UNBC’s Sunga named MBB Player of the Week; Jordan proud of bronze medal showing

To cap off an amazing playoff run, a UNBC men’s basketball player has been named Canada West Player of the Week.

Justin Sunga picked up the honour after recording 13 points and nine assists per contest throughout the conference championship.

MBB: Justin Sunga Named Canada West Men's Basketball Player of the Week.

Congrats Sun God! 🌞

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— UNBC Timberwolves (@UNBCATHLETICS) February 27, 2024

Timberwolves head coach Todd Jordan told MyPGNow.com his team had a quiet confidence in them the entire tournament.

“I mean, there is a lot of parity throughout the Canada West this year. I don’t think we felt like a 12 seed going in, we have had some quality wins throughout the year and played some high-level basketball. I don’t think from that perspective we were that huge of underdogs going in.”

“Seeing the guys peak at the right time and play at the highest level they did was huge. I was really proud with how we played.”

UNBC collected its first Canada West bronze medal after a 94-80 victory on Sunday against the Calgary Dinos.

The Timberwolves began the tournament with a pair of impressive victories against UBC and Manitoba before falling short in the semi-finals against the now three-time Canada West Champion Victoria Vikes.

UNBC went punch for punch with Victoria except the final five minutes where the defending champs pulled away. It took a 14-for-40 shooting effort from Diego Maffia to help sink the Timberwolves along with another 25 points from Elias Ralph.

“You know, he is high volume guy (Diego), he shoots a lot of shots and the game plan with him was to stick to the other guys help side a little bit and play him in single coverage as much as we could. We tried to live with it if he put up a big number but made sure he did it on a high volume and lower field goal percentage and I thought we did a good job in following the plan. The difference in the game was they were able to dominate the offensive glass against us.”

“Victoria is the number one rebounding team in Canada West and maybe even the country. We tried but we weren’t able to accomplish that task and that was the difference as they got a lot of second-shot opportunities. We had a lead with about five minutes left, right where we wanted to be but they are number one in the country for a reason.”

If you're wondering what sets the @UNBC Timberwolves supporters apart?

The Arrivals at @FlyYXS last night is all the proof you need.

A special reception for a special group. pic.twitter.com/xoNoAY472E

— UNBC Timberwolves (@UNBCATHLETICS) February 27, 2024

Jordan knew despite the setback against Victoria, his team would keep their poise heading into the bronze medal match against Calgary.

“We knew we left it all out there against Victoria and were disappointed in losing but I don’t think it crushed the guys by any means. Going into the next day, we knew we had so much support from the community after our first two games and I think the guys were pretty loose going in and understanding a lot of people would be tuning in. We wanted to take a bronze medal back to Prince George.”

As for how the bronze medal showing will impact recruiting, Jordan believes it could lead to more campus visits which would normally lean towards the bigger schools in the past.

“One of the biggest challenges in recruiting is getting those younger guys from the big centres to take the first look at and come up on a visit and really explore what our program is about and to not have preconceived notions about coming to a smaller program or school. Typically, once we get guys to visit, our program speaks for itself.”

MBB: UNBC Timberwolves Earn First Ever Canada West Medal After a 94-80 Bronze Medal Win Over Calgary.https://t.co/TuR3FONsIS

📸: Zachary Peters pic.twitter.com/1tEcoDSMxV

— UNBC Timberwolves (@UNBCATHLETICS) February 26, 2024