Friday 13 January 2012

Bill McLean's AUS Preview: UPEI visits UNB Tonight


UPEI (6-2, 12 points) at UNB (2-8, 8 points)
"Four point weekend" in the AUS kicks off tonight in Fredericton where the Reds will host the UPEI Panthers. Before Christmas the Panthers were undefeaated and on the cusp of a national rankings. Since then they have lost four straight games dating back to the Rod Shoveller tournament and now find themselves in a four way tie for second place and six points behind the X-Men.

Expect Tim Kendrick's outstanding starting five to get their confidence back versus a Reds team struggling to keep up with the pack as the season moves along. Jonathan Cooper, Donathan Moss, and Manock Lual are averaging a combined 56 points per game but the Panthers looked stagnant offensively last weekend versus the athletic Huskies. Their dribble penetration offense should get rolling against a Varsity Reds defense that surrenders nearly 90 points per outing.

Winning at UNB was a lot harder it seemed in the days of the "Pit", but four points are on the line so Brent Baker will have his troops motivated, and time could be running out on UNB to get back in the playoff hunt. A win could turn around the season for the Reds and keep them in the chase until February when they have a favourable schedule down the stretch. The Reds are certainly due as they haven't won a conference game since barely surviving two games over Memorial on the opening weekend of the season.

Chances are good they'll end up with their 9th straight loss as the Panthers will be driven to get back on track and get some momentum going for when the X-Men come to Charlottetown on Sunday.

Although...the Panthers may be looking past UNB which could lead to an upset bid.

This game can be seen on varsityreds.ca.


Key Players
UNB- 
Daniel Quirion- 16 ppg. Shoots only 37 % from the floor.
Alex DesRoches- 14 points, 9 rebounds per game.

UPEI-
Jonahan Cooper- 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4.5 assists per game.
Donathan Moss- 19 points, 7 rebs per game
Manock Lual- 17 points, 8 rebs per game.

2 comments:

AUS hoops fan said...

UNB will be missing two key players according to their website. In addition to 6'7 post Lonzel lowe who left the team earlier this season.

The University of New Brunswick men's basketball squad was dealt a heavy blow with the long term loss of veteran Colin Swift, likely gone for the season with an unspecified injury, and Daniel Quiron, who is recovering from a foot injury. Despite the return of reigning Atlantic University Sport rookie of the year Will McFee, the offence has been stagnant and the defence overwhelmed during a losing streak that stretched to six games with a pair of losses to the St. Francis Xavier X-Men to open the second half of the AUS men's basketball schedule last weekend in Antigonish, N.S.

Adam Connolly said...

anyone know where on the site the game is shown?? i cant see it anywhere