Top four teams in Canada converge on Carleton this weekend for Wilson Cup

BURLINGTON, Ont. – The Ravens' Nest on the campus of Carleton University will serve as host to the OUA Wilson Cup Final Four this weekend.

The semifinal round will commence Friday with the No. 4 seeded Brock Badgers taking on the host No. 1 Carleton Ravens at 5:00 pm, followed by the No. 3 Ryerson Rams and No. 2 uOttawa Gee-Gees at 8:00 pm.  The winners of each matchup will face off for the Wilson Cup in the gold medal game the following day at 7:00 p.m., which will be preceded by the bronze medal game at 5:00 p.m.

Tickets for the event are now available here.  If you can't make it to the Ravens' Nest this weekend, fans can catch all the action streaming live on OUA.tv

Fans can also watch Friday's semifinal between Brock and Carleton locally in the Ottawa region on RogersTV Cable 22, while those in Toronto looking for Ryeron-uOttawa can watch live on Rogers TV Cable 10 and 63. 

Saturday's bronze and gold medal games will both air live locally on Rogers TV in the local Toronto and Ottawa areas. 

All four games this weekend can also be found on the Super Sports Pack (Channel 441), while the Rams versus Gee-Gees semifinal game will be joined in progress on SSP Preview (Channel 368) following the UFC weigh-ins.  

No. 4 Brock Badgers vs. No. 1 Carleton Ravens

In search of their first Wilson Cup title since 1992, the No. 4 nationally ranked Brock Badgers will make the trip to the nation's capital for a showdown with the six-time defending national champions and No. 1 ranked Carleton Ravens.

While the Badgers have claimed #WeAreReady all season long, they'll need to prove it on Friday as the face their toughest task of the season to date.

The Badgers have one of the best one-two punches in Ontario in former OUA Rookie of the Year award winners Dani Elgadi (Waterloo, Ont.) and Johneil Simpson (Toronto, Ont.).  In their quarter-final matchup against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, Elgadi and Simpson, each had a game-high 18 points in the Badgers' 80-59 victory. 

Elgadi, who was recently named an OUA first team all-star for second straight season, was the only player in OUA this season to finish averaging a double-double after scoring 14.7 points and grabbing 10.3 rebounds per game.  In addition to his 18 points, Elgadi filled up the box score with 15 rebounds, five assists and four blocks.

After starting the first nine games of the season, Simpson provides some much need energy coming off the bench for the Badgers and ranks in the top 20 with a 46.6 field goal percentage.  Going up against one of the deepest teams in the country, Simpson will need to play a major role if Brock is to think about upsetting the Ravens at home.   

Coming off an undefeated 19-0 regular season that saw them dominate almost every aspect of the game, Carleton soars into Friday evening's game with their sights set on their second Wilson Cup in the past three seasons.

Head coach Dave Smart was back behind the bench this season and to absolutely no one's surprise Carleton was once again the best defensive team in the league, limiting the opposition to just 55.2 points per game.  Not only that but Carleton also held their opponents to league-lows in both field goal (34.4) and three-point percentage (27.7).

But not only can Carleton play shutdown defence, but high flying Ravens can score (and score in a hurry).  They averaged 92 points per game, the highest total in OUA thanks in large part to shooting a staggering 50.1 percent from the field.

As one of the best three-point shooters in the country, fifth-year Ravens guard Connor Wood (Guelph, Ont.) has game breaking-potential.  Shooting 50 percent from downtown this season, Wood, who was recently named OUA Player of the Year, led the conference with 76 made three-pointers and finished tied for fourth overall averaging 19.2 points per game.

From one Ravens veteran to another Kaza Kajami-Keane (Ajax, Ont.) finished first in OUA with 99 assists during the regular season and second on the Ravens behind Wood with 15.5 points per game.

The Ravens made quick work of the visiting Marauders in the quarter-finals, thumping McMaster 89-50.  Wood had a game high 17 points, followed closely by Kajami-Keane.  Carleton showed their depth in the game as five Ravens players scored 10 points or more.

In their first and only meeting at the Ravens' Nest earlier this season, the Ravens defeated the Badgers 80-68.  Despite a game-high 18 points from Simpson, the Badgers struggled to get Elgadi going as he finished with eight points and three rebounds in just 15 minutes of action.  Kajami-Keane had a team-high 16 points in the win for the Ravens.

This will be the second straight season Brock will make the trip to Ottawa for the playoffs after facing Carleton in the quarter-finals last year.  However, the Badgers surely hope things go better this time around as Wood dropped a game-high 37 points in a 90-52 Ravens victory.

The winner will advance to the Saturday's gold medal game and earn a berth to the U SPORTS national championship.

No. 3 Ryerson Rams vs. No. 2 Ottawa Gee-Gees

Two of the last three Wilson Cup champions will meet Friday night as the No. 3 seeded Ryerson Rams take on the No. 2 uOttawa Gee-Gees with a berth in the finals on the line.

Coming off their first OUA championship in school history, the Rams are looking to go back-to-back for the first time since Carleton repeated as OUA champions in 2012 and 2013. 

Only the Ravens scored more points this year than the Rams, who averaged 88.7 points per game.  A major reason for the Rams success this season was their sustained shooting from downtown as 35 points per game came from beyond the arc.

Leading the Rams' Wilson Cup defence this season were OUA first-team all-stars Adika Peter-McNeilly (Scarborough, Ont.) and Ammanuel Diressa (Toronto, Ont.).  Peter-McNeilly led the Rams with 19.2 points per game, followed closely by Diressa with 19.0 points per game.  While the Gee-Ges are a fairly disciplined team, they'll want to avoid sending either player to the line as Peter-McNeilly and Diressa ranked first and third, respectively, in free throw percentage during the regular season.

After an opening round bye, the Rams defeated the visiting Nipissing Lakers 87-62 in the quarter-finals.  Diressa had a game high 22 points for Ryerson, while Peter-McNeilly just missed out on a triple-double with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.  He also had four steals and a block in 32 minutes of action in the final game of his career at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Looking to hoist the Wilson Cup for the first time since 2014, the Gee-Gees and their fans will invade the rival Ravens' Nest on Friday in what will likely seem like a home game.

uOttawa was one of most balanced teams in not only the conference but the country this season, after they averaged almost 79 points on offence, while limiting the opposition to just 63.7 points.  It should come as no surprise that the Gee-Gees were one of the top defensive teams in OUA as they also finished in the top five in both blocks (2.9) and steals (8.1) per game.

A major reason for the Gee-Gees success defensively this year has been the strong play of fifth-year senior Caleb Adaga (Burlington, Ont.), who was recently named the OUA Defensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive season. 

After missing time over the final three games with an injury, a healthy Agada returned to the lineup on Saturday and played 27 minutes, recording 16 points to go along with eight rebounds, six assists and two steals in a 93-81 victory over the visiting Laurentian Voyageurs.

The Gee-Gees roster received a boost this year at the expense of the rival Ravens as Jean Emmanuel Pierre-Charles (Ottawa, Ont.), who played previously with Carleton, transferred to uOttawa last season.  Pierre-Charles was a welcomed addition as he finishing fifth in field goal percentage (54.1) and sixth in the OUA, averaging 8.7 rebounds per game.  One of the best big men and rim protectors in the game, the Ottawa, Ont. native had a game high 5 blocks in the Gee-Gees quarter-final win.

Ryerson and Ottawa are more than familiar with each other as the teams squared off in Ottawa just two weeks ago in the regular season finale.  Forty minutes wasn't enough time to decide a winner as the Rams prevailed in overtime 94-88.  With Agada on the bench for much of the game, as he's done all season long, Peter-McNeilly was a force to be reckoned with for the Rams, finishing with a game-high 32 points in the win.

The Gee-Gees are hoping to break a two-game losing streak to the Rams with their last victory against Ryerson coming back on March 14, 2015 at the U SPORTS (formerly CIS) Final 8.