By Andrew Papadopoulos

The Windsor Lancer men's basketball team are getting set to take on the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the nation's capital on Wednesday March 1st with a tip-off time scheduled at 7:00pm from Montpetit Hall in Ottawa. 
 
The blue and gold defeated the Guelph Gryphons 93-74 on Saturday February 25th at the Toldo Lancer Centre to move out of the quarter final bracket of the Wilson Cup playoffs and now advance into the semi-final showdown with the 3rd ranked nationally Gee-Gees.  The Lancers head into the marquee matchup as the visiting team being currently ranked 6th in the country.
 
Lancers head coach Chris Cheng was pleased with his team's overall performance at home this past Saturday at the TLC and thinks that his team certainly has momentous aspects that can be carried over moving forward into the upcoming semi-final showdown with Ottawa.
 
"For most part of the game (against Guelph), the team executed the adjustments and our game plan." Cheng stated when asked on how he would sum up his team's efforts during their recent quarter-final outing with a convincing home win over Guelph that eliminated the Gryphons.
 
"We learned a lot from our two games against them during the regular season, particularly our last game. Adjustments are the name of the game at this point of the season. The team that can make the right adjustments and at the appropriate time, will put their team in the best position to win all the while still doing what we have been doing best all season."
 
Meanwhile on the other side of this incoming court clash, Ottawa defeated the TMU Bold to qualify for the final four and the right to host another showdown with the Lancers who will need to journey back to Ottawa again for the second time this season. 
 
Both squads faced each other in the familiar territory earlier in the season back on November 26th where the Gee-Gees won 74-66 over the visiting Lancers in Ottawa. 
 
Coach Cheng believes that this time around things will shape up differently heading into this do-or-die contest that has an OUA Wilson Cup finals appearance and U SPORTS nationals berth on the line that will be clinched by the winner of this match up. 
 
"We are much different team since we last played them." Cheng asserted who has been at the helm of the program since coming to Windsor and taking over the MBB leadership reins in 2019. 
 
"Our rotations are different for example. We know that Ottawa is a very good team. They play well at both ends. We must defend the ball well by keeping them out of the paint, rebound a ton, and shoot well. We need to be the aggressors for 40 minutes of play. "
 
The Lancers will look to have shining stars Thomas Kennedy and Najee Brown-Henderson firing on all cylinders while also hoping to have perennial performers Xavier Ochu and Daniel Cummings, as well as Lorenzo Barbieri heat up again like they all did against Guelph in Windsor last weekend. 

Unsung heroes will also be needed to rise to the occasion with another necessary solid team effort that will be instrumental and prove to be paramount here in the post-season in pulling off a potential upset on paper, and more importantly, lock up a spot in the provincial top two. 
 
The Gee-Gees will look to their guard Cole Newton again who led the way over TMU on Saturday with 22 points and the Lancers will need to also watch out for forward Guillaume Pépin who is averaging 15.9 PPG who are each expected to be key contributors for Ottawa. 
 
For Lancer fans that cannot make the trek up to Ottawa, the game will be available to be live streamed on OUA.tv.  And Lancer Family be sure to follow our social media pages including Twitter during the game for live in-game updates throughout the contest.