The York University Lions men's basketball team will host two of their OUA East rivals, the Laurentian Voyageurs and Nipissing Lakers, this weekend at the Tait McKenzie Centre. Friday's game against the Voyageurs is the Lions School Day Game in which elementary and high school students from around the York community will be attending the game in what should be a large and enthusiastic crowd full of young Lions supporters.
 
The Match-ups: York (5-11) vs. Laurentian (8-8) and Nipissing (2-14)
 
Game Details
Laurentian – Friday, Jan. 25 @ 1pm, OUA.tv
Nipissing – Saturday, Jan. 26 @ 8pm, OUA.tv
 
Home/Away Records
York – 1-6 at home
Laurentian – 2-4 on the road
Nipissing – 0-7 on the road
 
Current Streak
York – Lost 5
Laurentian – Won 1
Nipissing – Lost 6
 
Last Meetings
York and Laurentian faced each other on Jan. 5 and the Voyageurs picked up a 111-80 victory on their home court. The Lions last victory over the Voyageurs came by way of an 83-66 victory in the 2014-15 season.
 
The Lions and Lakers met on Jan. 4 in their first games of 2019 with the Lions picking up a 73-64 victory. Balanced scoring led the Lions to victory in that game, as all five starters reached double figures in points.
 
QUICK FACTS
 
York

• Following the Lions victory over the Lakers on Jan. 4 they've lost five games in a row, with their last three losses coming against three of the top-six teams in the country (No. 1 Carleton, No. 2 Ryerson and No. 6 Ottawa).
• The Lions offense sits in the middle of the pack in the OUA, ranking ninth in points per game (79.0) and seventh in field goal percentage (41.9%).
• York has defended their basket well in close this season and rank second in the OUA in blocks per game (4.9).
• York comes into the weekend in seventh-place in the tough OUA East Division, four points behind the Toronto Varsity Blues for the last playoff spot.
• Following this weekend's games, the Lions have five more games on their regular season schedule, with their last two home games of the year coming on the weekend of Feb. 8-9 against Carleton and Ottawa.

 
Laurentian

• Laurentian is coming off a thrilling 95-94 victory on the road against Toronto last weekend.  
• The Voyageurs are ranked second in the OUA in three-point percentage, draining 34.9 percent of their shots from beyond the arc this season.
• Laurentian is the fourth-highest scoring team in the OUA this season, averaging 84.3 points per game.  
• Defence has been an issue for the Voyageurs this season. They've allowed their opponents to shoot 45.6 percent from the field, which ranks 16^th out of 17 teams in the OUA.

 Nipissing

• Nipissing has yet to win a game in 2019, dropping their last six contests after beating Windsor in their last game of 2018.  
• The Lakers have been one of the top teams from the charity stripe this season and rank third in the OUA in free throw percentage (73%).
• Despite their record, the Lakers have held their own defensively and rank eighth in the OUA in points per game allowed (81.0).
• The Lakers will be in Kingston, Ont., on Friday night to face the Queen's Gaels before playing the Lions on Saturday.

 PLAYERS TO WATCH
 
York
 
G Prince Kamunga – Leads the Lions with a 41.9 three-point percentage. Is having an impressive sophomore season averaging 9.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in 21.5 minutes per game.
 
G/F Gianmarco Luciani – Averaging a career-high 12.8 points per game and leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game. Also had a team-high 17 points in last week's loss to the Ottawa Gee-Gees.  
 
Laurentian
 
G Kadre Gray – One of the premier scorers in U SPORTS, leads the OUA with 30.2 points per game this season. Also ranks first in the league with 7.1 assists per game and is tied for 14^th with 6.8 rebounds per game.
 
G Anthony Iacoe – Second on the team with 10.8 points per game and is averaging 3.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in his fifth year with the Voyageurs.     
 
Nipissing
 
G Marcus Lewis – Senior guard leads the Lakers in scoring with 18.1 points per game and rebounding with 7.3 rebounds per game.  
 
C Marvin Ngonadi – Shooting a team-leading 50% from the field this season while averaging 8.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.