Another pair of interesting games this evening as in the “Q”, McGill Redmen (1-0) travel across town in Montreal to meet UQAM Citadins also 1-0 while AUS action sees St. FX (2-2) travel to Dalhousie (3-1) in a four-point game.
McGill (1-0) at UQAM (1-0)… Both teams held on for tight victories in their RSEQ openers as Redmen outlasted Laval at home while Citadins won a tough road match at Bishop’s. McGill will be without two starters and their sixth man this evening as 6’2″ Dele Ogundukun, 6’7″ Francois Bourque, 6’5″ Michael Peterkin and 6’9″ Sebastien Beckett are in Qatar representing Canada at a World 3 on 3 event. Citadins have one of the better returning players in the conference in 6’2″ Greishe Clerjuste who has taken over much of the key offensive decision making for UQAM this season. Clerjuste had a quiet second half at Bishop’s until he knocked down a big three down the stretch and the lefty remains one of the best players in the conference. 6’0″ Charles Miller is one of the top perimeter shooters in the conference while 6’4″ Christian Kadima provides a veteran presence on the wing. UQAM has a pair of very capable five men that share time with 6’10” rim-protector Yassin Debache and burly 6’8″ Rudy Caufriez. This will be the second instance this season during which McGill will not have their four players – last time was in late October when the group captured the FIBA World 3 on 3 championship in China – and the Redmen were able to squeeze out a pair of home wins with a make-shift lineup. Expect McGill to complement starting 6’1″ freshman Kendrick Jolin‘s minutes with another freshman: 6’2″ Greg Trahan who provided impressive minutes in the second half against Laval as well as emerging 6’2″ sophomore combo guard Isaiah Cummins. Veterans 6’1″ Jenning Leung and 6’9″ Noah Daoust are both expected to log major minutes in the absence of their rotation mates. 6’5″ Daniel Pieper was also key off the bench last week vs. Laval. Game time is 8 PM ET.
St. FX (2-2) at Dalhousie (3-1)… Tigers are very tough at home as Dal again showed last week in a pasting of Saint Mary’s while X comes off a sluggish effort this past Sunday afternoon as they were soundly defeated by Memorial. Dal, consistently beaten down the floor in transition in their only loss of the season at Saint Mary’s last Wednesday night, cleaned things up in the rematch and their transition “d” will have to be tight against the X-Men who love to get up and down the floor. X struggled to defend the dribble and rebound against Memorial so the ability of 6’0″ Davonte Provo and 6’2″ Akil Charles to control the dribble tonight will be key. The match-ups in the paint between X’s 6’7″ Kevin Bercy and 6’7″ Cameron Walker and Dal’s veteran pairing of 6’9″ Ryall Stroud and 6’3″ Kash Lawrence could be game-defining. Stroud and Lawrence dominated against Saint Mary’s. Game time is 7 PM ET/8 PM AT.
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