offence and move the ball."
Offence has been the strength of the T-wolves all season. They ranked seventh in the 17-team league, averaging 80.2 points per game. But they're going to need everyone to shoot well when they get the chance to have any hope of beating the Bears, by far the stingiest team in Canada West, allowing an average 66.7 points per game.
MacKay has been a deadly three-point shooter throughout his university career and as one of only two fifth-year players he doesn't mind the idea of playing a leading role in what could be the final weekend of his university basketball career.
"I'd love to get a couple open looks to start it off (Friday night) and get me in a rhythm," said the 22-year-old from Terrace. "I guess that's just my job."
The Alberta offence draws its spark from six-foot-eight post Brody Clarke, who averaged nearly 15 points per game and led the Bears in blocks and rebounds. Guard Austin Waddoups also poses a significant threat, averaging 15 points, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals. Mamadou Gueye, a senior forward, also put up 14.8 points per game. Collectively, the Bears scored an average 85.3 points.
"We're planning on crowding Brody a little bit down low," said MacKay. "It's the kickouts we're worried about, they have a lot of step-in three-point shooters within their starters and off the bench and we'll have to get out to them and close them off and run them off the line. It's going to be a tough test since they have such a big post but we've been working hard all week in practice and we're confident."
The T-wolves men already made history with their first Canada West playoff win last weekend in Winnipeg when they beat the Wesmen 71-68 in the single-game elimination playoff. Anything more is gravy, right. But UNBC is not content just to be there.
They want to give the Golden Bears, the No. 3-ranked team in the country, all they can handle.
"Overall, offensively we've had one of our stronger years since we've been in U Sports but Alberta does bring some challenges defensively, they're probably the best defensive team in the conference so we'll have to be on top of our execution and play unselfishly and play with a lot of pace," said UNBC head coach Todd Jordan.
"If we do that I think we have enough firepower that we can score. It's just going to come down to execution. If we can make them take shots they're uncomfortable taking and if we get enough stops and execute, we'll find a way to be right there.
"There are some similarities between us and Victoria and the way we're built. Both teams have multiple guys who can score on any given night and we're going to have to share it and make shots."
Today's game starts at 2 p.m. PT (live streamed on Canada West TV - canadawest.yaretv.com). Game 2 of the series is on Saturday (1 p.m. PT), with Game 3 to follow, if necessary, Sunday at noon PT.
UNBC will host its fourth annual Legacy Breakfast on Monday at 7 a.m. TSN sports commentator Michael Landsberg, host of Canada's longest-running TV sports talk show, Off The Record, will be the guest speaker. Tickets are $90 for an individual seat, or $900 for a table of eight.
The event, in its history, has raised $140,000 for UNBC student athletes.
