CALGARY – In a match-up that has been anticipated all season, the University of Calgary Dinos will finally face the UBC Thunderbirds in a one-game, winner-take-all Canada West championship Saturday in the Jack Simpson Gym.

Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. MT, with live coverage on TELUS Optik 998 and CanadaWest.tv.

It's the only meeting of the year between the two traditional rivals, who did not face off in the regular season in Canada West's unbalanced scheduling model. Both are headed to next week's U SPORTS Final 8 in Halifax after semifinal wins last week, but their place in that tournament will in large part be decided by Saturday's result.

ELITE COMPANY
The Dinos have a chance to make a little more history Saturday as the first University of Calgary squad to win back-to-back conference titles. Not only will they be defending their title, but they will also be playing for their third Canada West championship title in four years. The last team to win two straight was UBC (2007, 2008), and no team has won three of four in Canada West since the Victoria Vikes in 1995, 1997, and 1998.

LAST OPPORTUNITY
Mambi Diawara, David Kapinga, Lucas Mannes, and Lars Schlueter will play their final home game in the Jack Simpson Gym Satruday before they head off to the U SPORTS Final 8 the following weekend. The four seniors will want to make the most of the opportunity before they head to Halifax to defend their national title. Schlueter is fresh off a 37-point outing in Game 2 of the Canada West semifinal and Mambi Diawara has led the Dinos with 17.9 points per game.

BENCH BOSSES
Calgary's Dan Vanhooren and UBC's Kevin Hanson are the deans of the Canada West coaching fraternity, with both in their 19th seasons at the helm of their programs. Including this season, the Dinos and Thunderbirds will account for 10 of those 19 Canada West championship titles, with UBC coming into the weekend with five and the Dinos with four during that span. Vanhooren and Hanson coached Team Canada together at the FISU Summer Universiade in 2017 in Chinese Taipei.

QUOTABLE
Head coach Dan Vanhooren last weekend on how rebounding efficiently has an impact on games.

"They only got two offensive rebounds in the last two quarters and that makes a big difference. We need to hold teams in the single digit range in rebounding if we're going to do anything impressive in the national tournament."

SCOUTING REPORT
vs UBC THUNDERBIRDS
Game Info Saturday, March 2 at 1 p.m. – Jack Simpson Gym
2019 Record 17-3, 2nd in Canada West
2019 Leading Scorer Jadon Cohee (19.3 ppg)

NOTES
•    The Thunderbirds average 93.5 ppg, which is second in Canada West
•    UBC won a close contested Canada West semifinal against the University of Alberta in game three on the road to take the series
•    The Thunderbirds are a fantastic rebounding team. They rank first in Canada West with 49.1 total rebounds per game.

UP NEXT
Following the Canada West Championship, both the Dinos and Thunderbirds head to Halifax to compete in the U SPORTS Final 8 March 8-10 at the Scotiabank Centre.

-UC-