Canada West Men's Basketball: Week Three Update

If you have to check out Brian's Top 10 tracker on the week in men's basketball, you can find it here. Saskatchewan, UFV and Victoria all went up spots in the rankings while Alberta dropped after a 1-1 split in Winnipeg and UBC held the number four position despite being ninth in RPI, fifth in Canada West. It's also surprising that they didn't move up and that the voters weren't swayed by a couple of blowout victories against last season's CIS semi-final opponent in Trinity, although that team has yet to get their legs out from under them so far. According to team record, however. Not RPI.

JAMELLE BARRETT INJURY UPDATE:

Brian noted in the Top 10 post that the local scribes failed to document exactly why Jamelle Barrett was out of the Huskies lineup. A brief stay on Barrett's Twitter feed solved the mystery for us. Apparently Barrett may require surgery on a broken hand. As for why he was struggling, he admitted via Twitter that he's missed seven games with a knee problem.

TWU 75 @ UBC 104 | TWU 70 @ UBC 103

Not really much competition here. RPI doesn't really include Pythagorean Expectation, but UBC has convincingly blown out every opponent they've faced so far. They still have yet to see a starter play over 32 minutes and points have been coming from everywhere, so while Brian may have an issue with their depth I don't really see it. They've counted on their bench to come in for mop-up duty and the janitors have always cleaned up. On Thursday, the Thunderbirds showed off some rebounding ability, winning that 45-20, grabbing 15/30 boards off of Trinity's defensive glass. 17 of those came from Kamar Burke (6 on offense) and he also chipped in offensively going 6-for-11 with 15 points, second to just Doug Plumb. Trinity got 19 points from Kyle Cotson and 15 points and 6 assists from Tristan Smith in just 29 minutes, so, there's that at least.

On Saturday, Trinity fought a little harder around the glass and grabbed a lot more defensive boards, but they couldn't shoot worth a lick, going just 41.9% up against UBC's 59.7%. Cotson went 0-for-6, Smith 2-for-7 and Calvin Westbrook 1-for-6. Less Sean Peter, who had 21 points, the starters shot just 19.2% for Trinity. Kamar Burke picked up 13 boards again while Nathan Yu had another strong Saturday night with 21. Off the bench, Tommy Nixon, whose name has popped up a bunch, went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and had 29 points in 43 minutes of play on the weekend.

UofA 70 @ Winnipeg 71 | UofA 84 @ Winnipeg 56

You always like to think that when a team gets upset it comes from a game-winning shot, but, not really the case in this one. It came down to a missed free throw by Matthew Cardoza. A layup from Brayden Duff gave the Wesmen a 2-point lead (70-68) with :22 remaining in the fourth quarter. The teams would trade foul shots in a :22 second-span that probably lasted about three minutes and Winnipeg held on for the win after Duff's foul sent Cardoza to the line after an offensive board. You can't really blame him for the win, as Alberta didn't shoot all that well compared to what they can do. They were held to 41.9% (though Winnipeg somehow won with 31.9%). Cardoza also missed three other FTs in this one, which was crucial, because both teams were sent to the line a lot. Anyway, this is just one of those losses...

...that usually result in the team pulverizing their opponent the next night. Winnipeg's poor shooting finally caught up with them and Alberta had better rebounding, and, also, better shooting, particularly from Jordan Baker, who went 11-for-15 for 30 points and added 13 rebounds for the double-double. This game was over well early in the second half, with Alberta holding the Wesmen to 9 points in the 4th. Baker, Daniel Ferguson and Lyndon Taylor all played significant minutes in the quarter, with Golden Bears coach Greg Francis refusing to take his foot off the gas.

Lethbridge 67 @ UofS 83 | Lethbridge 65 @ UofS 74

Lethbridge's offense was held in check this weekend and even without Jamelle Barrett and Nolan Brudehl in the lineup. Barrett has not been himself in the previous two weeks, so he's probably nursing some sort of injury. Brudehl went down 1:04 in to the Friday game and didn't return on the weekend. Our crack news department will try and sort out the issue as quick as we can, taking into account the fact that we don't really know anybody in Saskatoon. The Huskies have been putting up points without Barrett, however, on Friday they got 18 from Michael Lieffers and 16 from Evan Ostertag off the bench, running up the score late after the Pronghorns were leading 41-32 at the half. They shut down Dominyc Coward after that, holding him to 2-for-7 shooting in the second half. Despite the losing effort, Daryl Cooper had an impressive stat line, going 7-for-9 with 25 points (9 FTs made) three assists an seven steals.

Saturday night was more of the same. Lethbridge was shut down and couldn't get much going in the second half except in garbage time, when they opened up the floor for Saskatchewan too. They shot just 31.9%, down from 33.3%, once again going for volume over quality (which sometimes isn't a bad move). Coward was a little better, hitting 18 in 29 minutes of play. Jones and Lieffers, the usual crowd for the Huskies, combined for 39 points and Lieffers got a dozen rebounds, plus an extra from the baker for being such a good customer.

TRU 75 @ UVic 77 | TRU 76 @ UVic 84

A pair of close victories for the Vikes, who move up to a perfect 6-0. They earned a scare Friday but Zac #@$*ing Andrus hit a jumper with the buzzer going to defeat the WolfPack, who are now less of a juggernaut after a strong early season. The game winner accounted for Andrus' 15th and 16th points on the night, while Ryan MacKinnon was otherwise slowed with "just" 18 points in 35 minutes. As for TRU, Justin King ho-hum put in another 35 and has become the conference's leading scorer, which I guess is something to print up in the local Omega newspaper.

On Saturday, it was close, but Victoria still pulled ahead as, for the second time on the season, a late bucket by the WolfPack kept the score within single digits. MacKinnon hit 22, Mike Berg had 16 points and 7 boards and Vic sort of pulled away in the third quarter after a 43-38 halftime lead.

UBC-O 52 @ UFV 74 | UBC-O 63 @ UFV 108

Again, the rookie franchise has a little bit to learn, as the Villains of the Valley crush the Victims of the other BC Valley on consecutive nights. Sam Freeman was back this weekend with 8 on Friday and 14 on Saturday in 36 minutes of play. The big-man Jasper Moedt had a double-double on Friday but was held to just 5 rebounds on Saturday, probably having something to do with the fact he only played 22 minutes, partly because the Cascades hit 64.4% of their shots so offensive rebounds were unavailable. Not a single UFV starter was below 50%, showing off where the Heat stand in shooting defense against a big team like UFV.

UFV travel to Saskatoon on Friday and Edmonton on Saturday, so this will be a fun upcoming weekend for them.

Other scores and Key Performances...

Friday


Calgary 74 @ Regina 83 Regina get their first win of the season on a terrific first half performance from Paul Gareau. He tied for the team-high with 20 points but played just 21 minutes, also recording 4 steals and 3 offensive rebounds.

Manitoba 94 @ Brandon 74 Manitoba win for their first time since their first week upset over Alberta on a 9-for-14 shooting, 25-point performance from Kurtis Sangespreet. Chipping in with 16 points and 9 boards was Keith Omoreah.

Saturday

Calgary 91 @ Regina 93 And Regina win again, giving Saskatchewan teams a perfect 4-0 record on the week. Sterling Noestedt was just 5-for-20, but hit the big layup with :10 left in the second OT, probably upstaging Keenan Milburn's 27 points in 46 minutes of play.

Manitoba 91 @ Brandon 98 Brandon earn the split against their provincial rival, securing 28 points off 9-for-13 shooting from Ilarion Bonhomme.
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