Game Information

Dates: Thursday, March. 3 | Friday, March 4 | Saturday, March 5
Time: 5:00 p.m. | 5:00 p.m. | 4:00 p.m.
Location: Lethbridge, AB
Watch Live: Canadawest.tv

KAMLOOPS – Win and advance, that's the mission this coming week for a Thompson Rivers WolfPack men's basketball team that will head to Lethbridge looking to keep their 2021-22 season alive.
 
CANADA WEST BRACKET
 
The WolfPack will begin their route to the Canada West Final Four with a game against the Mount Royal Cougars on Thursday at 5:00 p.m., if they take down the Cougars they will face a familiar foe in the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday at 5:00 p.m. A win against the Thunderbirds and the WolfPack would advance to the Canada West Quarter-Final on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. where they will take on an opponent yet to be determined for a shot at the Canada West Final Four.
 
First up for the 15th seed WolfPack are the 12th seeded Cougars. TRU went 4-14 in the regular season to finish sixth in the West Division while Mount Royal compiled a mark of 7-9 en route to finishing fourth out of the five teams in the Central Division.
 
The season was a tale of two halves for the WolfPack. A strong 4-4 start in the first semester saw them pick up wins over the UBC Okanagan Heat, UNBC Timberwolves and the Fraser Valley Cascades. Struck by injury problems in the second semester the WolfPack struggled to an 0-10 mark. There were signs of life from a TRU squad that hung tough with the nationally-ranked UVic Vikes in multiple games but ultimately they were unable to pull out a victory.

The Cougars were pretty even-keeled throughout their season. They went 4-0 against the winless MacEwan Griffins, 0-4 against both the division-leading Alberta Golden Bears and second place Calgary Dinos and 3-1 against a Lethbridge Pronghorns outfit that just beat them out for third in the division.
 
These teams met earlier in the year in preseason with the Cougars edging the WolfPack 67-66 in Calgary.

By the Numbers
 
12: TRU is 12-5 all-time in conference play against the Cougars and are 8-2 in their last 10 matchups.
 
15.4 – Brendan Sullivan's mark of 15.4 ppg this season ties him for the 16th highest single season mark in WolfPack program history.
 
89.5% – Asher Mayan finished third in program history for free throw percentage in a season, knocking down 85 of his 95 attempts.
 
18.2 – Nathan Petrone of the Cougars finished with 18.2 ppg, the second best season in program history.
 
25 – Defensively, Patrick Vandervelden's 25 blocks was the fourth-most in program history for the Cougars.
 
13.9 – The WolfPack take extremely good care of the ball. Their 13.9 turnovers per game is the second-best mark in the conference.
 
31.8  – Mount Royal is second-best in the conference with 31.8 defensive rebounds per game. 
 
Coach's Take
Head Coach, Scott Clark
 
On playoff preparations
 
"The games obviously have a little more meaning, but it's a basketball game. You've trained for a long time to get to this point so to change things dramatically now wouldn't make sense. You have to continue to do what you do and try do it a little bit better and a little harder and play well."
 
On playing Mount Royal in the preseason.
 
"We've played them so we have some familiarity in terms of their personnel and a bit of an idea of what they are trying to accomplish. Both teams have gotten better throughout the year but it's not like you are going in with no information. There are plenty of Canada West teams that we haven't seen at this point so it's nice that we aren't starting from scratch."