Live Video
Tickets

The streak of ranked opponents continues for the University of Regina's men's basketball team this weekend as the Cougars host Saskatchewan at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

This weekend's games will mark the fifth and sixth consecutive contests for the Cougars against teams ranked in the CIS Top Ten. They started out the season two weekends ago at home, defeating then-No. 8 UBC before losing to No. 5 Victoria the following night. Last weekend was a road trip to face No. 2 Alberta, with the Golden Bears pulling out 99-66 and 83-61 wins over the Cougars.

And this weekend pits the Cougars (1-3) against Saskatchewan, which came in at No. 5 in this week's poll after starting out the season with four consecutive wins – one over Thompson Rivers to start the conference schedule, one over UBC Okanagan, and a pair of wins last weekend over Brandon in the Huskies' home openers.

Brendan Hebert comes into the two-game set as the U of R's leading scorer, as the fourth-year guard is averaging 12 points and a team-high 30 minutes played per game. Joining him in the starting backcourt is fellow fourth-year guard and team assists leader Darius Mole, while rookie Brandon Tull is averaging 11.5 points per game and moved into the starting lineup last weekend against Alberta. Starting forward Will Tallman is third on the Cougars in scoring (7.3 ppg) and is the team's leading rebounder with an average of 6.3 per game, while post Wesley Jones has made a big impact on the defensive side of the ball as the Lakeland College transfer is tied for second in Canada West with eight blocked shots.

Leading the Cougars off the bench is third-year post Jeremy Zver, who's leading the team in field goal percentage and is tied with Tallman for third on the U of R with 7.3 points per game. Second-year player Travis Sylvester and third-year guard Matthew Augustine also get plenty of minutes for the Cougars.

Saskatchewan, which defeated Brandon by scores of 93-78 and 83-67 last weekend, is tied with Alberta and Winnipeg for first place in Canada West's Prairie Division. All five starters for the Huskies average in double figures, led by Stephon Lamar's 21.5 points per game which put him in third in the conference in scoring. Former Howard University player Dadrian Collins averages 15.5 points per game, while Matt Forbes (11.3 ppg), Andrew Henry (11.0), and Ben Baker (10.3) also contribute heavily to Saskatchewan's offence.

Baker averages a double-double per contest as he's also the team's leading rebounder with 49 through the first four games of the year, while Forbes pulls down an average of 9.5 boards per game. Evan Ostertag is effective off the bench for Saskatchewan, averaging 8.5 points and 20 minutes played per contest.

The two teams will play following the women's game on both nights as part of doubleheaders at the CKHS. Friday's game is scheduled to tip off at 8:15 with Saturday scheduled for a 7:00 start. Both games will be webcast live at canadawest.tv.