For the first time in three seasons, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's basketball team will be involved in a Canada West 'play in' game."  Again, that 'play in' game will take place in the province of Saskatchewan.

Unlike 2017-18, when they went to Regina and fell 93-68 to the Cougars on February 8^th,  the WolfPack will be heading to Saskatoon to battle the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in a one game 'play in' contest.

Thompson Rivers hopes their 'hearts' won't collectively be broken on Valentines Day as they do battle with the Huskies in a 5 PM PDT tip off.
 
THE MATCHUP:

The Huskies finished the regular season with a 12-8 record and go into this game losers of their last two outings. They had an RPI total of 0.538.  Saskatchewan is 9-4 at home this year.  They are 2-3 in their last five games and 2-3 in their last five home games.

The WolfPack had a regular season record of 11-9 but lost their last six starts.  Their RPI was 0.4593.  Thompson Rivers was 5-5 on the road and 1-4 in their last four road games.

THE HISTORY:

These two teams played each other twice during the regular season. The games were at the Tournament Capital Centre on Friday, November 29^th and Saturday November 30^th.   Saskatchewan scored 34 points in the third quarter and erased a 10 point half time deficit (40-30) to beat the WolfPack the opening night 89-69.  The Huskies scored 29 points off turnovers and had 48 points in the paint compared to TRU's 22.   Alexander Dewar (2^nd year, guard, Saskatoon, SK) paced the Huskies with 27 points.  Thompson Rivers' top gunner was Anton Bilous (5^th year guard, Cerkassy, Ukraine) with 20.

The following night (Nov 30), the Pack emerged victorious 92-85. Thompson Rivers was led by  Bilous  with 25 points. Joe Davis (5^th year, forward, Kamloops, BC) had 22 points.  Micheal Rouault (5^th year guard, Vernon, BC) had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Richard Mageto (2^nd year guard, Surrey, BC had 13 points as well.

Saskatchewan was led by JT Robinson (5^th year, guard, Vallejo, California) with 25 points.  Dewar  had 20 points. Noah Nickel (2^nd year, guard, Abbotsford, BC) contributed 17 points while Emmanuel Akintunde (4^th year, guard, Saskatoon, SK) had 11 points.

These teams have met in the post season before.  They met in the second round of the 2014-15 playoffs in Saskatoon. The Huskies won that series 2-1.
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH:

SASKATCHEWAN:

JT Robinson: sixth in Canada West in overall scoring 371. Led the Huskies in scoring averaging 19.2 points pergame in 32.2 minutes.
Kessiar Bishop ( 2^nd year,forward, Okotoks, AB) : fifth in the league in blocked shots (1.2) and 13 th in Canada West in rebounds (142). He averaged 25.2 minutes per game and led the team in rebounds with 8.4 per game and blocks (1.2)
Maxwell Amoafo (3^rd year, forward, Accra, Ghana): 12^th in Canada West in blocks (0.8) and 15^th in total rebounds (139). Second on the team in rebounds (7.2) and in blocks (0.8). He averaged 7.1 points per game
Alexander Dewar:  eight in Canada West in overall scoring (353) and was second on the team in scoring (17.6 points pergame) averaging 27.8 minutes.

THOMPSON RIVERS:

Anton Bilous: 13 th in Canada West in scoring (538).  Third all time in most three point field goals (127 in 56 games, tenth all time in TRU scoring (781 in 56 games), sixth in highest points per game (13.9), seventh all time in field goals (201). Led the team in points per game (16.9) in 31.1 minutes
Joe Davis: 14^th in the league in scoring (331), 16^th in rebounds (130). He's the all-time leading scorer in TRU history with 1154 points in 97 games, field goals (468) and games started (78) , second in minutes played (2431), fourth in FG percent all time (51.5) and field goals (178). Second on the Pack in rebounds (6.5) and scoring (16.6 points per game) along with steals (0.8).
Micheal Rouault: 6^th in Canada West in overall rebounds (177), 25^th overall in scoring (279). Holds the TRU record for most minutes played (2560 in 97 games), second in TRU history in free throws (201)  game started (63) and rebounds (698), fourth all time in points (951 in 97 games), third all time in field goals (361). He was third on the team in scoring (13.9 per game, led the team in rebounds (8.8) and steals (1.6) and tied for the lead in blocks (0.7).
Tyus De Vries (3^rd year, guard Chilliwack, BC): 10 th all time in TRU history in most three point field goals (91 in 60 games). Fourth on the team in scoring (11.9 points per game) in 24.4 minutes)
 
You can watch Friday's contest via webcast on a pay-per-view basis on Canada West TV presented by Co-op by accessing: https://cw.yaretv.com/.