It may just be the salve the University of Victoria Vikes need in sa国际传媒 West men鈥檚 basketball.
Facing the winless Trinity Western Spartans (0-8) at home on Ken and Kathy Shields Court in CARSA gym couldn鈥檛 come at a more opportune time tonight and Saturday for the flagging Vikes (2-6).
Especially since last weekend they were being swept on the road by the defending U Sports national champion University of Calgary Dinos, who are still potent and No. 3 in the country.
鈥淚t was a tough first half of the schedule, with injuries and a challenging schedule to date,鈥� said UVic head coach Craig Beaucamp.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 remember the last time we opened conference play with seven of eight games on the road 鈥� and in very tough gyms like UBC鈥檚, Calgary鈥檚 and Winnipeg鈥檚. That makes for short practice weeks 鈥� back Monday and travelling again Thursday. That makes it a matter of just staying afloat rather than making progress. In sa国际传媒 West, so much depends on the schedule and we鈥檝e not had a great start against good opponents. Now we get to play catch-up with eight of our final 12 conference games at home, including the next six in a row.鈥�
Included in that latter stretch is a much-needed bye week.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to finally be home. But we can鈥檛 take anything for granted this weekend,鈥� said Beaucamp.
Certainly not with Spartans guard Vartan Tanielian putting up an average of 18 points per game, which is just out of the conference top-10 at 11th overall.
UVic鈥檚 leading scorers Mason Loewen and Jordan Charles clock in at 19th and 20th in the conference with 15.9 and 15 points-per-game averages, respectively.
The women鈥檚 sa国际传媒 West games tonight and Saturday in CARSA gym feature the host UVic Vikes at 5-3 and the visiting Trinity Western Spartans at 6-2.
鈥淭he Spartans are playing well as a team with veterans that have been a huge part of their success the past few seasons. Plus they have some good young players,鈥� said UVic head coach Dani Sinclair, whose team is coming off back-to-back losses last weekend in Calgary.
鈥淲e had moments against Calgary but we need to compete for the full 40 minutes, especially against top teams. We gave away too many offensive rebounds. And that鈥檚 less to do with height than it is with playing through and being relentless and just contesting.鈥�
UVic鈥檚 Amira Giannattasio is sixth in conference scoring with an 18.8 points per game average while Tessa Ratzlaff of Trinity Western is tied for 10th with a 17.5 average. Sarah Buckingham of the Spartans and Ashlyn Day of the Vikes are also top-20 in sa国际传媒 West scoring at 16.1 and 15.9, respectively.
Tip-off tonight is at 6 for the women鈥檚 game and 8 for the men鈥檚. It鈥檚 a 5 p.m. start time for the women鈥檚 game and 7 p.m. for the men鈥檚 on Saturday.
