February has arrived in Canada West, but inside the UFV gym, you wouldn’t know it.
“No different than every other week,” head coach Joe Enevoldson said. “Truth be told, our process remains the same… we’re watching video at the same time, we’re practicing the same way. We’re preparing the same way.”
No emotional spikes. No dramatic shifts. Just routine. That is the tone heading into the 2025–26 Canada West quarterfinal against Regina — a matchup that carries Final Four implications but, internally, is being treated like any other window of preparation.
It helps that Regina isn’t an unknown.
“We played them early in the preseason,” Enevoldson said. “We played both Regina and Alberta in the preseason, so they are knowns to us. So again, our process hasn’t changed at all.”
Familiarity doesn’t make the task easier — it just becomes more distinct.
And that task is crystal clear: contain Regina’s scorers.
“They can really score it in bunches,” Enevoldson said. “They’re gonna rely on their two fifth year guys [Ben] Kamba and Lodi [Kenyi], both can really just score it.”
Kenyi, the six foot four forward from Calgary, is averaging career highs of 15 points, six rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. While he is a capable three-point shooter, his game has evolved this season as a primary facilitator.
Kamba, also from Calgary, is averaging 13.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists. The point guard has never shot below 45 per cent from the field in his three seasons with Regina. This season, he is shooting 52 per cent from the field and a career-high 44 per cent from three-point range.
UFV has shown flashes of brilliance in November and enjoyed a stretch in January where it was a defensive rock. But they’ve only hovered as opposed to soaring. The Cascades are long, physical on the wings, and capable of overcoming deficits in bunches. When they drift though, the margins tend to evaporate.
Stylistically, the pressure point is obvious.
“We’re gonna see a lot of ball screen,” he said. “And our ball screen coverage is going to have to be on point.”
If UFV handles that action cleanly — containing the initial drive, recovering to shooters, finishing possessions with rebounds — they control tempo. If they don’t, Regina can turn the quarterfinal into a shot-making contest.
Regina arrives with a different profile. The Cougars are deliberate. Half-court heavy. They’re comfortable shrinking games to 68 possessions and grinding you into late-clock decisions. Their guards play downhill, their bigs seal deep, and they don’t mind getting ugly.
UFV wants pace. They want early drag screens in transition, kick-ahead threes, weak-side cuts before the defence is set. Regina wants to wall off the lane, force contested jumpers, and make every touch inside feel like a boxing ring.
The Cascades’ defensive identity — switching across positions, stunting hard at drivers, rebounding by committee — has to travel. In Canada West, you don’t survive if you can’t get stops in the final four minutes. Regina thrives in that space. They’ve won tight games all year by executing the same two or three actions with ruthless patience.
Regina wants to shrink the game. Which isn’t exactly stalling, it’s about turning a track meet into a chess match. UFV wants chaos. The Cougars want structure.
Offensively, UFV’s strength isn’t singular. It’s collective.
Enevoldson met with his starters midweek and emphasized flexibility. “Whoever is feeling it on Friday afternoon at 1:30, we’re going to have to ride him out a little bit.”
That flexibility has defined their season. One weekend it’s Hernandez — fresh off a Player of the Week honour. The next it’s six foot eleven Matthias Klim shooting five for five from deep, Marcus Flores posting a double-double, or cerebral sharpshooter Dilveer Randhawa finding his rhythm from long range.
“We’re very much reliant on whoever is going on that given night,” Enevoldson said. “Anybody in that lineup can get you 20 on any given night.”
That’s dangerous come playoff season.
If Regina dictates pace and turns this into a 62-possession tug-of-war, the Cougars will be exactly where they want to be.
The format, however, adds another layer. By Friday night, one locker room will be game planning for Alberta. The other will pack up, thinking about a loose ball they didn’t dive for, the rotation they were half a step late on, or the free throws that rimmed out in silence.
Enevoldson’s message to his squad?
“One step at a time.”
“There is no tomorrow until you get to tomorrow,” he said. “Our focus all week is Regina, Regina, Regina.”
Back-to-backs aren’t anything new for the Cascades, they’ve handled split weekends all year, but playoffs are different. The stakes compress. The margins shrink.
Still, the belief inside the locker room feels steady, and there’s an appropriate amount of wariness. They haven’t accomplished anything just yet.
“This is one of my favorite groups,” Enevoldson said. “Everybody’s dialed in. Everybody has bought in… we have the pieces in place.”
The mountain is steep — his words — but the climb is possible.
“Once you get into a Final Four and a one off, anything can happen.”
For now, though, nothing changes. Same film room. Same practice flow. Same preparation. Just a bigger stage — and a season riding on it.