The York Lions men's basketball team is back on home court and will host both of their city rivals this weekend when the welcome the Toronto Varsity Blues and the Ryerson Rams to the Tait McKenzie Centre. The game against the Varsity Blues on Friday marks the return of York's popular Subway Series for the first home date in the promotion's history. Admission for York students is free and all attendees will receive free food, a promotional gift, and a TTC token. Students MUST sign up at yorkulions.ca/subwayseries before Friday Jan. 11 at 6am in order to attend. 
 
The Match-ups: York (5-7) vs. Toronto (4-8) and No. 2 Ryerson (11-1)
 
Game Details
Toronto – Friday, Jan. 11 @ 8pm, OUA.tv
Ryerson – Saturday, Jan. 12 @ 8pm, OUA.tv
 
Home/Away Records
York – 1-4 at home
Toronto – 2-4 on the road
Ryerson – 5-0 on the road
 
Current Streak
York – Lost 1
Toronto – Lost 2
Ryerson – Won 1
 
Last Meetings
The Lions dropped both games to Toronto last season by scores of 73-56 and 80-75 and enter Friday's matchup on a three-game losing streak against the Blues. Their last victory came in the 2016-17 season when they won at home by a score of 79-68.
 
Ryerson has emerged as one of the dominant teams in the OUA over the last decade and although they've played some close games, the Lions haven't picked up a victory over their city rivals since the 2010-11 season. The Rams won by scores of 83-70 and 88-71 last season.
 
QUICK FACTS
 
York

• The Lions return home this weekend after playing their last five games on the road.
• With five wins on the season the Lions have already bested their total from last season and are a much-improved team. They have managed to avoid any prolonged losing streaks so far on the year, with a three-game slide in November being their longest.
• York is first overall in the OUA in field goal attempts per game (71.4) and rank fifth in field goal percentage (44.0)
• The Lions continue to do a good job getting to the free throw line and are ranked second in free throw attempts (22.8) and third in free throws made (15.1) in the OUA.
• Entering Friday's game, the Lions are in sixth-place in the tough OUA East Division, two points ahead of the Blues and ten points behind the Rams.

 Toronto

• The Blues started their season with three wins in their first five games but have since lost six of their last seven.
• Toronto played well in a pair of tough matchups last weekend, losing 77-71 to No. 7 Ottawa and 70-68 to Carleton, number one ranked team in the country.
• The Blues rank 13^th in the OUA in points per game with 73.4 and 12^th in points allowed per game with 83.5.

 Ryerson

• The No. 2 ranked Rams lone loss on the season came last weekend, a 76-69 loss at home to the No. 1 Carleton Ravens. They rebounded the next night to blowout the No. 7 Ottawa Gee-Gee's by a score of 89-58.  
• Ryerson won their first ten games prior to the loss to Carleton, with their smallest margin of victory being nine points.
• The Rams are the highest scoring team in the OUA, averaging 88.7 points per game. They also rank first in total rebounds per game (45.0) and blocks per game (6.4).
• Ryerson has also played well defensively this season, allowing a league-low 29.8 opponents field goal percentage.

 PLAYERS TO WATCH
 
York
 
G/F Gianmarco Luciani – After missing the first five games of the season, Luciani has stepped back into a scoring role with the Lions, averaging 17.4 points per game in his last five games. He also leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per game.
 
F Nana Adu-Poku – The fifth-year senior has seen an increased role of late averaging 24.4 minutes per game in his last five and has responded well, averaging 10.0 points per game while shooting 55.5 percent from the field during that stretch.     
 
Toronto
 
F Evan Shadkami – Sophomore guard leads the Blues with 15.5 points per game and has been dangerous from behind the arc shooting 38.8 percent from three-point land.  
 
F Nikola Paradina – Averaging career-highs in minutes (25.5), points (10.3), and rebounds (6.7) per game in his fourth season in the OUA.     
 
Ryerson
 
G JV Mukama – The fifth-year guard is averaging a career-high 18.9 points per game, nine points more than his career average. He's also averaging a team-leading 7.7 rebounds per game along with 3.7 assists per game.     
 
G Myles Charvis – Has led the team in scoring their last two games, with 23 points against Carleton and 17 against Ottawa. Averaging 15.3 points on the season and a team-leading 4.8 assists per game.