Chris McLaughlin is starting to have a big impact for the University of Victoria Vikes men's basketball team.
Literally. The 6-foot-10 centre is coming into his own as he begins his third season at UVic since moving west from his hometown of Oakville, Ont. And the Vikes expect even bigger things from the team's tallest player. Their famed Princeton offence is counting on it.
"We do play that Princeton or four-out, one-in offence that suits my game now, so that's really benefiting my game," said McLaughlin, who is coming off a career-best 22-point, seven-rebound performance in last Saturday's victory over Fraser Valley in Abbotsford.
"And I'm fortunate we can put four other guys out there who are fast, athletic and great shooters so our offence is really starting to click now."
McLaughlin's 10.5-pointsper-game average trails just Terrell Evans's 16.3 and Michael Acheampong's 14.3 as the Vikes get set to put their perfect 4-0 record on the line this weekend in a double-header against Trinity Western at McKinnon Gym tonight and Saturday.
McLaughlin's field-goal percentage of .680 is tops on the Vikes and third best in Canada West. He has made 17 of his 25 shots, and even drained a key three-pointer against the Cascades on Saturday.
"Yah, I've always been a pretty good shooter and like to drop back and hit a few long ones every now and then," McLaughlin said, laughing.
But it's McLaughlin's inside play that has his coach smiling these days. He leads the team with six rebounds a game and has helped the Vikes' defence climb to the No. 1 ranking in Canada West.
"Chris has improved a lot this year and is getting better the more playing time he gets," Vikes coach Craig Beaucamp said. "He really stepped up on the weekend when he had to play a lot of minutes."
Now McLaughlin, who is studying earth sciences at UVic, and the Vikes turn their attention to the 1-3 Spartans, who are coming off splitting their two games against the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George. Trinity also brings the fifth-best offence (85-points-per-game average) in Canada West to Victoria, thanks mainly to Mark Perrin's 21 points per game.
"They're probably disappointed they didn't win both on the weekend, so we expect them to be pumped up [tonight], so we're not taking them lightly," McLaughlin said.
The Vikes' two victories on the weekend also moved them into the Canadian Interuniversity Sport top 10 rankings. They sit in 10th spot. UBC is No. 1, while Fraser Valley sits eighth.
The Vikes women's team looks to bounce back from a pair of losses over the weekend as they get set to play two games against Trinity Western.
Dani Sinclair's team has a 2-2 record, as do the Spartans.
The Vikes are being led by Claremont grad Jessica Renfrew, who is averaging 14 points per game.
The women's game goes at 6 tonight, followed by the men at 8. Saturday's games start at 5 and 7 p.m.
