TEAM OVERVIEWS
REGINA – The Cougars finished off the first half of the Canada West schedule with a pair of road losses to powerhouse UBC, but the No. 4-ranked Thunderbirds needed overtime to complete the weekend sweep on Saturday after a huge comeback bid by the U of R fell just short. Not surprisingly considering they've already played three of the conference's five eight-win teams, the Cougars boast the second-best RPI in Canada West behind only Calgary. The Cougars have relied heavily on what's essentially been a seven-man rotation with Benjamin Hillis, Alex Igual, Shawn Lathan, Brian Ofori, and Brandon Tull starting and Shaquille Harris and Samuel Hillis coming off the bench, with rookies Brayden Kuski and Nigel Warden also consistently seeing playing time.
 
MOUNT ROYAL – The western Cougars are 5-5 at the midway point of the season, including an impressive weekend sweep over Manitoba, weekend splits with Winnipeg, Fraser Valley, and Thompson Rivers, and a pair of losses in a home-and-home with Lethbridge. MRU is led by fifth-year forward Josh Ross and fourth-year guard John Hegwood, with Ross leading the team in both points per game (19.0) and rebounds per game (9.9) and Hegwood ranking second on the Cougars in both categories (17.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game). Ross, a 6-4 forward and a likely Canada West all-star, also leads MRU with 53 assists and 25 steals this season.

PROJECTED STARTERS

Lethbridge	Regina
#0 John Hegwood (G • 6-6 • 4th) #10 Nick Tancon (F • 6-7 • 3rd) #12 Noah Lewis (G • 6-4 • 5th) #13 Glen Yang (G • 6-3 • 4th) #24 Josh Ross (F • 6-4 • 5th)	#1 Shawn Lathan (F • 6-4, 205 • 4th) #4 Alex Igual (G • 6-4, 215 • 5th) #5 Brandon Tull (G • 6-4, 190 • 5th) #8 Benjamin Hillis (G • 6-3, 155 • 2nd) #11 Brian Ofori (F • 6-6, 215 • 5th)

ALL-TIME SERIES
Regina and Mount Royal have only met twice before in Canada West play, with the home team winning both of those contests. The Cougars won the first matchup between the two teams 78-72 in Regina (January, 2013) and Mount Royal responded with a 75-72 win in Calgary the following season (November, 2013). The two teams did match up in a non-conference game just last year, with MRU taking an 85-73 win in Calgary.
 
PLAYOFF SYSTEM
So the Cougars are currently second in Canada West in terms of RPI – if you're wondering what exactly that means once playoffs roll around, here's a breakdown. The top 12 teams in the Canada West standings in terms of win/loss record get in, but after that it's all based on RPI – those 12 teams are seeded No. 1 through No. 12 with the top four teams getting a bye through to the quarterfinals. The other eight teams will battle it out in one of four winner-takes-all play-in games with No. 5 hosting No. 12, No. 6 hosting No. 11, No. 7 hosting No. 10, and No. 8 hosting No. 9. The four winners of those play-in games will join the four bye recipients in the best-of-three quarterfinals, with best-of-three semifinals and a winner-takes-all championship game in the weekends following. Canada West will send two teams – and possibly three with an at-large selection in play – to the national championship this March, which will be held at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.
 
QUOTABLE: COACH BURROWS
Keys to the weekend – "We'll need to play with a sense of urgency on the defensive side of the ball. Mount Royal is right in the thick of the league standings and they've got several veteran guys that will make plays if we take breaks defensively."