Wesmen OK with playing underdog role

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This article was published 12/02/2019 (2482 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Winnipeg’s men’s and women’s basketball teams face daunting tasks this weekend, and they couldn’t be happier.

Both squads will have to defeat the No. 1-ranked team in a best-of-three series to advance to the Canada West Final Four.

The Wesmen’s young men’s squad have a date with the undefeated Calgary Dinos, who also happen to be the defending national champions, while the Winnipeg women will face a familiar foe, the 16-4 Saskatchewan Huskies, who beat them in this past year’s quarter-final in three games.

While both Wesmen teams find themselves in similar positions, the way they got there was quite different. The No. 8-ranked men’s team advanced to the second round of the Canada West playoffs this past Thursday, as they took down their crosstown rival, the No. 9-ranked Manitoba Bisons, 92-77 at the Duckworth Centre. But to the surprise of, well, everyone, the No. 12-ranked Wesmen ladies also advanced to the second round, as they defeated the heavily favoured UBC Thunderbirds, the fifth-seeded team in the conference, in a thrilling 67-64 victory in Vancouver on Saturday.

It was one of the biggest upsets in conference history, as it was the first time since the 2007-08 season that a team with a sub-.500 record eliminated a team with a plus-.500 record in playoff action. The Wesmen women were 8-12 during the regular season, while UBC had a 14-6 record.

“Definitely, this is right up there,” said Tanya McKay, who’s in her 23rd season as head coach of the Wesmen, when asked if this is one of the biggest upsets in her coaching career. “A 12 versus a five, nobody expected it, and I credit my kids. They followed the game plan to a T, played with a lot of courage and bravery, and just went at them.”

With the Wesmen’s Faith Hezekiah, the conference’s leading scorer with an average of 23.8 points per game, fouled out with seven minutes to go against UBC, McKay needed the team’s supporting cast to step up — and that’s exactly what they did. California native Farrah Castillo led the Wesmen with 20 points, while fourth-year veteran Lena Wenke, a product of Goettingen, Germany, added 16.

“Honestly, I knew going into UBC we had the chance to beat them,” Wenke said before Tuesday’s practice at the Duckworth Centre. “I really wanted it, that was the main thing for me. I wanted to get that win on the road and move on to the next round.”

But Wenke and her teammates aren’t satisfied with shocking the conference just once. They want to do it again, and believe they can.

“We believe in ourselves. It’s always good to be the underdog, no one expects us to win, and if we go out there and play as a team like we did on Saturday, I think we can pull it off,” Wenke said.

The Wesmen men share a similar confidence heading into their series as underdogs, led by third-year point guard Narcisse Ambanza, a Toronto native who dropped a playoff career-high 36 points in the victory over the Bisons.

“For me, personally, coming into this series, regardless of the rankings, I’m expecting us to win,” said Ambanza, who was named the Canada West second star of the week for his strong performance in Round 1.

Men’s coach Mike Raimbault, who’s been in charge for nine seasons and has led the program to the playoffs for seven straight seasons, knows they have their work cut out for them, as the Dinos average 88 points per game, while holding their opponents to 66.

“First, we’ve got to take it a game at a time,” said Raimbault.

“We’ve got to spend the next couple days preparing to play our best game. We definitely have to go in there with some confidence and be ready to attack them as much as they’re going to come at us.”

The men tip off their series in Calgary on Friday, while the women’s squad will begin their series in Saskatoon on Thursday.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca