In a busy Thursday, we have Tyler Murray at Wagner, Papa Oppong at Eastern Kentucky, Kai Williams at South Dakota State and as the cherry to the night we have Marc Trasolini's Santa Clara Broncos taking on the number 18 Gonzaga Bulldogs that feature the Canadian Quartet of Sacre, Arop, Olynyk and Kong. Find out what else is on tap right here ...
As always, we have highlighted the games we think you should check out during tonight's busy game sched. As always, check out the Can Ball Report on Twitter for any game links we may find. And also remember that Canada Basketball is still offering a discount on all merchandise purchased at the CB Store until the end of the month. Check it all out right here.
Feb 25 7:00pm Citadel @ Furman 7:00pm Elon @ Georgia Southern 7:00pm Western Kentucky @ Florida Atlantic 7:00pm Robert Morris @ Wagner – Wagner will not be participating in any post season events this year but Toronto guard Tyler Murray is playing well in the starting role. In the last five games Murray has played no less than 36 minutes a game, and has scored in double digits and had at least five assists in four. Though his team may not be ready to make a leap, Murray certainly is. 7:00pm Samford @ Western Carolina 7:30pm Long Island @ Central Connecticut State 7:30pm Tennessee-Martin @ Eastern Kentucky – this game is a must win for Eastern Kentucky. Like all games close to the end of the season, a win here will determine seeding in the conference tournament. Toronto’s Papa Oppong has been in funk of late but seemed to break out of it in the thumping of Winthrop a few days ago going for 14 points, three boards and one of everything else. Let’s hope that carries over in time for the conference tournament. 7:30pm Detroit @ Cleveland State 7:45pm Fairleigh Dickinson @ Sacred Heart 8:00pm Western Illinois @ South Dakota State – Regina’s Kai Williams must be the most underappreciated and underpublicized Canadian playing in the NCAA. For two years Williams toiled anonymously as the workhorse for the Jackrabbits with little help. When he finally got help last season, his numbers dropped and his playing time began to fluctuate. This season began in a similar fashion but settled towards the last few weeks. Since the New Year, Williams has been providing SDSU with an extra scorer and rebounder when needed. With his career winding down, we should take the time to watch his next few games. 8:05pm Boise State @ Louisiana Tech 8:15pm Mercer @ Belmont 8:30pm North Dakota @ Chicago State 8:30pm Hannibal-LaGrange @ SIU-Edwardsville 9:00pm Oral Roberts @ Southern Utah 10:00pm San Francisco @ Portland 10:30pm Oregon @ USC 11:00pm Santa Clara @ (18) Gonzaga – here we have not only a battle of conference foes, but of Canadian bigs. I’m not sure how they will match up but you can expect at some point that Rob Sacre and/or Kelly Olynyk will be guarding Marc Trasolini during this game. It will be a post battle of BC’s native sons with Trasolini a sweet shooting big and Sacre the inside bruiser. If Olynyk takes up the challenge, then Traz will likely go low and Olynyk as the outside guy. This match will be interesting to watch for sure and since standings will only to the Zags for this game, this will be a must win for them. 12:05am Utah State @ Hawaii