The men's basketball team will put its eight-game winning streak on the line this weekend as it faces Tufts this evening, and Bates tomorrow. Both games will be played at home. Next weekend, the Polar Bears will travel to Trinity on Friday and Amherst on Saturday.
"We definitely feel these are two games that we can win if we play well. We lost to Tufts last year by like one point," said captain Randy DeFeo '11.
DeFeo said he believes the Polar Bears can reverse that result.
"Bates was one of the games we didn't play well early on," he added. "They've been struggling as of late, we can definitely beat them at home and get a little bit of revenge."
As of press time, Bowdoin's record is 11-2.
Last Tuesday's game against Babson was canceled due to snowfall in Brunswick, which was a disappointment to the Polar Bears.
"We thought it was a game we could definitely win," said DeFeo. "We were playing pretty well against Colby, and we thought it would carry over."
The Polar Bears won against Colby in their NESCAC opener last Saturday, January 15, with a final score of 74-61. Will Hanley '12 led the team, scoring 22 points, along with 19 rebounds and 8 assists. At halftime, the Polar Bears were up 37-25. Junior Justin Nowell contributed 13 points, and Max Staiger '13 and Ryan O'Connell '12 both scored 12 points apiece.
The Colby game "went really well," said DeFeo. "One of our weaknesses this year was not getting off to a great start, and we got out of the gates really fast [in that game] and then we maintained that lead."
"Conference games mean a lot more...they can be a lot tougher," added DeFeo.
DeFeo said that the team has significantly improved since the beginning of the season.
"We were trying to figure out our identity—what our strengths were," he said.
The Polar Bears have not lost a game since its first game against Bates on December 4. The final score for that match was 86-65.
"We've gotten much better with offense, and have been much more consistent on the defensive end," DeFeo said.