COUGAR MENS BASKETBALLERS HOST WINNIPEG IN PLAYOFFS

REGINA, Sask. – The University of Regina’s men’s basketball team will host the Winnipeg Wesmen this weekend in a best-of-three Canada West play-in series at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.

Game 1 and Game 2 are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, with Game 3 to be played on Sunday if a deciding contest is needed. Start time is scheduled for 7 p.m. each night, with the winner of the series advancing to the conference quarterfinals to meet Explorer Division champion Thompson Rivers for the right to advance to the Canada West Final Four.

For the Cougars, it’ll be their first home postseason series since hosting Winnipeg in the 2009 Great Plains Division semifinals. That actually marked the fifth consecutive year that Regina hosted the Wesmen in the postseason, making this upcoming weekend the sixth straight home series the Cougars have faced Winnipeg.

“They’re very similar to us, actually, with two dynamic scorers,” Cougars head coach Steve Burrows said. “They play good defence in the quarter court and are extremely dangerous in transition. We have to manage the basketball this weekend and if we can continue with some consistent defensive efforts, I think we’ll have a good chance.”

NOTES: The only team Regina has faced more in the postseason than Winnipeg is Brandon … coming into the weekend, the Cougars have won 17 of the 27 playoff meetings between the two teams … 22 of those 27 postseason meetings have been in Regina, with the Cougars holding a 17-5 advantage in those games.

(Courtesy Cougar Athletics)