Dinos haven’t seen the T-Birds’ best
Head coach Hanson says UBC will be a different team with Morgan in mid-season form
Coach Kevin Hanson maintains the UBC Thunderbirds are a different team than the last time they visited the Calgary Dinos and he has an argument.
The No. 3 Thunderbirds travel to the No. 2 Dinos for a best-of-three Canada West men’s basketball semifinal beginning Thursday (7 p.m.) The teams’ lone matchups this season also came in Calgary in early November with the Dinos winning 100-76 and 92-74, but those were the first games back in the lineup for UBC star forward Conor Morgan.
He was hurt in a pre-season tournament in Saskatoon in October.
Morgan, who’s in his fifth and final year of eligibility, ended up third in the conference in scoring (23.9 points per game) and second in rebounding (9.7 per game). He’s likely to be honoured when the Canada West season award winners are announced later this week.
“Conor had 17 points in one game and 30 in the other, but he was just coming back. We were out of sync then,” said Hanson. “We’ve just got better and better. Most importantly, the guys really believe that they are playing well.”
UBC is No. 4 in the U Sports national ranking, Calgary is No. 5. UBC (173) finished ahead of Calgary (16-4) in points in the regular season, but playoff seeds in Canada West are done by rating percentage index, a formula that takes into account strength of schedule.
UBC had the top-scoring team in the country in the regular season (94.2 points per game). They led Canada West in field goal percentage (48.8) and rebounds (47.5 per game).
Calgary had the conference’s second-best defence (72.7 points
allowed per game).
The T-Birds advanced to this round thanks to a quarter-final sweep last week of the No. 7 Manitoba Bisons at War Memorial Gymnasium via a 106-74 win and then a 97-72 triumph. Manitoba upset UBC in the quarter-finals last season.
UBC heads into the Calgary series on an eight-game winning streak.
Morgan supplied 21 points and 11 rebounds in the opening win against Manitoba.
Guard Taylor Browne was 7-for-12 from three-point range in the second game, setting a UBC playoff record for three-pointers. He finished with 23 points, leading five T-Birds in double figures.
Calgary moved onto the semifinals
by sweeping the No. 8 Saskatchewan Huskies, winning 98-73 and 100-76. They’ve won five in a row. Game 2 is Friday (7 p.m.) in Calgary, while Game 3, if necessary, would be there Saturday (6 p.m.)
The other semifinal pits the No. 1 Alberta Golden Bears against the No. 4 Lethbridge Pronghorns beginning Friday in Edmonton. Game 3, if
necessary, would be there Sunday.
Alberta (19-1) is the No. 2-ranked team in the nation, according to U Sports, behind only Ottawa’s Carleton Ravens, the seven-time reigning national champions.
Alberta swept the No. 12 UNBC Timberwolves last week, winning 98-64 and 80-41.