The Bison basketball teams continue the second half of the 2015-16 conference season by hosting the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday, January 15 and Saturday, January 16 at the Investors Group Athletic Centre (U of Manitoba campus). On Friday, the women's game is at 6 p.m. CT and the men's game scheduled for 8 p.m. CT while on Saturday, women's start at 4 p.m. CT and men's at 6 p.m. CT.
The Bison men's basketball team (7-3) are in a tight battle for a top spot in the Pioneer division as they are one game back of division leader UBC (8-2) and Calgary (8-3) while Manitoba has won five of the last six conference games heading into the weekend.
In this conference men's basketball season, the Bisons are fourth in scoring offence at 82.5 points per game and 11th in scoring defence at 76.5 points per game. In Canada West assists per game, Manitoba is first with 18.4 per game and in rebounds per game, Manitoba is fourth in conference at 43.0. In addition, the Herd is ninth with 7.2 steals per game. Individually, co-captain A.J. Basi is fifth in Canada West and leads the team in scoring with 18.9 points per game while Basi second with 3.4 made 3 pointers per game. Co-captain Wyatt Anders leads the conference with 11.9 rebounds per game as Keith Omoerah, Ilarion Bonhomme are tied for fifth spot and Justus Alleyn is seventh in conference with 3.8 and 3.5 assists per game.
The Bison women's basketball team (0-10) seeks their first wins of the conference season against UBC (4-6). Manitoba has lost three of their last four games by ten points or less.
In this conference women's basketball season, the Bisons are 15th in scoring offence at 57.3 points per game and 17th in scoring defence at 80.1 points per game. In Canada West 3 point field goals percentage, the Bisons are 11th at 27.7%; tied for 11th in conference assists per game with 11.1 and tied for fourth in conference blocks per game at 3.6. Individually, third year Claire Harvey leads the team with 10.4 points per game and second in conference blocks with 2.2 per game while captain Jenilyn Monton is tied for 12th in Canada West with 3.1 assists per game. Rookie Nicole Konieczny leads the team in minutes played at 29.6 per game.
Bison Notes: The Bison men's basketball team won the Wesmen Classic tournament over the holiday break for the first time since 1991 and two of their three defeats this season in Canada West play have occurred in overtime.
