Huskies vow to remain focused
Men’s bball squad gets week to rest
An extra week off and homecourt advantage throughout the Canada West playoffs.
That’s the sweet situation the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s basketball team finds itself in after a 94-73 victory over the University of Calgary Dinos on Saturday night.
It’s not like the players and coaches will be resting on their laurels, though.
“We have to reset because everyone has the same record now. Everybody’s 0-0,” Huskies head coach Barry Rawlyk said.
“There is that lag time and that gives us some time to spend working on fundamentals.”
The weekend sweep for the Huskies enabled them to secure top spot in the Pioneer Division and thus the top seed in the Canada West conference with a 15-5 mark.
The Huskies get another week to prepare for their Canada West quarter-final. They play the winner of a play-in series between Winnipeg and Thompson Rivers.
“There are no days off here. Everybody knows that,” Rawlyk said. “The conference has been like that all year. Every game has been a battle.
“There’s very little room for us to be complacent about who we’re going to be playing. We’re going to be ready.”
As long as the Huskies win their opening-round matchup, they would host the conference Final Four beginning March 6.
“That’s great news,” said guard Mike Scott, the offensive catalyst on Saturday with 27 points. “We’ll try to handle our business. Come the next couple weeks, we’ll just stay level-headed.”
The only downside is the Huskies won’t get to play their quarter-final series at the PAC, where they were 10-0 this season.
Instead, St. Joseph High School is the host site because the CIS men’s volleyball championship is at the PAC from Feb. 26-28.
A temporary three-point arc — in accordance with CIS rules — will be set up at their new, temporary high school digs.
“We obviously love the PAC. Our record would speak to that,” Rawlyk said.
“We just have to go and execute and play a playoff style of basketball, which starts on defence.”
The Huskies were in control for most of Saturday’s game.
The only scare was when they trailed 22-17 after the first quarter.
But they forced the Dinos into making 13 turnovers, which led to 19 points.
“That’s what we try to do every game,” Scott said. “We try to get out and run on teams, capitalize on turnovers. That usually gets us a lot of our offence, gets us going.”
On the women’s side, the Huskies ended the season on a 13-game winning streak after beating the Dinos 72-68.
Laura Dally led the team in scoring with 24 points. She also had six rebounds.
Kelsey Trulsrud added 14 points and 10 boards.
The Huskies finished with a 17-3 record, good for second in the Pioneer Division.
They host the Winnipeg Wesmen in the Canada West quarter-final series, beginning Friday.