Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – With plenty of positive takeaways to build off of from their series at Winnipeg last weekend, the Griffins are trending up as they head into the stretch drive of the Canada West men's basketball season.

Now, it's just about cleaning up some of the errors that are holding them back.

"The Winnipeg games, we did a lot of good things, but when we did bad things, it was so bad," said MacEwan head coach Mike Connolly. "They were mistakes at this level that shouldn't be made. So, that's what hurt us. When I looked at the film, when you count it up, we did way more good things than bad things. It's just the bad things cost us big time. 

"We've worked on it all week trying to cut down silly turnovers and work on things so we can make calculated risks, not just make risks. That will help ball security. I think if we can do that we'll be in a good situation."

The Griffins (0-16) will head to Kelowna, B.C. this weekend to face the UBC Okanagan Heat (4-12) on Friday (8 p.m. MT) and Saturday (7 p.m. MT, both Canada West TV).

MacEwan will be without a couple starters but will still have a solid chance at success if they compete.

"We're without two starters, so the young guys will get some minutes," said Connolly. "It's about going in there and competing. They play hard, they're a physical team and we have to defend. If we can defend and compete with them on the boards, we have an opportunity because I think we can get out and run, I think we can execute and score. 

"It's going to be a matter of keeping our focus for 40 minutes and having to grind it through."

UBCO is coming in off a solid game against UBC last Saturday when they lost by just four points.

"They're a little older team, they're a little more physical team," said Connolly. "We're going to have to deal with. Not that we can't do that, but it the mental capacity to keep persevering on everything for the 40 minutes will be a key."