AUS Basketball Championships Preview: Who will be left standing on Sunday?

X-Men, Huskies look to defend AUS basketball crowns

Halifax, N.S. – If the 2023-24 AUS men’s basketball regular season was any indicator, the AUS Championship will be anyone’s game.

Just six points separated the first place, and defending champion, STFX X-Men (12-8) and the sixth-seeded UPEI Panthers (9-11) when the curtain dropped on the regular season. So, finding a team to put a loonie on at this weekend’s AUS Basketball Championship, being hosted at the Scotiabank Centre Feb. 23-25, will be tough.

STFX stumbled a bit at the end of the season, going just 5-5 in their final 10 games of the season. The loss of Deon Ejim to injury certainly didn’t help matters, but the X-Men lineup is still stacked with talent and experience.

Fourth-year veteran Dondre Reddick helped the X-Men to the AUS title and a U SPORTS silver medal last season and knows what it takes to get the job done at this time of the year.

Bennett Grumbach scored 20 or more points in his final three regular season games and could be a dark horse for tournament MVP honours if STFX goes all the way.

The Dalhousie Tigers saw their three-year reign as AUS champs come to an end last season, so they have their sights set on returning to the top of the mountain in 2024.

They are led by scoring machine Malcolm Christie, who finished second in the league in points per game (22.1). Christie’s season included a 51-point night, so the crowd at Scotiabank Centre this weekend could be in for a treat when he takes the court.

Directing traffic for the Tigers is veteran Sam Maillet. The guard does a bit of everything for Dal, averaging 8.7 points, 6.6 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game.

After a pair of losses to non-playoff team Cape Breton near the end of the season, Dal rebounded with a resounding 100-79 victory over STFX to close out the regular season.

By finishing in first and second place, the X-Men and Dalhousie Tigers (11-9) will sit out Friday night’s quarterfinal round, which will feature the following games:

Men''s Championship Quarterfinal #1
No. 5 Memorial vs No. 4 UNB
Friday, Feb. 23, 3pm tip-off

Both teams finished the regular season with 10-10 records, and to make things even more murky, they went 2-2 against each other during their season series.

UNB earned the higher seed due to their points for and against during their four games with the Sea-Hawks.

Memorial is led by the duo of Flynn Boardman-Raffet (18.4ppg) and Emanuel Ring (17.8ppg), who finished fifth and sixth in league scoring, respectively.

If the Sea-Hawks are going to win their first AUS title, they’ll need big performances from the pair on three-straight nights.

UNB spreads their scoring around a little more with four players averaging double digit points per game this season – led by Marcus Barnes’ 17.1 points per game average.

Where UNB really shines is on the defensive end of the floor, where they allowed opponents to average 78.5 points per game – third best in the AUS behind only Dalhousie (78.4) and UPEI (77.9). Anchoring the defense is Javordo Mitchell, who will make teams think twice about going to the basket as he led the AUS in blocked shots, averaging three per game this year.

The Reds last tasted AUS glory back in 2017-18 when they broke up Dalhousie’s quest for four-straight titles.

Quarterfinal #2
No. 6 UPEI Panthers vs No. 3 SMU Huskies
Friday, Feb. 23, 8:30pm tip-off.

The Huskies enter the tournament as the hottest team in the league, going 7-3 in their final 10 games of the season. More impressively is where they had to come from to finish in third place.

At the holiday break, the Huskies were dead last in the standings at just 2-6. When play returned in January, SMU rattled off seven consecutive wins – knocking off Dalhousie twice and STFX once along the way.

Leading the charge for the Huskies is Jayrell Diggs, who averaged 17.8 points per game, and Marc-Denault Gabriel, who averaged 15 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.

Saint Mary’s last won an AUS title a decade ago. Will the 10-year anniversary of their last banner spark enough good vibes to win it all this time around?

The Panthers hovered around the .500 mark for most of the season until a five-game losing streak in the second half threatened their post-season chances. UPEI figured it out and won their final three games to earn the final ticket to Halifax.

Kamari Scott has had a fantastic season on the island, averaging just under 20 points and eight rebounds per game. Veteran Jace Colley has the ability to score in bunches and will be counted on to help Scott with the heavy lifting.

UPEI’s last title came back in the 2002-03 season, so could the Panthers be this year’s Cinderella story?

In their head-to-head matchups this season, SMU went 2-0.

On the women’s side, the defending champs from Saint Mary’s come into the event as the clearcut favourites after going a loop-topping 17-3 this season.

The Huskies are a veteran-laden team that does not make a lot of mistakes. The guard trio of Alaina McMillan, Courtney Donaldson and Clara Gascoigne are about as good as any in the country.

Both McMillan and Donaldson average over 15 points per game, while Gascoigne earns her living on the defensive side of the ball - recording 28 steals and 28 blocks this season.

SMU showed no signs of slowing down as the season progressed as they won their last nine games of the regular season.

The UNB Reds finished not too far behind at 15-5 to grab the other first-round bye through to Saturday’s semifinal round.

UNB is led by Jayda Veinot, who simply does it all - scores, rebounds, moves the ball. The fifth-year wing finished second in the conference in scoring, pouring in just over 21 points per night.

Veinot also knows what it takes to win, as she scored 27 points to help Acadia win the AUS crown in the 2018-19 season.

As a team, the Reds finished second in the AUS in points per game (78.2) and points allowed per game (65.8).

Of their five losses, three of them came in the final two weeks of the regular season, so the extra rest Friday night might be a good thing for UNB.

Both UNB and SMU will await the winners of Friday’s quarterfinal matchups, which will feature:

Women's Championship Quarterfinal #1
No. 5 STFX vs No. 4 UPEI
Friday, Feb. 23, 1pm

The STFX X-Women and UPEI Panthers will kick off this year’s championship tournament.

On paper, the matchup should lean in favour of the Panthers, who went 4-0 against the X-Women during the regular season. However, the last two games were decided by three and two points, respectively.

With two-time First Team All-Star Lauren Rainford, the Panthers went 10-10 to finish fourth in the standings. Rainford averaged 14.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and three assists per game this year.

On offence, the X-Women (9-11) are led by Ekaterina Karchevskaya. She averaged just over 13 points per game this season and will be relied upon to lead her team to a berth in the semifinals.

Rainford was on the court the last time the Panthers captured the AUS title in 2019-20. As a rookie, she scored 13 points in the title game as UPEI bested Acadia 78-59, so expect her to sharing stories about how good it felt to raise that championship banner.

STFX last won the AUS title back in 1996-97.

The Panthers defense has been one of the most stingiest in the conference, allowing just 65.2 points per game. STFX allowed an even stingier 64 points per game, so expect a tight battle on Friday afternoon.

Quarterfinal #2
No. 3 Acadia vs No. 6 Memorial
Friday, Feb. 23, 6:30pm

You have to go all the way back to November to see when these teams last played, and when they did, a split occurred.

Since then, the teams have gone in slightly different directions. Acadia went 8-4 the rest of the season, while the Sea-Hawks went 6-6.

Acadia is led by Elizabeth Iseyemi, who had a dominant season in the garnet and blue. The fourth-year forward scored 22 points per game to lead the AUS, and hauled down 11.3 rebounds per contest this season as her Axewomen went 13-7.

She will look to help the Axewomen claim their first AUS title since 2018-19.

In that title game back in 2019, Memorial’s Alana Short had to watch as Acadia celebrated their 84-74 championship win over her Sea-Hawks.

The very next season, Short had to watch again as Acadia defeated them in the playoffs – this time in the semifinals. To say the fifth-year veteran would be looking for a bit of redemption might be an understatement.

Short led the Sea-Hawks, and finished third in the league, in scoring as she averaged just under 20 points per game.

Memorial’s last title came back in the 2007-08 season.