In Lennoxville tonight, Bishop's Gaiters host UQAM Citadins to open QSSF men's season - tonight's game is the only matchup on the CIS schedule and is available for viewing on webcast on SSN Canada beginning at 8 PM at the Mitchell Gym.
Tonight's game is a rematch of last season's Quebec University Basketball league semi-final in Montreal when 6'4" Adil El Makssoud's 34 points led the Citadins to a 98-70 win over the Gaiters. El Makssound went 13-for-24 from the field, as the Citadins forced 29 Gaiters turnovers. For Bishop's, Onnex Blackwood led with 19 points, while Hermon Tesfaghebriel closed out his university career with 15.
The Gaiters are 0-14 overall, 0-11 vs. CIS teams this year and have made some changes as of recently with 6'4" veteran Ryan Thorne and 6'7" Chris East no longer listed on the roster. Last week, the Gaiters dropped a pair of games against NCAA Division II squads. The Gaiters have played three games against NCAA teams, eight against OUA teams and three against the AUS. UQAM is 1-10 overall, but 0-6 against CIS teams. Their sole win came against the New York Institute of Technology (NCAA Division II) on October 10.
Through non-conference play, the Gaiters have been led by third-year guard Oraine Green, who is averaging 10.8 points in 24.3 minutes per game. Rookie Andrew Drisdelle has also been impressive in the early going, averaging 7.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. He is leading the team with a 49% field goal percentage. The Gaiters are scoring 60.8 points per game, on average.
UQAM Head Coach Olga Hrycak will field quite a different team on the floor than the group that won the 2010 QUBL title. Gone from the league champions are Adil El Makssoud, who averaged 12.9 points and 5.9 rebounds last year, along with Jules Diagne, who averaged 10.8 points and 6.0 rebounds. The Citadins have struggled in the early going, as they went 0-3 at the Jack Donohue Tournament in Ottawa, and were swept on a road trip to the OUA West.
3 comments:
Having seen both teams play in Ottawa recently I would pick UQAM over Bishop's simply because they are a little bit less dreadful than Bishop's.
What is really a shame is that despite being a combined 1-24 against other CIS teams, one of these sad sack outfits will actually qualify for the playoffs....unless the Q decides to amend its playoff format on the fly (good idea).
It's hard to believe Bishop's won a national championship twelve years ago.
But 1998 may as well have been 1898 because the Gaiters look 100 years away from being a contender.
And you don't have to be Jimmy the Greek to predict UQAM won't repeat as Quebec champs.
The Citadins took advantage of an exceptionally weak Q last year, but McGill, Laval and Concordia are all much improved and UQAM has dropped off drastically.
A few players are not going to play tonight because of suspensions(remember the brawl that occured after the QSSF semi...).
If Adil El Makssoud gets back in the lineup in January, I don't see why UQAM couldn't repeat. Let's see if their rookies can step up.
Laval didn't improved THAT much (don't forget that they lost F.-O. Gagnon-Hébert).
I think McGill, with Bibeau, can do a lot of damage.
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