UBC men’s basketball has never lost a matchup with their ‘younger brother’ program, the UBCO Heat. Midway through the third quarter on Friday Nov. 28, that record felt less secure. Playing in the Furnace — UBCO’s home gym — in Kelowna, the Birds found themselves barely clinging to a one-point lead and were feeling the heat.
This slim margin was even more surprising given that, coming into the contest on Friday, these two squads were headed in different directions. While UBC had been on a roll, winning their last four conference games, the Heat had lost their last two in a row, sitting near the bottom of their division with a 3–7 record.
UBC was a heavy favourite in this game and sat near the top of their division with a 6–2 record, only trailing the second-ranked team in Canada, the University of Victoria Vikes by a half-game. With the race for the conference’s top playoff seed tightening, securing victories in games they should win is critical for the Thunderbirds.
Early on, it looked like the T-Birds would live up to expectations. UBC’s guards carried the majority of the offensive load in the first quarter. Forward Nylan Roberts was doing his thing, cashing in triples, while the point guard duo of veteran Holt Tomie and rookie Edouard Gauthier were dishing out dimes. However, despite being up nine with two and a half minutes to go in the opening quarter, a pair of quick turnovers allowed the Heat to finish the quarter down only three, 21–18. Half of the Heat’s 18 points came off UBC turnovers, something the T-Birds will need to fix going forward.
Heading into the second, both teams continued to play scrappy defence and force turnovers — trying to remain in the contest. This tight, defensive-oriented quarter would be indicative of the rest of the match — as UBC was held to its fewest points in a win this season. That was in part because the Heat did a good job of shutting down UBC’s top scorer, Nikola Guzina, holding him to just two points in the first half. The Birds, nonetheless, managed to pick up the slack elsewhere and maintained a seven-point lead heading into the third.
Despite the lead, the Birds came out in the third quarter flat. UBC’s offence looked rushed, as the unforced errors and turnovers that caused them problems in the first quarter came back. With these uncharacteristic mistakes, the T-Birds only managed to score one point in the first three minutes of the quarter. At the seven minute mark, UBC was barely clinging to a one point lead.
In the face of adversity, however, the Birds showed their poise and composure. Guzina broke his scoring drought by slicing in for a layup, and the lefty Roberts — doing his best James Harden impression — hit a stepback trey to bring UBC up six again. Putting an exclamation on a strong end-of-quarter run, in the final three minutes, Gauthier continued his hot form and scored three baskets to put UBC up by eight heading into the fourth quarter.
Despite the lead, the Thunderbirds were not nearly as comfortable as they would have liked to be. They were in a close game against a team they blew out by 30 points just a few weeks prior. This game was within reach for the Heat in the fourth.
To make matters worse, UBC missed their first opportunity to score in the quarter, turning the ball over on an offensive foul off the rebound. The Heat converted off this turnover and immediately scored, cutting the lead back down to six.
The tension at this point was palpable. UBCO’s star point guard, Jalen Shirley — who would finish with a 20-point game — was driving his team’s offence, giving the eager crowd hope that their team could finally overcome a seemingly insurmountable foe.
For the first half of the fourth quarter, UBCO continued to keep pace. The Birds were just barely holding the Heat off, as every time UBC scored, UBCO was able to respond with a bucket. That is, until around the halfway mark of the quarter. From there, Gauthier decided to shut down any possibility of a fourth quarter comeback from the Heat.
In little over a minute, Gauthier scored on every UBC possession, bringing the T-Birds’ lead from seven to 15 points. To top off this run, immediately after getting down court, Gauthier stole the ball and threw a three-quarter court dime to Guzina, whose layup put the Birds up 17 — effectively ending the game. From here, it was about walling up and playing good defence — and they did. Thanks to Gauther’s fourth-quarter offensive outburst, they walked away with a relatively comfortable 79–64 win.
Despite the large margin of victory, the ‘Birds didn’t play their sharpest basketball Friday night. There will certainly be things interim head coach Phil Jalalpoor will be looking to clean up in practice. However, UBC showed exactly what separates contenders from the rest of the pack: composure, depth and an ability to rise to the occasion, even when feeling the heat. The win was a reminder to the rest of the conference that the ‘Birds have more than what it takes to beat any opponent, even on an off night.
