BU Bobcats reset for hoops playoff run

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This article was published 21/02/2024 (575 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — The catchphrase of the Brandon University Bobcats season is “keep it hot,” but they’re the coldest team entering the Canada West men’s basketball playoffs.

It’s been a month since they won a game and the team will need to heat up in a hurry this week.

Brandon takes on the Saskatchewan Huskies today at 3 p.m., in the first round of the post-season at the University of Manitoba’s Investors Group Athletic Centre.

“You move on, you forget about it. It’s done now so there’s nothing we can do about it,” said veteran guard Dominique Dennis.

“We had a good two, three weeks of practice, probably one of our best stretches of practice we’ve had since training camp. We feel good coming in, feel regrouped, put those losses behind us and it’s a whole new season now.”

The good news for BU is its last win was against Saskatchewan on Jan. 20, to complete a weekend sweep in their final home action.

Dennis was the X-factor in BU’s 80-62 win in the first contest.

“Sask is actually the first team that held me to zero in my university career so I had to make sure I had a bounce-back game last time we played them,” Dennis recalled.

“I know coming into it I’ll probably be one of the key focal points, they won’t want to let me get going, so just trying to play the right way, don’t try to force the score, but take the opportunities when they present themselves.”

The Huskies present a few personnel challenges for the Bobcats. Six-foot-eight forward Easton Thimm doesn’t have a Brandon counterpart who can match up and contain him in the key. Thimm posted 23 points and 17 rebounds in last month’s clashes.

Fifth-year guard Alexander Dewar, who received a third-team all-star nod, averages 16.6 points per game. He gets to the rim as well as anyone in the conference, providing a consistent scoring floor for a team that puts up just 72.7 points per game, good for 14th in the conference.

The clash of polarizing styles is remarkable. Brandon wants to run and gun — it made 27 of 82 three-pointers in the regular-season doubleheader — while Saskatchewan prefers a slower, physical game.

Its starters shot just five threes all weekend while the team went 9-for-36 from deep and scored 80 of its 133 points in the paint.

That slow-burn style worked for a while for the Huskies in their second meeting, but they let the Bobcats hang around, and then hang 35 in the third quarter en route to a 78-71 win.

“They’re such a dynamic team offensively,” Huskies coach Jamie Campbell said of BU.

“We didn’t feel we showed our best effort on the Friday and played much better on the Saturday. It was just 10 minutes, they scored 35 points, they’re making some shots and you’re going, ‘Whoa.’

“Our biggest thing is we gotta get in the lane but we gotta play with more patience and a little more … balanced. They get us off balance, we get going too quickly and that causes us to have live-ball turnovers. If you give live-ball turnovers to this Brandon team, they’re going to eat you alive in transition.”

In the past two seasons, Brandon won its playoff opener and lost the next game. The Huskies ended their season in 2022, albeit a very different, veteran lineup which went on to win a national silver medal.

Last year, the Bobcats beat the Fraser Valley Cascades in a track meet, then lost in triple-overtime to the Winnipeg Wesmen.

They know it’s important not to look past the first matchup, no matter how daunting a quarterfinal meeting with the No. 1-seed Victoria Vikes appears.

“It’s really just managing possessions,” Bhatti said. “We have to know every day is a new day. We’re going to play another team if we keep winning. Just gotta play smart, not waste too much energy.

“I think we should be fine because the last two weeks we’ve been working hard. Everybody knows we were on top of the world, we were at the lowest, so we know what it takes to get the win.”

In the other matchups, No. 7 Alberta plays Mount Royal today at 1 p.m., with the winner taking on No. 2 Calgary on Thursday.

No. 6 Regina draws Fraser Valley at 6 p.m., for a shot at the No. 3 Winnipeg Wesmen.

No. 5 UBC takes on the University of Northern British Columbia at 8 p.m., with the winner meeting the host Manitoba Bisons.

Quarterfinals start at the same time as the teams’ respective play-in games.

Friday is a rest day, with the semifinals on Saturday and medal games on Sunday.

BHATTI EARNS

ALL-STAR NOD

As fun as a small, high-powered offence is, it only works with special players elevating their game, figuratively and literally.

Anthony Tsegakele did it for three years to lead the Bobcats. Without him, Bhatti stepped up massively.

The third-year forward was named a Canada West second-team all-star on Tuesday.

Bhatti played all 20 regular-season games as Brandon went 12-8. He averaged 19.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, both top four in the 17-team conference.

He hit double-digits in points every game with at least seven rebounds with 11 double-doubles.

“It feels good to see the other players and coaches giving me my flowers, saying I’m a good player,” he said. “But honestly, it was just a team effort. Guys were helping me out. I look good because of the guys.”

He added, “Honestly, all-star is just a name, right? I’d rather be a champion than an all-star.”

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