Video WebcastLive Stats After a preseason schedule that saw them play games in Moose Jaw, Montana, Saskatoon, and Nova Scotia, the University of Regina Cougars started out Canada West play with a pair of road contests at Brandon – but they'll finally play on their home court this weekend as they host the Lethbridge Pronghorns on Friday and Saturday at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
Both games will be the second half of basketball doubleheaders at the CKHS. The women start things off at 6 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday with the men to follow at 8 p.m.
The Cougars currently have a 2-0 conference record after kicking off Canada West play two weekends ago with a historic road sweep over Brandon. It marked the first time in history that the U of R had won road games on back-to-back nights over the Bobcats, and fifth-year guard
Jonathan Tull was a force in both games. He was named the Canada West First Star of the Week after collecting double-doubles in the two victories, going for 19 points and 10 rebounds on Friday and topping that performance with 29 points and 11 boards on Saturday.
Tull comes into the weekend ranked fourth in the conference in scoring, but he wasn't the only contributor in the two wins. Younger brother
Brandon Tull piled up 35 points in the two wins, while
Will Tallman scored 24 and
Alex Igual had 19 points to go along with team highs in both rebounds (22) and assists (15). Igual is all over the Canada West leaderboard in the early going, as he's got the conference lead in assists per game (7.5) and is second in rebounds per contest (11).
Stephen Shields – we'll call him an "experienced rookie" – was the fifth starter alongside the two Tulls, Tallman, and Igual. The eight-man rotation that third-year head coach
Steve Burrows generally employed also included
Travis Sylvestre,
Brian Ofori, and
Aaron McGowan, but the Cougars might reach deeper into the bench this weekend to incorporate
Mike Malecha after he put up 13 points in just nine minutes played over the two games.
Burrows is wary of a Lethbridge team that has a 2-0 Canada West record and was 4-1 against CIS competition in non-conference play.
"They've got two impact imports in (Brandon) Brine and (Dejon) Burdeaux and they play a fast, up-tempo style and cause a bit of grief defensively," Burrows said. "They're great in transition, and we're definitely going to need to have solid decision making and good guard play this weekend."
Though no Lethbridge player averaged more than 16 points per game last weekend, the Pronghorns had four players average at least 14. Brine, Burdeaux, Rob Olsen, and Christopher Maughan all led Lethbridge offensively, while Jared Baker rounded out the starting five. Zac Overwater, Joshua Sparkes, and Michael Pierzchala came off the bench as part of what was also an eight-man rotation for Lethbridge last weekend.
This weekend series features two of the three remaining undefeated teams in Canada West's Pioneer Division. The only other team without a loss is Victoria, as the Vikes are 4-0 and host Calgary (3-1) this weekend.
The Cougars are on the road at Alberta next weekend before returning to the CKHS for home games on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 against Winnipeg.
