For the second straight season, the No. 6 ranked University of Saskatchewan men's basketball squad will host the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack in a Canada West best-of-three quarter-final series.
One season ago, the Huskies swept the WolfPack to advance to the conference Final Four – 82-68 and 84-71 at the PAC. It is the 12th straight postseason appearance for the Huskies.
The 2014-15 series begins Friday at 7 p.m., followed by Game 2 Saturday at 7 p.m. Game 3, if needed, is set for Sunday at 7 p.m. All games can be viewed on canadawest.tv. The first two games of the series will be played at St. Joseph High School due to the Huskies hosting the 2015 CIS Men's Volleyball Championship at the PAC on the same days. Parking at St. Joseph High School is available in the Soccer Centre lot during the games.
Saskatchewan (15-5) finished first in the Canada West and had a week of rest while an opponent was determined through the play-in round. Thompson Rivers finished the regular season at 11-9 and third in the explorer division. The WolfPack defeated the Winnipeg Wesmen on the road in the best-of-three play-in, sweeping the series 86-78 and 62-61.
The Huskies are 8-0 against the WolfPack since 2010-11 including the playoff series sweep in 2013-14.
Saskatchewan has a potent offence averaging the second-most points per game in the conference at 83.3 per game. The Huskies also use perimeter shooting making 8.7 three-pointers per game.
Four Huskies have averaged double-digits in the season including fifth-year shooting guard Dadrian Collins at 15.2 points per game. Collins finished the season with the fourth-best three-point percentage in the Canada West at 45.5. Matthew Forbes added another 13.4 points per game, while Michael Scott tallied 12.5 and Ben Baker 12. Baker led the team on the boards with 7.7 rebounds per game, while Forbes added another seven.
Fourth-year forward Josh Wolfram led the WolfPack through the regular season averaging 18 points per game. Brett Rouault added another 13.6 and Reese Pribilsky another 12.9. Wolfram also dominated on the boards with 9.9 rebounds per game – fourth best in the Canada West. The three led the team in the playoff wins over the Wesmen combining for 87 of the Thompson Rivers' 148 points scored in the series.
The winner of the series will advance to the Canada West Final Four, which the Huskies would host with a series win. Two Canada West teams will earn a berth to the CIS Championship hosted by the Ryerson Rams March 13-15.